effects of long standing
Posted , 5 users are following.
Read the title both ways and you'll have the picture.
I'm not really sure whether this is connected with the PMR or not but it is ceratinly more of a nuisance lately.
If I am doing something that I like to stand to do I find after about 20 minutes I begin to feel really exhausted. Standing and moving, when My legs are having a good day, anyway, isn't a problem but if I am doing an extended bout of preparing veg. for the freezer for example, I just have to do it in bite sized pieces. My kitchen counters are standard size and I am 5ft4ins. Any ideas/experiences gratefully received.
I really am trying to listen to my body but I just wish it didn't keep saying this! BettyE
0 likes, 9 replies
Mrs_G
Posted
I think unless you have a kitchen table to sit at I would get a high stool to sit on I know my sister in law who has an illness has one to use when she is doing lots of cooking
You could always chop the legs ( providing they are wooden !!) to size I think kitchen stores sell them and usually places like Homebase or Ikea Some of them fold so they arent in the way Getting overtired never helps
I am resting quite a bit this weeks as trying to get from 7 to 6.5 So far so good Did a little bit of gardening today but also lots of reading in between
Best wishes
Mrs G
EileenH
Posted
I sometimes find standing tiring - before I was put on steroids it was awful! I think it is because when you are standing or sitting without a back rest all your muscles are working to keep you upright and not swaying about. You're not aware of it but it still requires effort to maintain the posture. Old adage - never stand if you can sit, never sit if you can lie! I sometimes find sitting quite an effort too.
My immediate reaction reading the post was - perching stools! You want one that you can just perch your bum on with your feet on the floor! Ikea do stools and chairs of varying heights, there are some stools which you just turn around to make them from table height up to bar height and all points inbetween.
cheers all,
EileenH
BettyE
Posted
I think I must be one of the least adaptable people ever. I was given a perching stool; the kind with a caterpillar screw which is infinitely adjustable but I just find that, instead of my back muscles taking the strain as Eilleen rightly points out, they do when standing, my abdominals take it instead as I try to remain perched!! You may laugh.
As for operating sitting instead of standing I just cannot get the hang of it at all. Nothing feels balanced or right. I get the feeling I shall peel my fingers instead of the veg. I shall suggest that working from a variety of positions is added to the National Curriculum just so that those who, in the future, have to work into their eighties, can do it in comfort.
I have a friend whose disabled mum was a whizz at doing the family veg from her wheel-chair. I think it's a case of beginning early enough.
Good luck Mrs.G. with the reduction to 6.5. and with the gardening. I loved your suggestion of chopping off the legs of a wooden table. Reminded me of a long-ago colleague who did just that so that her 5year olds could do their clay modelling in comfort. Just as well they were so small as it took a while to get all four legs even! Those were the days. I bet it wouldn't be allowed now. Health and safety and all. Our builder had to spend a day on a ladder using course. Makes you wonder how he managed for thirty years.
Sleep well all BettyE
MrsO-UK_Surrey
Posted
Like you, I also find it impossible to adapt to sitting to prepare food or to iron. My solution when I'm having a bad day with my spine and/or legs is to don a pantie girdle when I have to stand for any length of time - the support and relief I feel is nothing short of miraculous! Only problem is I had to buy a larger size because of the steroid stomach :roll: which I'm more than a little disappointed to find has not yet disappeared in spite of being on a very low dose.
Mrs G - Glad to hear you are doing well so far on the latest reduction - keep it up.
MrsO
mrs_k
Posted
Like Mrs O I also resort to a pantie girdle on bad days - but only after I have taken a measure of brandy. Brandy - shock horror - but remember it was invented in the Middle Ages by Monks as a medicine and its one of the best pain killers there is. So when the back pain on a scale of 1 to 10 reaches 8 or 9 - one small measure gives practically instant relief. And I can then peel the potatoes standing up.
Ironing - I don't buy anything that has to be ironed at all. So nothing gets ironed in this household.
EileenH
Posted
MrsK - that's the best laugh I've had this week! What would the government polis say about you! Fancy encouraging us to DRINK!
What with MrsO telling us to eat healthily and wear a panty girdle and now you leading us astray - what are the men going to thinnk!!!!!!!??????
xxxxx EileenH
Dublin,_Ireland
Posted
You have given me a great laugh...I have visions of a Lady wearing nothing but a panty girdle with a large glass of brandy in one hand and a potato peeler in the other :lol:. Strangely, I find the ironing OK, as at first standing or lying down was the only way I was comfortable, and my right arm was the only bit that didn't hurt and it gave me something to do....but I like your style....we don't buy anything that has to be hand-washed!!!
Hope you and all the others out there with this are having a good day.
best wishes, Pauline, Dublin.
MrsO-UK_Surrey
Posted
BettyE
Posted
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Same here Mrs. K. though I did find myself ironing some charity shop items. Pride, I guess. I am an expert folder and stretcher of seams and, especially after a windy day on the linen line ( as they call it in these parts ) you would not know the difference
My mum used to iron dusters and knickers!! I hope she is not watching me.
Joking apart, we really do have to \"prioritise\" as the politicians say. There is not enough energy/stamina to allow for unnecessary effort. BettyE