Ada Nicodemou has shared details of her shocking life-altering injury and revealed the very unlikely way it happened.
The Home and Away actress, 47, has long been known for her active lifestyle but has told how she had to change her exercise regime after suffering a gruelling injury.
Speaking to personal trainer Tiffiny Hall on her Bounce Forward podcast, Ada admitted she was left with a herniated disc in her spine from sneezing.
Recalling the unexpected incident, Ada told how she was left in agony after injuring her back from a sneeze while getting ready to go to the gym around a year ago.
‘I had an injury – now don’t laugh – about a year and a half ago I sneezed,’ she explained to podcast host Tiffiny.
‘I woke up in the morning to go to the gym at 5am and I was in my dressing room getting changed and I perforated a disc. I was in so much pain!’
Ada underwent surgery for the injury and has permanently damaged a nerve, leaving her with a permanently numb foot, meaning she can no longer go running.
‘I had to have an operation, I still have a numb foot on one side and it probably will never heal properly. I think I’ve damaged a nerve,’ she went on.
‘But it really made me rethink a lot of things I was doing because I’ve always been fit, I love to exercise, for my mental health now I’ve realised.’
Ada said she now does reformer Pilates as her main form of exercise, rather than her previous intense fitness regime of boxing, spinning and weightlifting.
‘I was a machine, I’d spin and then box, all that sort of stuff, then I got into heavy weightlifting as well. Now, I’m like I’m never doing a deadlift again in my life,’ she said.
‘I can’t run because I will break my ankle because I have a numb foot.’
Elsewhere, Ada has recently found love with her Home and Away co-star James Stewart, with news of their romance emerging when they were seen kissing on Anzac Day.
The pair have known each other since 1998 when they co-starred on the short-lived Channel Ten soap opera Breakers and have both been staples on Home and Away since 2016.
Ada described her blossoming romance with James as ‘unexpected’ as she broke her silence on their relationship last week.
‘Jimmy and I are together, yes. It’s only early days. It’s very recent and very unexpected. I’m super happy. It’s really lovely,’ she told Stellar Magazine.
She insisted their Home And Away characters Leah Patterson and Justin Morgan getting married on-screen was not an early sign of their real-life romance.
The wedding episode aired on April 9 but was filmed around six months earlier, with Ada insisting their ‘genuine feelings’ only emerged later.
‘There weren’t genuine feelings then,’ she explained. ‘It was shot last year. But I think whenever you’re watching any TV couple, you’re always wondering if they really do have feelings.’
The couple began dating after Ada split from Adam Rigby and James finalised his divorce from Sarah Roberts in March.
Sources have claimed the pair are planning their much-anticipated relationship red carpet ‘hard launch’ at the 2024 Logie Awards on August 18.
The wedding episode aired on April 9 but was filmed around six months earlier, with Ada insisting their ‘genuine feelings’ only emerged later.
‘There weren’t genuine feelings then,’ she explained. ‘It was shot last year. But I think whenever you’re watching any TV couple, you’re always wondering if they really do have feelings.’
Sources have claimed the pair are planning their much-anticipated relationship red carpet ‘hard launch’ at the 2024 Logie Awards on August 18.
The couple began dating after Ada split from millionaire businessman Adam Rigby and James finalised his divorce from Sarah Roberts in March.