MEET THE DESIGNER
Mary Gale
The idea for the Bambach Saddle Seat came to occupational therapist and horsewoman Mary Gale in treating patients who could not sit unsupported on an ordinary seat or wheelchair. Mary found that the same patients could balance quite independently on horseback and assume a symmetrical position.
It occurred to Mary that if she could replicate the saddle position, where the spine is able to assume its natural curves, she would create an ideal seat for therapy as well as for task seating.
A review of literature showed work of Dr A. C. Mandel, who noted that the ideal sitting posture for the human spine is achieved on horseback. Other researchers also concluded that ordinary furniture removes the natural curves from the spine and places great stress on the spinal discs. Anecdotal reports from horse riders who suffered severe back pain on the ground, yet who gained marked relief when mounted in the saddle, were also noted.
Mary Gale is a graduate in Occupational Therapy - Sydney, NSW. On graduation Mary spent 1 year in T.B. Hospital in Perth, Western Australia before returning to NSW where she progressed to vocational units in a general teaching hospital, then a large psychiatric institution setting up the first workshop taking in outside contracts for such institutions in Australia. This led to a state sponsored tour to the USA to study similar workshops there.
After a break for marriage and children, she returned to the full time workforce and worked in rehabilitation. This interest led to an appointment with the rehabilitation department of Hornsby Hospital - a major Sydney Hospital.
It was at this hospital that a young woman asked Mary to take her horse riding even though she suffered serious physical injuries due to a car accident. Mary - never one to reject a challenge, set up riding for Julie. This was so successful the doctor in charge directed many of the recovering patients to be taken also. Mary subsequently resigned to work in her father's cable factory. However, every second Sunday she took a youth group of disabled people horse riding under the auspices of the Sisters of Mercy. These two periods at Hornsby Hospital and Mercy Family Life Centre covered about eight years.
One question kept begging to be answered. Why could a seriously disabled person sit unaided on a horse yet have to be tied into a wheelchair on return to hospital or home?
An engineering undergraduate in her father's factory wanted a supporting topic for his final thesis. Mary suggested a combined study of the interaction between a wire winding machine he had designed for the factory and the seat on which the operator sat. Mary's work with the Engineer, another Occupational Therapist and a Physiotherapist led to the Saddle Seat and discovery of its benefit to the human body when seated to work.
Mary has had a life long interest in horses. At age fourteen her horse fell on her and damaged her back so much so that she has had to have to laminectomies.
As a result, Mary not only brings theoretical understanding of the working back while seated but the day to day understanding of what works for a person who has a problem with their back.
Mary is now chairwoman of the group of companies her father founded. One of these is the Bambach Saddle Seat.
Mary is also a distinguished horsewoman. She appears in these photos with the trophies, medals and ribbons she has won during her competitive riding career.
