Exercise/strength/mo bility

Yes Anya thank you.
So easy to get into bad habits.
DH isn't walking well. Had a painful hip (bursitis) and was messed about by GP and physio for 6/9 months before having necessary injection and that delay has affected his gait.
After my hip op, on returning to choir, one of the tenors, a retired physio, called out to me as I crossed the hall "you're not walking properly!" And sorted me out much to everyone's amusement. I was v grateful.

Yes Newquay sometimes the solution is in our own hands, but unless we know then we can't rectify it.

Might be too late for some but for others worth checking.

I usually walk to the gym, forget about the exercise, walk home, now while I'm walking I can put the world to rights, and by the time I get home I'm completely relaxed.

Have a nice day Gnetters

A shoulder bag hanging always on the same shoulder can affect how you walk too, pulling your spine sideways. A small backpack keeps the weight even and central - and it pulls your shoulders back so that you don't hunch forwards into a dowager's hump. It doesn't have to look as though you are off on a hiking tour, there are a lot of attractive ones around.

But make sure your purse isn't easily pinched.

Newquay - that class sounds perfect, that's what I would like to run.

Anya - people watching is fun. Look for elevated shoulders too, can be caused by hip pain, handbag holding or shoulder pain.

One caveat about turning your foot back in is that it depends on why it's turning out...if it's just habit, from say driving, then it's fine to try to turn it back in. If it's because there's a problem higher up the body (the kinetic chain), usually in the hip area, then turning the foot back can corkscrew the knee and that won't end well.

This stuff is all very person-centred and there's a whole branch of PT/physio that deals with it, biomechanics. A Biomechanics assessment is fascinating! (Well, if you're geeky like me, it is.)

Adaptations tend to be there for a reason, either current or past. If you use a lot of pillows at night, that's another way to tell there is strain in the body somewhere.

Ah, I hadn't seen the 2nd page, cross-posted about handbags, little daysacks are a good thing.

My physio told me that if you sprain your ankle a mile from home, by the time you've limped back, your brain has adapted!

I find Aquafit classes brilliant. Good cardio and fantastic for core while kind to joints. A lot depends on the instructor of course.

That's true Elegran

I love walking the footpaths round my village, not a remote rural village, but in overbuilt suburban southern Oxfordshire.

Despite the busy dual carriageway, mainline train line and RAF training helicopters, when I reach the top of the hill I can, in season, hear the larks, pick blackberries, sloes and greengages and watch the crops grow. I write all this because my daily walk not only keeps me physically fit but also keeps me in good mental health as well.

I am dyspraxic with poor balance so recently I have started doing a weekly pilates class, as well as my own flexibility/balance exercises most days. I also swim twice a week.

I do benefit from having been active all my life. Not just worrying about it as flexibilty and mobility fail.

I've spent a goodly part of the last three days down the allotment as DH is incapacitated due to an operation for trigger finger.

Digging, weeding, fighting pruning the raspberry canes, watering, etc. Cycled there and back with onions, beetroot, courgettes and beans in my basket, on the bike I won on GN last year.

Hot, mucky and sweaty but feeling more energised

My knees and feet turn out because I have never stopped ballet dancing; I can't keep them straight.
I can still do the splits, keep my legs straight, bend over and put my elbows on the ground and do a pirouette or two without falling over, so I am not going to worry about it.

J586. Thank you for the blog references. In an earlier post you mentioned mobilising ankles and hips as being helpful for knee pain, but then said not if arthritis related. Can you suggest something specifically to build up quads or whatever helps to strengthen the knees? I do have arthritic knees. I enjoy exercise and am happy to try anything. I'm told recumbent bike at the gym is good and have tried that today. What other gym exercises do you recommend? I will check out the blog you mentioned too.

JAY586 I realise your not medically qualifed but clearly you have a lot of knowledge I wondered what you might think of the pain I have on the inner aspect of my elbow when golfing. Some years ago I had a tendon injury inthe forearm and was prescribed a brace to wear and I wondered if I needed that again.

I would love to have that level of flexibility, alas, I'm built for weightlifting, not dancing!

I find gardening harder than the gym...and there's dyspraxia in my family. I've been known to fall off things in the gym. (-:

I used to live in Abingdon.

The thing with arthritis is that leg strengthening is going to help but it might set your pain off too much. It's finding that balance between the two. I would try to see what works. Might be an idea to keep a log of exercise & how you feel the next day. It's going to be an n=1 experiment.

In Elsbeth's blog post she talks about posterior chain exercises, eg deadlift & also avoiding squats. Is there someone at the gym that can show you proper technique for a deadlift? You can use a barbell, dumbbells or kettlebells & start really light, take it easy and explore. See how you go, come back & we can work for through leg exercises, seeing what affects you. As ever, any sharp pain or it feels really bad, stop.

Golfer's elbow? Pretty much any repetitive muscle action can cause pain in & around joints. Hence saying mix up your exercises & look at recovery practices, like massage & foam rolling. I probably should say see a properly qualified medical professional tho, sorry!

Arthritis Research has some basic leg exercises (I googled arthritis & leg exercises), tho some of them require more core strength than I'd be comfortable prescribing without a thorough assessment. Specifically, the straight leg raise as that could strain the back, the regression would be a bent leg to ease the weight. The others are very basic but possibly worth a look.

Thanks for the ideas Jay586

I will be going to the knee clinic next week; hope they can give me some exercises to strengthen the supporting muscles.
In the meantime, the nice young lady in the shoe shop today showed me a pair of trainers which would be 'very good FOR when you go for a run or go to the gym'
perhaps one day soon

for not FOR

Enjoy the knee clinic jalima. I did. We used to do circuits and it was all good fun. Trouble is, when my six weeks were up I didn't continue the exercises at home. This thread has rekindled my desire to do something about my knee pain in the hopes of putting off the TKR a bit longer. I've been on the recommended sites and have been doing my exercises. Well, who knows, you may well be going for that run, but if not you can always join the gym. Hope you get some benefit next week anyway, and enjoyment too !

My mum has had both knees done. She had got really bad and it's taken years to recover her mobility and she's now a convert to the exercises that the clinic gave her. Unsure how often she does them but they did & do help. Let us know how you get on!

I'm not a massive fan of running. If you LOVE it and have good biomechanics, it's great. For the rest of us, the forces through the knees are problematic (2-4 x your weight in force). If you do want to run, do intervals of walk and run, it's kinder and you get all the benefits of interval training. Tho brisk walking is better really. That said, given I'm qualified as a PT I'm attempting to have a go but I'm easing into it with very low reps each session.

I might post a structure to a gym visit, if that is of interest?

One of the great things about my "journey" over the last few years is how many different things that are that will help!

Ha, ha, maybe I should of entitled this flatten your tumny with strength exercise!

Found a really good resource, which someone might find helpful. A comprehensive guide to getting stronger.

Google "getting stronger PDF". It's by a university in the US that is famous for its work with exercise & older people called Tufts

Enjoy!

Circuits run ?
oh heck

I think the first appointment is just a chat

I've done all sorts of classes, Pilates, British Military Fitness (where I discovered I couldn't get off the floor easily, hence the fitness journey) and Jog Scotland (was always the slowest) then Crossfit and S & C but I've never been to a circuits class.

Chat is good!

I have seen workmates doing circuit training in the lunch hour

No, not circuits run, Jalima. A very gentle series of exercises at various "stations" set up in the room by the physios. On one, we tied weights to our ankles, held onto a chair, and moved our leg to and fro sideways. Another was standing on a balance board, and so on - about 8 in all and we were given an allotted amount of time before changing. The last 15 minutes was a talk with questions. We were allowed 6 weeks in all. I was also lucky to have sessions at the hospital hydrotherapy pool but that has been cut now. I did really feel that others needed it more than I did, too.