A Physical Therapist Told Me
12 years ago
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- 11 years ago
- 11 years ago
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Comments (17)With regard to my previous posting above, recovering your ability to do activities which caused your injury may be complicated/limited if your injury has existed for a long time and you have developed a chronic pain condition, which can be a separate problem in addition to tendinitis etc. The Mayo Clinic is a good place for learning to understand chronic pain conditions. I'm posting this follow-up because it's been a few years since I posted the previous messages in this thread and I've recently reread them and noticed a few corrections that need to be made. Someone e-mailed me about my postings recently and wanted a link to the guide I was working on, which unfortunately I haven't finished and probably won't have finished any time soon (long story). The most essential information is in my previous postings anyway (even without the corrections). Anyway, I thought I would provide corrections to some of the information above here. 1. I explained total daily usage of an affected limb badly. My statement that "everything else you do with this limb in the day, other than what you do in the time limit, is adding injury to your arm" is not phrased very well. I'm really referring to other things you do in the day that are similarly strenuous to the activity which caused your injury, including computer usage and other things like that which are typically associated with repetitive strain injury. While you are gradually rebuilding your ability to do the initially aggravating activity, you should do these other similar things sparingly. And eventually it may be a good idea to introduce these other things with the same 10% a week duration technique as well. 2. Although a very long walk can aggravate some severe injuries, it is important to stay mobile; avoiding walking entirely is a very bad idea. Going out for walks is good for your knees particularly. 3. Two things mentioned in the list of things that aggravate RSI's, placing your arms on your chest while sleeping, and vigorous grooming habits really had more to do at the time with a chronic pain condition I had developed (it was difficult at the time to distinguish the two). Obviously you will have to assess your own sleeping position with regard to your specific RSI, and perhaps your doctor or a physio (physical therapist) can help you understand what would be best. 4. The assertion that tendons get thicker as they develop more endurance is something I heard from only one doctor several years ago, and nowhere else since. It doesn't even make sense to me that an increase in width would help an injury that gets worse when inflammation occurs and pressure on the nerve increases... 5. Be very wary using wrist braces, unless you have been given very specific instructions by a doctor who is well specialized in these types of injuries. The biggest danger with wrist braces is overusage, which can stiffen up soft tissues drastically, making them much more susceptible to injury (which I know from experience) from range of motion activities/exercises. In my experience, wearing wrist braces 24/7 is a terrible terrible idea, unless for some reason it is medically necessary for you and you have been advised by a well specialized medical professional. Anyway, if you have been wearing wrist braces excessively, and then stop wearing them, be especially careful about starting up new exercises and stretches. Start gradually with these under these circumstances. 6. Naprocen/naproxen is one of the anti-inflammatories that is particularly hard on your stomach, and not indicated for long-term usage. I had good results from the anti-inflammatory Meloxicam/Moxib over a long period of time, although anti-inflammatories are generally drugs you shouldn't take long term. Eventually I was just trying to treat a chronic pain condition with it, which is not effective. Nonetheless, stopping an anti-inflammatory too soon can also cause significant, potentially permanent, complications. In my experience it is necessary to attain a significant level of flexibility before ceasing anti-inflammatory medications, otherwise permanent soft tissue complications may occur. My experience with this was contrary to some advice that I got from some doctors [not specializing in RSI] at all the, whose principal concern generally is that you get off the medication. 7. Although it is important to reduce or stop your aggravating activity for a while as a response to your acute RSI, and then build that activity up again gradually, over the long term if you reduce your limb usage too much you can cause inflexibility which will not help your situation. Working with the right health professional will probably help you find the right balance for this (keeping in mind the importance of building up new, or previously aggravating, physical activities at a rate of 10% a week). 8. There are a couple other simple thumb stretches you can do to loosen up that part of the hand. Right now when I do a round of stretching I do one of the kind mentioned in my earlier post, as well as one of each of these two mentioned now. One is to stretch your thumb out to the side, that is just directly away from your pinky finger. You can do this with your other hand pulling on the thumb, or you can rest your thumb on a surface and push down on the wrist [gently at first, don't overdo it of course] with your other arm to create the same stretch. In my experience if you only put the very tip of your thumb on the surface, you stretch it in a weird way and aggravation occurs more easily and you don't really get as full a stretch. I usually place the thumb on the surface close to the first knuckle. The other thumb stretch is to just stretch your thumb straight back, in the same direction your hand goes when you're doing a wrist stretch. You just use your other arm to push your thumb back until it starts bending the wrist and you get a good stretch. These two thumb stretches, in addition to the one mentioned in my earlier post, work on thumb flexibility in a few different directions, which is good. 9. Additional wrist stretch techniques. It can be difficult or unproductive to use one arm to stretch the other (specifically for wrist stretches), which is the technique I described in my original post. There are other techniques to do the wrist stretches which avoid this. One is to stand beside the edge of the table, as high as somewhere about half way between your waist and knee [whatever gives enough room for your arm and is comfortable; you can accommodate a little lower surface but not higher]. Placing your fingertips approximately 8 cm from the edge of the table, palm facing forward, you can drop your arm down (applying a little body weight downward for advanced stretches), keeping your elbow straight, causing a bend at your wrist. Keeping your hand near the edge of the table keeps your thumb out of the way so that you can just focus on stretching out your wrist with this particular stretch. Remember to keep your thumb and shoulders relaxed, keep the arm next to your side and make sure that the wrist is fully rotated so that the palm faces forward (when unstretched obviously). 9b. If your wrist is so rigid that you cannot even put your hand in the position to start the above described stretch technique, there is another technique you can use which is a little bit more complicated. I will only describe it vaguely, and if anyone is more interested they can e-mail me and I could show them a picture of the setup I used for this. Personally I started with this technique when my hands were very stiff, and then moved on to the one mentioned above. I kept doing the thumb stretches the same way I was doing them as they are mentioned much further up this thread (in one of my 2004 posts), although I will mention a couple more useful thumb stretches below in this particular post. Anyway, the technique is that you lay your arm over the top of a chair [a standard, simple kitchen or desk chair, nothing oddly shaped or fancy], making contact with the forearm just below the elbow, palm facing up, and the chair itself has been raised from the floor so that your arm is at least 45° from the floor or something like that, probably higher is better but your arm doesn't need to be sticking straight out from your body. Whatever is comfortable while stretching. You will need to fashion some sort of compartment which you can slide your four fingers into, up to the web of your thumb [making it out of two CD cases might work for you]. It's just something that will keep your fingers straight, and you will attach a strap to the end of this small device (closer to the index finger side). The path of the strap is a little complicated and goes as follows: from the finger compartment near the tip of your index finger, under something that is taped onto the side of the top of the chair [right arm = right side of chair], over the top of the top of the chair [on the other side of something you tape onto the top of the chair in the middle, to prevent the strap from sliding up next to the arm you're stretching], and then the strap will hang down [which might work out better if your chair doesn't have a completely solid back] and be attached to a counterweight heavy enough to hold the stretch, but not so heavy as to create additional stretch without you having to pull on the strap [very important to get this weight sorted out correctly, using coins in a bag is a good way to get the right weight]. Basically the way this works is that you can pull on the strap somewhere [before it goes around the thing taped to the middle of the top of the chair is a good place to pull on] and increase the stretch on your wrist, and when you let the strap go friction at the places it is wrapped around the chair will keep it held in place without you having to hold on to it for the duration of the stretch. You may have to use your imagination to understand my setup, or use your imagination to create a setup which works better for you. The important thing is to make sure the strap is pulling your wrist in the right direction, which you can check out by just putting your arm on the chair and pulling on the strap and figuring out the first place the strap needs to go around [basically the positioning of the thing taped to the side of the chair is very important for this]. Anyway, I can provide a picture of my own device if anyone ever needed to see it. Don't overstretch, and tighten and release the strap slowly and carefully!!!!! Sorry for anyone who read my previous guide and may have been thrown off or were affected negatively by some of the information which is not completely correct, or just false. Nonetheless, the most important aspects of recovering from an RSI are included in that information. It has been a long learning experience for me dealing with RSI, but I'm back now with a good level of functioning and am regularly playing a significant amount of music on the musical instruments now, even with my chronic pain condition. jgecc@hotmail.com...See MoreBun & Thigh Rocker - too good to be true?
Comments (48)Hi Barbara, I've had similar concerns about position and feeling it in the butt. I'm taller, 5'6", but 1st of all, I keep the foot plate angled at the middle position. I've played around with the other adjustment and at one point tried bringing the foot plate in closer to the seat, but it did not feel quite right. When I'm sitting on the seat with my feet on the plate, it's not real tight, like you're crunched up in a ball, but ... picture a clock, with your butt in the middle of the dial, your back angled at about 10 o'clock, and the top of your knees at about 2 o'clock (I hope this makes sense) - that's my positioning. ANYWAY, about the butt thing ... I've tried lots of different techniques and I have to say I don't feel any of them in my butt like I do on the top of my thighs or the inner thighs (with your feet like a frog), BUT strangely enough, as I walk around during the day, my butt feels much more toned. If this is gain without pain, I'll take it! It did take about 4 weeks or so, at about 4-5x per week to start feeling something in the butt, but it's definitely tighter. I can't get over how well this machine works! Nothing I've ever done has toned my legs this thoroughly and quickly and (a long time ago) I did a lot of weight training. I do play around with a couple of sets of short, low reps and I like to do the frog position, feet & knees angled out, with both my feet flat and then a few sets with my toes up. Re the tailbone, I prefer to keep myself a little higher on the back board - I have a long history of lower back spasms, so I try real hard to keep my back flat and not arching, and keeping myself higher on the back board helps. Hope this helps a little - good luck!...See MoreHealthy check-in for April 2015, no fooling
Comments (35)maire_cate, 17 pounds is terrific! Congratulations! I am hoping to have time to concentrate on getting back into shape and losing a little weight once school is out. Now that the nice weather is starting, I am trying to convince myself to walk the dogs every day when I get home, no matter how tired I am. We'll see. Having always been very thin, this weight gain is hard on me. I am used to eating whatever and not putting on an ounce. New meds for thyroid has helped the energy level slightly, but I know I just have to do the work now. Hmmm, time to go downstairs to do my weights before getting out in the yard for a bit-knees and all don't work so well anymore either. No more all day gardening at this point. Sheesh. Oh, and do have those colonoscopies everyone. Colon cancer is not something anyone should die from anymore (except in the very rare, early case maybe). I was going to have my last one done in our town rather than going into Georgetown University Hospital where our doctor is located and where we usually. Have everything taken care of healthwise. I decided to go ahead and go into town. I know they are good there and they do so many of these procedures that they are quite proficient. Debrak, I don't know where you live, but it might be a good idea to share your concerns with your doctor now, so you and he can find you a doctor and hospital you trust. This is not something to ignore....See MoreKnee surgery and gardening
Comments (11)Getting a little away from your original question.........But I need knee replacements too, but have chosen not to get them. I'm 66. I haven't been able to get up from a floor position for years! I tripped by myself in the backyard last year, and had to crawl over to a big stick, which helped me get upright. It's strange....but I actually can't tell you why I can't get up. Nothing feels weak.......I just can't get up! lol! Anyhow.....for years I did a lot of trellis gardening, which was great. But the weeds in my fairly big garden got to be just too much leaning over, and painful. So this spring I've gone to 8 Behlen country stock tanks up on cement blocks. I've had a couple of these for a couple years and they work great.........and no leaning over! If I do need to lean over a bit to weed them, I can sit on a garden stool. I still have several trellises for pole beans and cucumbers. I've also invested in some cordless equipment.......like a cordless mower. It has a removable string weed trimmer in it that you can take out of it's wheeled base to use separately. So now, most everything will be up higher and I can just "mow" the garden floor. I love gardening. I can't imagine ever not being able to garden. But......I've learned to do whatever I can to be able to continue it. Yes, I will miss gardening in the ground, but since that's not possible anymore........it's the raised stock tanks for me. YAY! So good luck with your knee replacement and do whatever you can to continue gardening in a way that won't hurt your knee or be painful to you. There's still so many options!...See More- 11 years ago
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