I was 63 years of age, with an extremely arthritic left knee (due to meniscus damage and subsequent knee infection which required 11 days in the hospital at the age of 25) and things were going downhill…This left knee pain which I had been suffering for many years, along with the recurring limp and immobility, had now crept into the left hip!
I decided to try rehab. After 8 months of consistent rehab at Mobility-Doc in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, I was able to leave the “rehabilitation ward” and enter the domain of the healthy; the weight and exercise room of the affiliated Lehigh Valley Barbell Strength and Fitness gym. It was there that I noticed Earl, who always started his workout by “walking” forward and then “walking” backward for a minute or so on a piece of PVC pipe. That looked interesting and fun, so I started to try to do the same. Even though it was difficult to do, and sometimes I felt a little silly trying, the good feeling it gave my feet was something new. But the PVC pipes were boring looking and they slid around too much, so I started making what are now known as ParaRollers. ParaRollers are really cool looking, and they are much more secure underfoot than a naked PVC roller.
Then I had a brainstorm. I asked Earl if he wanted to try something with me on the ParaRollers. I said let’s face each other standing on our individual ParaRollers and hold opposite ends of a long bamboo pole. Then let’s see who can stay on their ParaRoller the longest. That was the first game of RolleyPulley, although at the time we didn’t have a name for what we were doing. We were just having fun doing this slightly crazy thing moving on ParaRollers while holding a bamboo pole and trying to knock each other off!
Since then, we have refined the rules, the techniques, and the equipment of RolleyPulley. One thing that hasn’t changed is that everyone is ALWAYS smiling or laughing and having fun while playing RolleyPulley!!
Jeff Acopian