Chronic fatigue doesn’t just mean feeling tired. It means hitting a wall when your day’s barely begun. For Maggie (name changed for privacy), a midwife managing a complex mix of health conditions including Hidradenitis Suppurativa, iron-deficiency anaemia, psoriasis and obesity, fatigue had crept into every part of life. From disrupted sleep and chronic pain to long stretches away from work, her day-to-day life felt like an uphill battle.
But Maggie had goals. She wanted to get back to work, reconnect with her active life, and feel more in control of her energy. With support from her insurer and rehabilitation provider, she joined Specialised Health’s Bounce program—a 12-week fatigue management initiative designed to restore energy, rebuild resilience, and lay the groundwork for return to work and life.
Getting Started: More Than Just Tired
At her first session, Maggie described a familiar pattern: physical and cognitive fatigue that lingered even on her “good days.” Sleep was disrupted, pain was ever-present, and the flare-ups caused by her condition made basic activities like gardening, housework, and even socialising feel out of reach. She hadn’t yet returned to her role as a midwife and was worried about how she’d manage her return, even on reduced hours.
It was clear: Maggie didn’t just need more energy. She needed the tools to manage it.
Laying the Foundations: What Bounce Looked Like
Bounce isn’t your average activity program. It’s a guided, data-informed journey designed specifically for people dealing with fatigue. For Maggie, this meant personalised strategies delivered by one of our Exercise Physiologists—strategies that adapted as she did.
Here’s what her Bounce journey included:
- HRV Monitoring – Maggie began tracking her heart rate variability each morning to understand how her body was coping with her daily activities and recovery. This gave us real-time insight into her capacity and allowed us to adjust her plan accordingly.
- Energy Planning – Using an activity diary and pacing tools like rainbow scheduling, Maggie learned to structure her days in a way that reduced crashes, or “booming and busting” as we call it in the fatigue space, and supported steady progress.
- Movement, Her Way – For Maggie, movement involved gentle strength and conditioning exercises, tailored for her capacity. In time, she added new activities like water aerobics and began spending more time in the garden and around the house.
- Work Support – With her return-to-work plan in place, we aligned her physical routine to support the demands of her job. As a midwife, this meant building up endurance for long shifts while helping her ‘bounce back’ faster from flare-ups.
- Routine Anchoring – With each session, we helped Maggie build a routine—one she could stick to, adjust, and grow with.
The Results: Steady Wins
By the end of the 12 weeks, Maggie had made measurable progress—both on paper and in her daily life. Her confidence in returning to work and engaging in meaningful activities outside of it had significantly increased. Fatigue levels had dropped, and her overall well-being was clearly trending in the right direction.
- PSFS improved from 32/50 to 43/50
- RAND score rose from 57/100 to 72/100
- MFIS dropped from 53/84 to just 18/84—a 66% reduction in perceived fatigue
- Sit-to-Stand Test increased from 10 to 13 reps
Maggie had returned to work, building up to 24 hours per week. She was confidently managing her condition, putting pacing strategies into practice, and even exploring new forms of activity like water aerobics, something she hadn’t thought possible at the start..
What Comes Next?
Like many managing chronic conditions, Maggie will continue to monitor her energy and adapt her routine. She may still experience dips, but now she knows how to manage them. As her next step, we’ve suggested working with a personal trainer to support her long-term goals around strength, conditioning, and health management.
At Specialised Health, we believe in meeting fatigue head-on. Not with generic advice, but with tailored strategies, real-time feedback, and a clear path forward. Because fatigue doesn’t have to be the end of the story.
Interested in learning more about the Bounce program? Reach out to see how we support return to work and recovery for clients facing fatigue, whatever the cause.
Author: Tessa Nielsen
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