Last week I went to the pool and spent two hours each day of the week. Seven days!!! In a row!!! That is phenomenal for me. I have been using the, "Spinal Stretch" twice a day as well, plus the e-cises every day. Optimally, doing the e-cises in the morning followed by the rest is my goal. This is difficult because of the difficulty in sleeping and the pool hours being early. Often I have to jump up and go to the pool right away to be able to get a lane.
Night time hours are much more crowded due to the Pirrouettes practicing; but they are fun to watch, even though their style is not the same as when I did water ballet in my youth. Also I find mixing it up to be a good way to avoid the doldrums, like Sunday when Mark accompanied me to Heritage pool, even though he spent the whole time in the hot tub.
Now if I could only sleep after a full exercise schedule~it would be the cat's meow. I have ordered some powered calcium magnesium with zinc that you drink at night like tea, so we'll see if that helps.
I do recommend the Spinal Stretch machine. At first when using it, I could feel some pain in the knees. But now it doesn't hurt, so I am able to relax and let it do its job. This is after only one week of using it. We'll see how much more progress it brings after two more weeks. People say it takes about two or three weeks to feel the difference.
Often when I feel a tiny bit encouraged, it is not long before the pain returns with a vengeance. But I am free to hope at this point, that the Lord has finally provided some optimal tools to get my spine healed. The hip rotation is another story. I can feel a difference when I do the two e-cises, and although it does not last long, it is contributing immensely if I only remain faithful to doing them.
I would like to believe the angels will just come and zap me into shape, and I would so love that! But I also know the Lord has a reason for healing me in a, "Non-miraculous" mode this time. Bottom line is I trust him to do the job and thank him for it in advance. He is the one in control, and that is all I need to rest confidently in peace from day to day.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Day One with Spinal Stretch
Mark helped me get hooked up to the new gizmo, the Spinal Stretch. I came across it on Amazon while pricing those Teeter Inversion thingamabobs. It looked a whole lot more inviting than going upside down on the inversion gadget. It was a hundred bucks, whereas the Teeter Inversion Tables were at least twice that. It also had really good reviews. I saw only a few where peeps had sent it back or it didn't help.
We set the pull at a low weight to start. I could tell a difference immediately upon standing up. Not a huge difference, but I walked without the leg pinching for at least a half hour. I proceeded to go downstairs, piddle in the kitchen, fix something to eat (Mark has been fixing my meals for the most part, at least dinners) and went out to cut Rylie's hair.
After all this activity, I went back and lay down. Then I did my E-cises and promptly fell asleep.
All this after being awake most of the night with a very upset stomach. I think I had too much Advil in my system and boy, never again! I would rather stay awake with back/leg pain than feeling like I was gonna barf all night.
I am going to go see if I can hook it up and use it again before attempting another night's sleep. Ho Hum. Let's hope for the best. I know, I know, it took 60 some odd years to get into this shape, and it won't go away overnight.
Time and repetition is the old adage for this type of cure.
We set the pull at a low weight to start. I could tell a difference immediately upon standing up. Not a huge difference, but I walked without the leg pinching for at least a half hour. I proceeded to go downstairs, piddle in the kitchen, fix something to eat (Mark has been fixing my meals for the most part, at least dinners) and went out to cut Rylie's hair.
After all this activity, I went back and lay down. Then I did my E-cises and promptly fell asleep.
All this after being awake most of the night with a very upset stomach. I think I had too much Advil in my system and boy, never again! I would rather stay awake with back/leg pain than feeling like I was gonna barf all night.
I am going to go see if I can hook it up and use it again before attempting another night's sleep. Ho Hum. Let's hope for the best. I know, I know, it took 60 some odd years to get into this shape, and it won't go away overnight.
Time and repetition is the old adage for this type of cure.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Kinds of Physical Pain
So, when the doctor only sees inside their own spectrum and wants to do only what they have in their itinerary, and then they say, "No, it's not pleasant" when you ask if the procedure hurts rather than, "Yes, it hurts," I think it is time to ask another doctor if your numbing feet is due to the herniated disc, the rotated hip or another source. Of course, if you then go home and check what other people have said after having this nerve test and find out their symptoms actually worsened and that it was like having air blowing on an exposed nerve in your tooth but magnified times twenty but also repeated for an unbearable amount of times, it doesn't lend to one's being willing to submit to more pain after having lived in chronic pain for going on four years.
It is one thing to experience the kind of pain it takes to bring forth new life out of your body, the kind of pain that yields real joyful relief. It is another kind of pain when someone sticks a bunch of needles in your muscles and then shocks you until you scream. Then they make you feel guilty because you are feeling too frail, too vulnerable, too shaken to want to submit to this procedure. I also don't like prideful doctors who make fun of chiropractors and mock you when you show a bit of trepidation about experiencing further pain, when you are already at the breaking point, because you have only one "nerve left."
On the upside, it was a lovely day, and there are no clouds in the sky. I went home, cried, and after researching said nerve test and cancelling it, went out and rode Huli the Bentley for as long as the strong south wind allowed.
Icing definitely helped upon getting home. Today, I did a full water workout with double stretches and have not yet had to ice!
Today was the first time I could tell a positive difference when swimming the breaststroke! It usually hurts quite a bit due to the hip rotation and in-turned right leg. But after doing the E-cises since Xmas, I finally can say swimming six lengths of breaststroke did not hurt! I also was able to do the elementary back stroke and did not grimace.
Doing the stretches, however, was another story. I have been saving them til the end, and I can't say it doesn't hurt to do those. But I was able to do two sets and was in the pool a full two hours.
I am so very thankful for the pool and pray God will see fit to keep it open until either we move or I die.
Now I want to make it part of my daily routine to walk on the mini trampoline at least thirty minutes (not all at once) and do the bongo board for as long as I can balance~
I am thankful, and waiting... while trying to stay upright and taking nourishment....
It is one thing to experience the kind of pain it takes to bring forth new life out of your body, the kind of pain that yields real joyful relief. It is another kind of pain when someone sticks a bunch of needles in your muscles and then shocks you until you scream. Then they make you feel guilty because you are feeling too frail, too vulnerable, too shaken to want to submit to this procedure. I also don't like prideful doctors who make fun of chiropractors and mock you when you show a bit of trepidation about experiencing further pain, when you are already at the breaking point, because you have only one "nerve left."
On the upside, it was a lovely day, and there are no clouds in the sky. I went home, cried, and after researching said nerve test and cancelling it, went out and rode Huli the Bentley for as long as the strong south wind allowed.
Icing definitely helped upon getting home. Today, I did a full water workout with double stretches and have not yet had to ice!
Today was the first time I could tell a positive difference when swimming the breaststroke! It usually hurts quite a bit due to the hip rotation and in-turned right leg. But after doing the E-cises since Xmas, I finally can say swimming six lengths of breaststroke did not hurt! I also was able to do the elementary back stroke and did not grimace.
Doing the stretches, however, was another story. I have been saving them til the end, and I can't say it doesn't hurt to do those. But I was able to do two sets and was in the pool a full two hours.
I am so very thankful for the pool and pray God will see fit to keep it open until either we move or I die.
Now I want to make it part of my daily routine to walk on the mini trampoline at least thirty minutes (not all at once) and do the bongo board for as long as I can balance~
I am thankful, and waiting... while trying to stay upright and taking nourishment....
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
New E-cise Menu
Taken from Pete Egoscue's, "Pain Free," here are the new e-cises I am now doing every day.
For Hips and Lower Back
1. Counter Stretch (fig. 7-4) hold for one minute p. 112
2. Sitting Floor (fig. 6-11) hold for six minutes p. 95
3. Static Back (fig. 5-5) hold for ten minutes p. 70
4. Static Back Knee Pillow Squeezes ~ (fig. 8-2) three sets of fifteen p.120
5. Reverse Presses (fig. 8-8) ~ two sets of fifteen p. 131-2
6. Pullovers (fig. 8-9, a & b) ~ one set of fifteen p. 132-3
7. Supine Groin Stretch (fig. 5-7) hold until thigh muscle is pulling rather than knee muscles when leg muscle is squeezed ~ can take up to 30 min per side at first; p. 72
8. Modified Floor Block (fig. 8-3) hold for six minutes p. 121
9. Floor Block (fig. 8-10, a, b & c) hold each for one minute p. 133-135
10. Static Extension (fig. 4-7) hold for three minutes p. 56
11. Air Bench (fig. 4-8) hold for one to two minutes p. 57
12. Squat (fig. 8-11) hold for one to two minutes p. 136
Altogether it takes just over an hour and a half right now. As it proves to help with proper alignment, it will take less (or more, depending on how I change the menu when pain diminishes.) I will probably be able to do more e-cises as pain diminishes and get on a maintenance menu.
A note on the supine groin stretch: It takes pretty long at first, especially if you have been in chronic pain for a while. But the more you do it, the less time it will take sequentially. I have been known to fall asleep while disengaging this strong groin muscle.
At the end of each description of these e-cises is the explanation of what it does. In other words, why you do each one. Reading the material before the actual e-cises are prescribed is good to understand what is actually happening in the muscles; vis. what has gone amiss and why. It may take several perusals to grasp full knowledge of your improper muscular engagement if you are in pain as you read it. That's ok; just keep reading it until it sinks in!
I also have been trying to swim and stretch in the pool at least three times a week. This starts with 25 minutes of freestyle, 5 min. of breaststroke, 5 minutes of cool down (one backstroke, one length skull on back, one elementary backstroke, and one more skull on back for one length.) Bicycle one lap, running on the moon one lap, leap frog one lap.) Float five minutes.
Shallow end: Jump five minutes; skip five minutes; slalom jump five minutes
Stretches: swing each leg forward til toes break surface and back as far as possible ~ 10 X
swing each leg to side and back to cross other leg in front ~ 10 X then do same but cross other leg in back ~ 10 X
extend leg back as far as can ~ each leg 10 X
bicycle each leg around ~ 10 X forward and then backwards
rotate each leg around in big circles ~ 10 X and then the other way 10 X
swing each leg out to the side from front to back 10 X
Pull leg up to chest and hold for 2 min. do same with other leg
Pull right foot to opposite knee, press right leg down just above knee, and hold for 2 minutes; do same with other leg
Reach behind and grab big toe, pulling as far as possible, holding for 2 minutes.
If it isn't too windy, on days when not swimming, ride bike for 45 minutes.
Go home and ice!
Thursday, January 26, 2012
new jump
One thing I've enjoyed doing at the pool is invent movements that mimic my real life pastimes.
In the deep end, I do, "Leap Frog, Running on the Moon and scissors glide." In the shallow end I jump like I've seen kids do at the track, and skip. Today I invented the, "Slalom Jump" which is a jump but going side to side as if I were hotdogging down the slopes.
But boy, am I sore tonight. Advil, please kick in soon!
Oh, no, I've never run on the moon. It was as if I were because of the slow motion effect.
In the deep end, I do, "Leap Frog, Running on the Moon and scissors glide." In the shallow end I jump like I've seen kids do at the track, and skip. Today I invented the, "Slalom Jump" which is a jump but going side to side as if I were hotdogging down the slopes.
But boy, am I sore tonight. Advil, please kick in soon!
Oh, no, I've never run on the moon. It was as if I were because of the slow motion effect.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Free Play
It's been a while since I bla bla blogged, but here is the latest on living with chronic back/leg pain.
Gary gave Mark the name Pete Egoscue. Mark went to Half Price Books and by some divine intervention happened to find the spiral bound copy of his, "Pain Free." He gave it to me, and now I am also reading his, "Pain Free for Women."
His idea is that we lose proper use of muscles when we are not moving enough. Our main muscles stop doing their job, abdicating to the secondary muscles, which when over used are going to cause pain. We stopped using our major muscles properly about the time of the invention of the car? Wheel? Something like that.
When we used to forage and hunt for food, we were active, thus engaging the muscloskeletal system fully, as intended. When the industrial revolution began, we became less and less active and began to walk, sit, stand improperly, not using the assigned muscles.
Ok, ok, let's get down to the business at hand. He says the less we move, the more we invite chronic pain. Until all of a sudden our major muscles begin to atrophy and demand major overhaul to correct themselves.
He has e-cises to disengage the secondary muscles and begin to strengthen those atrophied main muscles. For someone like me, who has been battling this crippling condition for three + years, it will take a minimum of six months to get on the right path, to feel a difference and have more energy and desire to move, move, move.
Egoscue purports that we will end up in surgery if we don't correct this improper use of muscles. Surgery doesn't really work, either, because we will still have to retrain our muscles to to their assigned jobs. We will only have to have more surgery if we don't address the root cause of our pain.
Someone begins to feel pain. They feel better when they don't move. But they know they need to work through the pain. Someone is injured in a sports snafoo, a car accident, a twist of the ankle, a fall. They know they have to, "Work through the pain." They run to rehab and then the gym. They start a regime of repetitious motions until they are again feeling that same pain, but more fiercely. The problem persists, because they are not using the right muscles. They have not disengaged the secondary muscles and begun to use the main muscles intended to pull off that job. Repetitive exercises at the gym only exacerbates the problem.
What that someone needs is Egoscue's E-cises! The results will not come quickly, but only with patient, persistent repetitions. Then they need to become, "Little boys and girls" and engage in free play like they used to when playing in their back yards after school. You know, back in the day, when leap frog, freeze tag, kick ball and statue were all the rage. This spontaneous movement will bring free and full range of motion to help them do what they were designed to do.
This free play, when accomplished, will also bring the metabolism up to full function and in turn bring about further desire to move, move, move!
Of course, good nutrition will help this regeneration of full musculosketal usage. Mark has me taking Univera products, which is greatly helping in various ways. The depression of living in chronic pain has all but disappeared. There are times when it tries to creep back into my soul. But the X-tra really does serve as not only an anti-depressant but an anti-aging stimulus. There are capsules and what we call, "The pink" drink that helps the cartilage and tendons, like glucosamine, and the sleep aid, all natural, that helps me stay asleep (and really works, once I get to sleep.)
Egoscue says when one is not moving enough, often when it's time for sleep, one is not actually sleepy and has trouble sleeping. For me, this may be true, but the pain is what keeps me awake. Every time I turn over, I completely wake up and often can't get back to sleep. In come the myriads of thoughts about the kids, the house that needs fixing, and my aging parents, etc., which further prevent my dozing back into the comfortable land of nod. I have the Bible on tape, and I often turn on Christian radio, whose sermons can actually generate zzzz's in abundance.
It's one thing to do all this talk. It's another to be true to the desire to bring it about. Lord, I'm willing to move. I'm wanting to move. I'm waiting to move. So, now I'm off to the pool. I go by you, through you and with you. It is truly up to you... amen.
Gary gave Mark the name Pete Egoscue. Mark went to Half Price Books and by some divine intervention happened to find the spiral bound copy of his, "Pain Free." He gave it to me, and now I am also reading his, "Pain Free for Women."
His idea is that we lose proper use of muscles when we are not moving enough. Our main muscles stop doing their job, abdicating to the secondary muscles, which when over used are going to cause pain. We stopped using our major muscles properly about the time of the invention of the car? Wheel? Something like that.
When we used to forage and hunt for food, we were active, thus engaging the muscloskeletal system fully, as intended. When the industrial revolution began, we became less and less active and began to walk, sit, stand improperly, not using the assigned muscles.
Ok, ok, let's get down to the business at hand. He says the less we move, the more we invite chronic pain. Until all of a sudden our major muscles begin to atrophy and demand major overhaul to correct themselves.
He has e-cises to disengage the secondary muscles and begin to strengthen those atrophied main muscles. For someone like me, who has been battling this crippling condition for three + years, it will take a minimum of six months to get on the right path, to feel a difference and have more energy and desire to move, move, move.
Egoscue purports that we will end up in surgery if we don't correct this improper use of muscles. Surgery doesn't really work, either, because we will still have to retrain our muscles to to their assigned jobs. We will only have to have more surgery if we don't address the root cause of our pain.
Someone begins to feel pain. They feel better when they don't move. But they know they need to work through the pain. Someone is injured in a sports snafoo, a car accident, a twist of the ankle, a fall. They know they have to, "Work through the pain." They run to rehab and then the gym. They start a regime of repetitious motions until they are again feeling that same pain, but more fiercely. The problem persists, because they are not using the right muscles. They have not disengaged the secondary muscles and begun to use the main muscles intended to pull off that job. Repetitive exercises at the gym only exacerbates the problem.
What that someone needs is Egoscue's E-cises! The results will not come quickly, but only with patient, persistent repetitions. Then they need to become, "Little boys and girls" and engage in free play like they used to when playing in their back yards after school. You know, back in the day, when leap frog, freeze tag, kick ball and statue were all the rage. This spontaneous movement will bring free and full range of motion to help them do what they were designed to do.
This free play, when accomplished, will also bring the metabolism up to full function and in turn bring about further desire to move, move, move!
Of course, good nutrition will help this regeneration of full musculosketal usage. Mark has me taking Univera products, which is greatly helping in various ways. The depression of living in chronic pain has all but disappeared. There are times when it tries to creep back into my soul. But the X-tra really does serve as not only an anti-depressant but an anti-aging stimulus. There are capsules and what we call, "The pink" drink that helps the cartilage and tendons, like glucosamine, and the sleep aid, all natural, that helps me stay asleep (and really works, once I get to sleep.)
Egoscue says when one is not moving enough, often when it's time for sleep, one is not actually sleepy and has trouble sleeping. For me, this may be true, but the pain is what keeps me awake. Every time I turn over, I completely wake up and often can't get back to sleep. In come the myriads of thoughts about the kids, the house that needs fixing, and my aging parents, etc., which further prevent my dozing back into the comfortable land of nod. I have the Bible on tape, and I often turn on Christian radio, whose sermons can actually generate zzzz's in abundance.
It's one thing to do all this talk. It's another to be true to the desire to bring it about. Lord, I'm willing to move. I'm wanting to move. I'm waiting to move. So, now I'm off to the pool. I go by you, through you and with you. It is truly up to you... amen.
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