'All the furniture in the house is back-friendly,' says Ann. 'At the first hint of back trouble in my family, I step in. I might pop a frozen bag of peas and a hot water bottle on the offending area to ease swelling, or give Steve a deep-tissue massage.'
The kitchen chairs are specially designed to stop the family slouching over their breakfast bowls, and the children sport ergonomically designed backpacks which ensure the weight is distributed evenly.
The only area where the couple have compromised is in the marital bedroom.
'Waterbeds are superb for backs, but Steve and I prefer a more conventional model,' says Ann. 'Over the years we've seen quite enough water during waking hours to last a lifetime.'
Steve is a national hero, having won a record six Olympic medals — five of them gold. All the while, Ann kept firmly in the background. But from 1992 to 2001, she was Chief Medical Officer of GB Rowing. She kept the team on the water — and that meant safeguarding their backs.
While her husband may have since retired, Ann's so valuable that his team mates have refused to let her go, and she's now their consultant in rowing medicine.
It nearly never happened. She was all set to become an orthopaedic surgeon until two events — including the near-destruction of her future husband's rowing career — convinced her to retrain as an osteopath.
'Osteopathy is central to my life — and Steve's success,' she says. And it all started because of her own passion for rowing.
In her first term at London's Charing Cross Medical School , she was roped in to joining an all-girls' eight-strong crew just to 'make up the numbers'. 'Three years later, in 1984, to my amazement I found myself being selected for the Olympics,' says Ann.
It was during training in 1985 that she met Steve. He'd been rowing since he was 14 and already experts were predicting an illustrious career. Then, in the middle of a race, Steve suffered a slipped disc.
'Experts told him that his career was over,' says Ann. 'It was devastating — he was only 23 and had just won his first Olympic gold medal. As a last resort, Steve's sister recommended an osteopath. To everyone's amazement, the treatment worked. Steve was back in the water.'
By the time Ann had qualified as a doctor, she still had her heart set on training as an orthopaedic surgeon. But then she saw a patient who'd arrived for a back operation.
The self-employed taxi driver with five children had a slipped disc and had been unable to work for months. Various problems had delayed surgery and he now faced another two-month wait.
'I felt terrible for him,' says Ann.
His problem had been allowed to fester for so long that surgery was now the only answer. There had to be a better way.'
Ann decided to retrain as anosteopath. 'Eighteen years ago, osteopathy was still viewed with suspicion; now surgeons are sending me their patients. But Steve was hugely supportive. He had seen the value of osteopathy. It had literally saved his career.'
The couple married in March 1988, just before Steve won his second gold medal, at the Olympics in Seoul. Seven months later, Ann started training at the British School of Osteopathy, abandoning her own Olympic dreams.
'After representing Britain at the Los Angeles Olympics, I'd taken seven months out of my medical career to train for Seoul. But having two competitive athletes in the family would have been a nightmare.'
After qualifying as an osteopath in 1990, Ann became team doctor to GB Rowing. 'It was a great way to ensure I saw something of Steve,' Ann laughs.
It also convinced her that if osteopathic treatment could protect men who were putting their backs under terrible strain every single day, it could work the same wonders with non-athletes.
To prove it, she opened The Redgrave Clinic, in Bourne End, Bucks (www.redgraveclinic.co.uk), in 1990, and has been offering the general public the same treatments ever since.
'Whether you're an Olympic medallist or an office worker with a back problem, you can practise the same self-help and do the same exercises. We need to remind the general public that if they go back to old habits as they feel better, they'll go back to square one.'
Now Steve has retired from rowing, he has more time to relax. But even at home, back care never slips. And it seems as if Ann's advice is sinking in.
'The other day, when I was driving our second daughter, Sophie, to school, she suddenly said: "Oh, Mum! Look at the way that girl's carrying her backpack,' pointing at a child slumped under a huge backpack which she was carrying over one shoulder.
"Doesn't she know she should be carrying it evenly. She'll get terrible problems when she's older." '
DR ANN REDGRAVE is a guest speaker at the inaugural Cura-Heat Back Show at London Olympia, July 15-16, which will also feature 100 exhibitors offering advice on exercise, relaxation and therapies. Tickets are £8.50 in advance or £12.50 on the day (U12s get in free). Visit www.backexpo.co.uk or call 0870 272 0011.
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