exercise..borrowed

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Message: 1

Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2003 16:01:34 -0000

From: annakarina

Subject: Exercise

Patty mentioned a hot topic for all of us!!

Exercise.

Movement. Conditioning. It's very very important...even though

sometimes the very thought of movement hurts!

Those of us with physical challenges can and should exercise. The

more severe the problems, the more important exercise becomes.

Muscle aches in particular have a sort of ripple effect: the problem

starts in one spot, but expands outward from it if we aren't "move

our parts"!

But some of us can 'simply' restructure our definitions of what

exercise IS!(What? No jumping jacks?!)

Exercise is moving. Specifically: moving our muscles.

We should exercise (i.e. MOVE) our muscles according to our ability.

When serious physical challenges are involved, the best person to

get help from is a physical therapist. The therapist can work with

you to develope a program of exercises appropriate for you. Ask the

therapist to write it all down, giving instructions and when

possible descriptive drawings or pictures for each exercise --that

can be xeroxed for you straight from a book that many therapists

have. (I put each sheet of my 'instructions and descriptions' into

a sheet protecter, and all of the sheets into a binder.

A therapist created a 'life-long plan' that I can follow, so I can

modify a regimen according to good and difficult times. Mostly

isometric types of exercise.

The important thing is that we must MOVE!

If a body part hurts on one of us, (IF?), we may have a tendency to

not move it. So all the muscles SUPPORTING that part can over time

become out of shape. Muscles are interrelated. If you don't move

the arm because your elbow or shoulder hurts, it affects the muscles

of the entire arm. Before you know it the whole arm hurts. Ripple

effect. This may seem obvious, but it's important to remember that

sometimes we make our pain worse ....by avoiding exercise.

(The 'pelvic tilt' is an easy exercise that is crucial to those of

us with back problems, incidentally.)

Good, appropriate exercises are shown on many sites. Most folks

don't require a physical therapist's assistance to incorporate a

plan into their day. So... do check it out. An example of a good

site is op.washington.edu/arthritis/living/exercise/03.

It doesn't have to be complex and if your budget doesn't let you

keep the commitment to go to a gym, just remember than ANY movement

is better than none.

"If you don't use it, you lose it" applies to body conditioning. Do

what you and your therapist determine appropriate for you... and

don't compare yourself to Cher and her regimen!____________________________________________________ IncrediMail - Email has finally evolved - Click Here