Excersice
Posted , 12 users are following.
Does any one know if excercise helps with the pain and if it does what exercise would you recomend?
0 likes, 15 replies
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Notes on Excersice
elizabeth40672 tonivc77
Posted
jean50664 tonivc77
Posted
I live in hot North Queensland, so my exercise of choice is swimming in a local pool. I go in the day and there is no people usually. I breaststroke and float back and do soft stretches. Whether it really helps with my PMR , but I do feel I am slowly re_couperating. Also walks, no jogging when it's cooler
Jean
dea13 jean50664
Posted
jean50664 dea13
Posted
Hi Dea, I'm in Townsville
Jean
FlipDover_Aust jean50664
Posted
Hi Girls, I'm in Canberra!
EileenH tonivc77
Posted
Gentle exercise that doesn't overwork the muscles and leave you in more pain is good in PMR. Overdoing an action will leave your muscles sore with what is called Delayed Onset Muscle Pain (DOMS) and it will take a lot longer to go away than normal. Pred combats the inflammation but your muscles remain intolerant of acute exercise - so you must build up the level and the amount very slowly, preferably with at least a day between for rest and recovery at the beginning. Eventually you will be able to do something every day.
I had 5 years of PMR without pred and started every morning Mon-Fri with an aquafit class in a warm pool. That left me able to do adapted Pilates and Iyengha yoga classes. That all helped the stiffness and some of the muscle pain. I also had severe bursitis which ruled out much walking which is the exercise being recommended in the StayActive study in the north of England. Walking (not hiking up mountains) for short periods, up to half an hour at a time for example, is something you can do daily from the start although doing 10 mins at a time at first is advisable. Then 2x15 mins is better than 1x 30 until you have got your muscles used to it.
And try not to go walking somewhere where you can't bail out if you hit the fatigue wall! One lady got stuck a short distance from home and had to resort to sitting on a neighbour's wall! Plan walks in the early stages around places you know there is a place to sit down if you need and on a bus route to get home!
Rimmy EileenH
Posted
That is interesting Eileen as I am a very physical gardener with a permaculture orchard - lots of pruning weeding crawling under trees etc (I am an almost 65 year old woman) and have been very restricted by PMR for many months. After only a couple of days on corticosteroids I feel incredible - (I don't feel 'euphoric' though assome suggested I might) with a massive if not complete reduction in pain and stiffness and was able to run around our orchard and do so much more than usual. But reading your comments I think I will have to pace myself as I wasn't aware there would still be an enhanced susceptibility to muscle pain such as you described - so I appreciate your 'warning'. Are you now taking Prednisone after many years without it and if so how would you compare the experiences of 'with' & 'without' ? - as like most I hesitated given so many possible side effects.
Thanks
EileenH Rimmy
Posted
I've been on pred for well over 7 years now - it wasn't out of choice I didn't take it sooner, I simply wasn't diagnosed and offered it.
I took my first dose at just after 10am after collecting the prescription from the chemist - I'm luck, I can swallow tablets pretty easily. I got home and started working at my computer upstairs. At about 4pm I got up, walked downstairs and made a cup of tea and walked back up with it in my hand. And then realised what I had just done! In the morning I had stomped down the stairs one step at a time like a toddler, hanging on to the handrail for dear life. I had crawled back up on hands and knees. Now I had done the same thing normally. The rheumatologist wasn't interested - mercifully a different GP did listen.
Nothing would persuade me to give up my pred! With pred I live a pretty well normal life - I avoid all activities that make things worse like the plague! No vacuuming, carrying heavy things and so on but for me that is a GOOD THING (hate doing them!). I also have myofascial pain syndrome - managing that in other more targeted ways means I can get by with a lower dose of pred. But I am obviously one of the 25-30% who have PMR and need pred for more than 6 years. My doctors here are fine about that - you need what you need for as long as you need, no ifs or buts.
The biggest warning label should be for you now - if, because you feel like the Duracell bunny, you suddenly rush and do all the things you haven't been able to do you will feel awful, you will think the pred has stopped working. It isn't, it is DOMS. Pacing is essential! There is a link at the end of this post:
https://patient.info/forums/discuss/pmr-gca-website-addresses-and-resources-35316
Even when I am feeling really well, doing too much with my hands is painful - it is PMR, not OA, but that is where I feel the first signs of a flare: sore wrists! So be gentle with the secateurs!
Rimmy EileenH
Posted
Thanks again Eileen (and everyone else who replied) - I appreciate hearing about your experiences to date and all the useful links. People's personal perceptions and experiences add a larger and much more explanatory dimension to understanding PMR which no medical or academic article can easily do. Anyway Eileen you seem to have coped very well so far !!
Best wishes
Best wishes
Oregonjohn-UK tonivc77
Posted
I one word - Gentle - And when you feel you have reached your level STOP! Don't push it.
FlipDover_Aust Oregonjohn-UK
Posted
I would advise stopping just BEFORE you've reached your level..... We don't realise we've over done it until it's too late (meaning me lol).
Anhaga tonivc77
Posted
Just keeping moving can help. Exercise which helps maintain and improve range of motion, also exercise which keeps your bones strong (could be as simple as walking)
can be very helpful. Avoid stressing muscles too much. 🚶🏼💃🏼🏊🏼
julian. tonivc77
Posted
anything requiring strength seems to increase pain and stiffness
tonivc77
Posted
Thank you all for your advice. I'm New at this {MR thing and I'm still trying to take control of it. But I'm afraiad of gaining weight see I had bariactric surgery in 2009 and have lost over 150 pounds and i dont want to gain it back with these preds. I take. Any other suggestions they will b e greatly appreciated.
EileenH tonivc77
Posted
I assume you are still in contact with the bariatric team? Why not ask them for advice.
The biggest problem with pred is that it does often make people ravenously hungry. For many of us cutting carbs drastically has helped avoid weight gain or even to lose weight - and seems to cut that craving for food so many talk about. I don't know how that fits with post-bariatric surgery. Pred changes the way our body processes carbs and encourages fat deposits in the expected places: face, around your midriff and on the back of the neck creating the Cushingoid appearance. Cutting carbs reduces that propensity.