Walking!

I also started in a hydrotherapy pool at the hospital. Everything you do in water takes 7 times as much as effort so you need to do less and you are being supported in the water. 

And Nick is right - doing 10 mins 3 times is the same as 30 mins at once in many respects. Not in all - but you will get there eventually. Even walking around the block several times a day is better than staying in the house and sitting.

Could not agree with you more!.. You have to find activity that suits YOU. If you like it, the chances are you will do it more often.  I like to mix it up, walking, biking and swimming works for me.

My son is a occupational therapist and trainer and he says you do it 20x and it becomes habit but it's those first 20 times. I agree with it, I'm past 20 and now look forward to it before it was getting my ass going.

Glad you have found your muse in exercise because we all need it or we will loose mobility and it could be permanent, that's what motivated me to move it. No way I wanted to stay immobile as it is its less but improving all the time.

Even those of us that seem very mobile and active we all, at least I was incapacitated with pain and stiffness. I couldn't hold anything or raise my arm but I submerge myself in water and started to move.

I know it's hard but we all need to just start.

Those that were active before PMR have built in stubbornness and push through initial pain because we know it will get easier. There is no way around it.  For me swimming is so natural, my wife says I must have been a fish in previous life . I actually used swimming as relaxation/massage exercise before PMR.  For lots of people swimming is not easy, and it is usually because of the very bad style.  This is why I was reluctant to recommend it to anyone here. 

I can only swim doing back stroke because front swimming hurts my back as I can't swim with my face in the water. And pools don't like people doing backstroke... It's a shame.

I investigated aqua aerobics at our local pool - never heard back from them and it only runs in winter anyway so every winter you have to summon up the enthusiasm to go out in minus whatever to go and do it then you get to your 20x and it stops again!.

I to Nick am a fish and a scuba diver plus i always lived since childhood on or walking distance to water.

It seems we are lucky here in Ontario because the majority of pool time during the day is dedicated to aqua fit and leisure swim.

Many of the seniors use the pool noodles and bounce or paddle boards and float and kick which is awesome for pmr persons who are not good swimmers. It would allow them a flotation device and movement with soft resistance which we need.

I use full water gloves (webbed) and full dive fins for resistance to build strength.

I find it sad a pool won't let you do back stroke, the guy in my lane yesterday was doing back stroke and as you can see many of us use fins not as big as mine and flotation devices.

I went to several pools before I picked because I wanted to use fins for resistance maybe it's just that pool. Also senior or disabled swim is lumped together at mine and anything goes.

My advice for non swimmers is just go and walk in the pool with a floaty, hang on the wall and move the legs to start. I see this daily.

As I say I'm biased to swim but if you can't walk this is a wonderful alternative.

For those of you who walk studies show believe it or not it's better than swimming 😕 who would have thought.

For me, swimming in the pool is only during cold days. As soon as the weather worms up, I prefer to swim in the open waters, usually river and sometimes lake, if it is safe.

I understand why your back hurts. Lifting head and keeping it above water is the hardest way to swim. Besides being stiff, you are putting your body in almost vertical position and resistance is huge.  Proper position would have your head aligned with the spine and as close to horizontal as possible. 

As Mariane suggested, walking in the pool might be an alternative.  Have you tried to take some swim lessons and get advice how to overcome limitation while you swim free style? Is breast stroke an option for you at all?

 

Really not! I used to swim a lot years ago, I taught life-saving! I cannot now put my face under water - just can't! And breast stroke kick was forbidden by the physio! I need my knees for walking 

I'm not making excuses - we don't have a "sensible" pool here like I had at my gym in the north of England which I was in every day either swimming or doing aqua classes. The culture here is totally different and the local pool is aimed at tourists for apres-ski and entertaining small children. So very loud and very splashy! It just so happens that is the one here - other towns have simple pools but there are no gyms locally with a pool. Hotel pools are also really "wellness" areas and I don't know of any open to the public as they were in England. As I say, there is a real seasonal aspect here too - in summer you are expected to use the outdoor pools and lakes. The charges are also high, despite the reduction for locals. 

So I walk - it's free!

there is no point trying to do exercise that does not feel natural... It is hard to stay with it. Do whatever is comforatable, walking is good too. Pehaps add two small water bottles and hold them in your hands while walking. It is good to rehydrate ( quicker recovery) and they can act as weights for your upper body workout.

One pound wrist weights would be more convenient than water bottles.  I have a weighted walking vest and every couple of days I wear that.  At present at about 5 3/4 lb, working up by adding a few ounces every once in a while to continually challenge the bones.  It's very comfortable, and does not strain anything.  I wonder if weighting the hands could eventually strain the elbows or shoulders?

Yes, but - wearing a weighted vest wouldn't excercise arms and shoulders, would it?  We need a bit of weight lifting for our arms so that we can carry our heavy beer crates and bottles of wine from the car!! 😄😄🍷

I do push-ups!

Ooh, lucky you Anhaga. I thought I would try one before I posted. Ha, nowhere near. I got into the pose, went to lower down and before I got half way down my arms were ready to collapse, didn't even try to push up. Early last year I would have had no problems getting down and pushing 15/20 without breaking sweat. Ah well, just something else to work on.

b

Blast you pesky PMR.