swimming and CMT

[Guest guest]

Hi Reema, others,

I learned how to swim when I was about 6 months old - my parents got a

little wading pool, up to their waste, and just pushed me under from side to

side. I cannot remember never knowing how to swim!

My sister who also has a CMT diagnosis did not learn to swim for ages

though. She fell in the pool at age 3 in swim lessons and I think this kind of

shocked her and she hated pools for a long time. We had a house with a pool

from the time she was about 5 and she wore a life jacket in the back yard. She

then learned how to swim from her friends, as they were tired of her wearing a

life jacket around! So she learned at about age 7 or so.

I recently added swimming back into my programme - I have access to another gym

in my health club chain and it has these amazing windows overlooking the Thames

River in central London. I found it hard at first - out of breath, tired legs

and arms. But I am back to focusing on section specific exercises - like using

the push board to work my legs only, using my arms only (my feet are arched and

have always liked to nestle in each other - I just drag them behind me), and I

am trying to get to aqua aerobics too, although the timing does not fit with my

work travel schedule well. I find the swimming is great as it does not stress

my joints and I also know how to

work my core muscles while doing it - floating is good for that and yoga has

taught me which muscles to work to strengthen while floating.

The scariest to me is the out of breath feeling I get. That is why I asked

Kay about lung capacity. I used to be able to be under water for nearly

two minutes when I was little and spent so much time in the pool. Now I feel

winded badly, but then again I think I may just be out of shape!

Good luck with swimming - it is just a wonderful thing to do!

- Donna from London