Over a week ago, legendary climber Steven Chadwick demonstrated the implement that helps him climb, “The Thing,” at Bolton’s free climbing festival.
Just three years ago, Steven, 47, of Burnley, could not “stand up, breathe, eat or even go to the toilet on his own”.
Steven had climbed most of his life.
He was introduced to the sport at aged seven.
Steven said: “I had been sent to a lock-up school because I wouldn’t go to classes.
“My teacher took me climbing. And I decided that was what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.”
Over the years he followed his passion, climbing mountains, coaching and maintaining climbing walls, even being head coach and master of climbing at the Royal College Eton.
Then in August of 2021, things ground to a halt. He’d had a stroke.
He said: “After it, I was paralysed down one side.
“I couldn’t stand up, breathe or eat on my own.
“While I was laying in the hospital bed, I decided I was going to climb harder than ever before.”
In fact, he decided to climb the most difficult “route” or climbing path, 9A. Of which there are only 30.
The stroke did not make it easy.
Steven said: “I found out that the relationship between my left side of my brain had a rubbish signal.
“I'd grab a climbing hold with my left hand and my arm would do a high five or a thumbs up or not even move.
“I knew how to climb.
“I just needed to relearn friction.”
He experimented to find a tool to help.
He said: “I got a piece of timber and stood in front of a belt sander for some days.
“I drew the Fibonacci sequence, the golden ratio, on the side of it and sanded it to a cylinder shape.”
He had created what looked like a large timber spool. He called it The Thing.
With trial and error, and the help of “best physiotherapist in the world” Dale Walker, he used it to train himself.
He said: “I'd ring Dale and ask him if this or that was a good exercise.”
With Dale’s help, The Thing became a rehabilitation tool.
He said: “I invented it to rebuild neural pathways and reteach my brain, hand and the left side of my body to work together again.”
And it helped Steven to climb again.
He said: “I know it's working because three years ago I was lying in a hospital bed, and now I'm consistently climbing tough climbing routes like 8A or 7C.”
Steven is now close to his goal of climbing 9A thanks to The Thing.
He said: “This year I managed to get the first recorded ascent on a route in Leonidio, Greece called Rise of Evil, which is 8B.”
He believes The Thing can train and rehabilitate others.
He said: “It trains correct technique and breaks the process down to the very beginning.
“It teaches your hand to work in an infinite amount of curve positions.”
He said: “When I took it to climbing centres, people kept asking me where they could buy one.
“I told my boss we needed to start manufacturing them.”
He began selling The Thing.
He says it can be used for hand and wrist flexion, shoulder injuries, pectoral tears and full core stability among others.
He has demonstrated it in Bolton’s free climbing festival, Wiltonfest over a week ago.
He said: "There were a lot of stands and I got there too early thinking I had pride of place so it was a bit hidden.
"I've been going up and down the country doing demos.
“Every day after work, I train on The Thing, am demoing it or am in a climbing centre somewhere.”
To learn more about The Thing, visit https://www.instagram.com/the_climbing_thing
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