Jane and I both have suffered from too much sitting in what should be good work chairs—Jane being worse than I am. So we both found a good sports medicine physical therapist—recommended by our former skating coach, who managed amid it all, to break her ankle. We started out going there with her—and now poor Joan is laid up with a cast on her foot and we’re still going.
Starts with TENS, electrical pads on the back. That’s about 15 minutes. Then the doc has a go at the sore point du jour, which is hard to describe except that muscles and tendons get locked and develop calcium deposits and other such, and pressure gets them to release. Muscles that haven’t extended in, oh, four years, get made to extend—ow!—and the number of little muscles and tendons around a hip joint is quite many. His session is followed by ultrasound, ten minutes. Then exercise routines with stretchy cords and a balance pad…you stand on same and hold your hands level 2″ above a counter and try not to wobble, including with your eyes closed. This re-informs the brain that some little muscles need to wake up and work.
And they are working. Basically, the ‘equipment’ is called a ‘balance pad’, from Airex. You can get it on Amazon, and we may get our own. You stand on it in shoes, heel to toe on the right, then left, and you balance for a set amount of time while holding your hands 2″above a convenient counter. It’s there if you need to catch yourself, but your brain re-learns and your muscle signals get straightened out. Simple exercise, big result. Big improvement in safety. I’m amazed how many of the things I’ve written off to ‘age’ have responded to this PT.
Wow, that’s a positive-sounding report! I’m glad to hear that it’s going so well…
I can offer another balance exercise based on another physical terrorist’s suggestion. At night stand in your bedroom doorway, heel to toe in the middle, bring your hands up to solar plexus, elbows out so they’re an inch shy of touching the doorjamb. Close eyes and/or switch off lights, and try to keep elbows from touching doorjamb. Ain’t easy, but totally safe.
And if it comes to chairs, there’s a European designed ergonomic chair that’s more adjustable than most. I’m 6’2″, so most chairs’ lumbar support hits me too low, doing the opposite of what it should. The “Wau” chair has an adjustable back that raises and lowers, so I can get the lumbar support (also adjustable) at the right height. It does what it should for me. But I do have a couple complaints: it isn’t padded, not comfy for long sessions, and the back reclines but the seat stays in position, allowing one’s butt to slide forward. Best not used as a recliner.
That balance exercise does very well indeed, though I like to start barefoot on a flat floor. It exercises the small muscles in the foot, and I feel that they have more room to work if one is barefoot. At the kitchen counter or the bathroom vanity are good places to work on it.
There is another where you lift your heels off the floor by bending you knees and then bounce slightly. That one works the muscles of the arches.
That’s great!
I’ve been having good luck with exercising when I make tea, which I do many times in a day. I just lean gently against a wall and do 20 or so “push ups”–push aways? It’s not going to make me Arnold Schwarzenegger, but it’s improved my muscle tone quite a bit.
An acquaintance uses a standing desk, height adjustable. But that may not be a good solution if one has balance problems or low blood pressure.
Exercise is like diet. You can’t just “fix things” and stop. You need something you can live with day to day.
Today is the Feast Day of Brother Juniper, and in the garden (and parking lot) it is raining… I’ve been fighting either an aggressive allergy attack or malingering cold for the past 2 weeks, honking and sneezing with alarming coughing fits and lately a headache. My last doctor exam revealed that my blood pressure meds probably should be upped, and I need bloodwork for a variety of tests as well. Sigh. At least we do not have the arctic conditions prevailing across much of the northern tier currently, although temperatures in the low 60s may as well be for many!
I’ve had a share of that. All take a lesson!
Last Tuesday evening I began having symptoms of rhinitis, next morning definitely had a head cold. 20-30 years ago it’d’ve been no big thing, hardly slowed me down for more than a day or two, but at a few months shy of 75, it threw me on my butt by this weekend–I hadn’t had a decent night’s sleep for 3-4 days. I was fairly effectively treating symptoms, which is all I could do. Sunday morning I took myself to a local walk-in “immediate care” place for help, voice a mere whisper, walking 1′ or so a step. If asked to rate how I felt, my considered opinion would’ve been 30%!
Didn’t get much help. Prescription for a cough gel couldn’t be filled because alternate pharmacy was closed Sunday, as was primary. 20-something Physician’s Assistant said nothing is “standard of care” but “ride it out”. Of course not, FOR SOMEONE HIS AGE! Asked for an antiviral prescription for next time, to prevent this happening again. Refused. OK, not the time or place, but next appointment with my Primary Care Physician, that will be demanded. I’ve got to be respecting my own age! I’m not the man I was, but I remember him too well.
p.s. Monday morning I slept until 9:30. Tuesday evening a week on, I’m still hacking up thick yellowy paste, but better than 90%. And that’s amazing!
Chocolate may be a better cough suppressant.
https://www.ajc.com/news/world/chocolate-better-cough-suppressant-than-medicine-study-says/zVm2Wr0OvQOdaca9zSwYwJ/
This links to some other interesting chocolate articles, like dark (70%) chocolate improving brain function. (Trader Joe’s sells 72% chocolate in its huge half kg size, 1.1 lb.)
If you don’t like chocolate, honey is an option.
(I hate the taste of guaifenesin!)
At last, justification for guzzling chocolate! *goes to grocery store and looks for 80% cacao bars immediately*
On the other hand, I’ve just been told by my physiotherapist that chocolate, as well as raw tomatoes (and a bunch of other things I’ve forgotten because I don’t eat or drink them anyway) can somewhat inhibit the little muscle that stops stomach acid from going out of the stomach in the wrong direction.
My habit of rewarding myself with a chocolate at the end of a day was contributing to acid reflux when I lay down to sleep.
I’m not saying stop eating chocolate, it has a lot of positives as well; but watch the timing and don’t choose it as your bedtime snack seems to be the take-away message.
Sucking on sugar-free honey liquorice has the best anti-coughing effect of anything I’ve tried (except maybe codeine-containing medicine that needs a doctor’s prescription; which you won’t get here unless it’s very bad, causing serious sleep deprivation and has been going on for three weeks at least).
The issue I see with using chocolate is it is naturallu so bitter we always dump a lot of sugar in it.
Licorice has long been used as an expectorant in folk medicine. Its problem is it can also be toxic. “The United States Food and Drug Administration believes that foods containing liquorice and its derivatives (including glycyrrhizin) are safe if not consumed excessively. Other jurisdictions have suggested no more than 100 mg to 200 mg of glycyrrhizin per day, the equivalent of about 70 to 150 g (2.5 to 5.3 oz) of liquorice.”
The Dutch eat lots of liquorice. 2 kilograms a year is the national average, but some eat it daily and some never, and we’re not dying of high blood pressure more than other Western countries. On the job, the communal pot of liquorice gets refilled daily, and we polish off a big bag a day between the ten of us.
Our health institute recommends to use less than 95 grams daily (beyond that it will have a bad effect on a healthy person’s blood pressure), but says no more than 50 grams would be better in general, and if you’re suffering from high blood pressure you should limit yourself to a few a day, as they have the opposite effect of medication against high blood pressure.
That allows enough leeway to use them to calm a persistent cough. Sucking on a firm piece will make it last a long time, and is less conducive to eating one after another after another than the softer chewy kinds are, whether sweet or salty.
Although I very much like licorice, especially the salmiak pastillen varieties, eating as much as I wish is bad for me because I also have to deal with high blood pressure. Licorice can raise blood pressure, so bingeing on a whole bag of Australian soft licorice chews is a bad idea.
Same here: For weeks now, I’ve had sneezing and a streaming nose despite antihistamines, then this past week I developed a hacking and what is known in medical circles as a “productive” cough. Lotta chest congestion, with repeated attempts to cough up my toenails. Going through tissues at an astonishing rate. Haven’t had a fever, though, which I’ve been watching carefully for after last year’s bout with pneumonia. I heard that a particularly nasty strain of flu was going round, but don’t you get fever with flu?
My doc for a long time was a professor at UCI; he taught all the other docs Internal Medicine. (My current doc is one of his students.) Atypical symptoms are typical.
Once, I was hacking up great gobs of gooey glop. I asked him, “How is this productive?!” He was amused.
C.J. I do hope things continue to get better for both you and Jane. When it’s your back giving trouble, it really gets you where you live. I applaud your choice of going to your sports medicine doc. They understand about functionality and body mechanics so much more than the average orthopod or GP. Too easy for them to simply write a Rx for pain meds than to get at the source/cause of the pain, which a sports medicine doc is much more inclined to do and is much better trained to treat. Slow and steady wins the race, I say. Hang in there.
The good Lord and the *&%$# VA willing, the chances look good that I’ll be getting a new knee for my 70th birthday (May). I’ve talked it over with my orthopod and the game plan is for me to start serious “prehab” in April leading into the surgery, with the aim to get me back on my feet ASAP. Right now the task at hand is to get all my docs to agree to and clear me for the surgery. Oncologist says go for it. The cardiologist is the sticking point as to whether or not he’ll let me off Plavix long enough for the surgery. The relevant quotes from Bette Davis (“Old age ain’t for sissies.”) and Mick Jagger (“What a drag it is getting old.”) come to mind.
As noted above, I’ve got a rampant case of what my dad always referred to as “the galloping epizootic.” My sincere sympathy to anyone else who has picked up this crud, and my sincerest hopes that those who haven’t, don’t.
I’ve got my fingers crossed for you and your hopeful birthday present of a new knew, Wol. I’ve been wondering how you’ve been doing.
I think that was called the “epizooties” in Pogo. (We incorporated a lot of those terms into our family’s speech. Makes us sound strange, sometimes.)
@Joe, You might be interested in this.
https://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/2019/LC/C8LC01342J#!divAbstract
I wonder if the test is fatal to the bee. Current nosema tests require that the bees be dissected (of COURSE, they’re dead, first). Nosema seems to reside in the bee’s gut, so it means using a microscope. If this handheld test can be done without having to take bees from the hive and dissect them, it would be a much faster test, and treatment could begin immediately. Otherwise, you have to send the sample to a lab and have them examine it, and then get back to you.
Phooey. I’ve had minor sniffling, sneezing, coughing symptoms for the past two days. Not sure if it’s really a cold or just brought on by the weather, etc. Our temp keeps going up and down like a yo-yo, winter-like with lows in the 30’s for a couple of days, then spring-like with lows in the 40’s, 50’s, or 60’s for a few days, then back, with alternating sun and light rain. Wacky. More like our spring around Easter, but with more change in temperature. Or maybe I picked up something the last time I popped out of the apartment.
So, I’m drinking lots of tea and faux juice (powder concentrate added to water, supposedly low sugar; nt sure how nutritious it is, but it’s what I got last time) and eating whatever, and hoping to avoid buying groceries for another week or two. (I may give in just to have some convenience foods and juice.)
I’m likely staying up tonight, watching SF shows and reading the rest of Alliance Rising. (Got sidetracked by real life, still have a bit less than a third to go.)
The two cats want lots of attention. Smokey has been in “I need a lap or desk or chair back” mode for over a week. Not sure why he’s being more clingy than usual, but he’s happy this way. Goober is also sticking close.
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A fan had said she (he?) wanted a copy of Finity’s End, but the paperbacks are too pricey now. — I recalled this and checked Amazon. I see that there are still used hardbound copies available for a very good price (I think one was about $2 and another about $4 or $5). — I would recommend going that route. Maybe we’ll see it in ebook or a reprint PB or HB edition, and audiobook, in the next few years?
I hae also started doing a rewatch of Deep Space Nine. — Enjoying the Orville and waiting for Stranger Things season 3 on July 4th. Haven’t seen news yet of when the Expanse (Amazon Video) or Lost in Space (Netflix) will be back. — I’m trying Project Blue Book (History Channel drama) via iTunes.
I really wish they’d put Space: Above and Beyond on streaming. Going to have to hook up a DVD player to view the discs on my computer. I’ve been feeling the urge to rewatch.
I like the idea of the balance pad and appreciate the information, I will be out from behind my computer soon at work and without internet at my home that will lessen the amount of time I spend at the computer so hopefully I will use the extra time for getting my muscles in shape. Your good outcomes give me hope. Thank you!
Last Saturday evening, January 26, my amateur radio club was participating in Winter Field Day. Set up an emergency radio station in the field, try to make as many contacts with other stations in the U.S. and Canada within a 24 hour period. The National Weather Service office predicted windy and snow, with accumulations of 1 – 3 inches. We went out to change an antenna, and my partner stepped down first, no problem, but when I stepped down out of the trailer onto the pavement, I was on a slick patch of ice, and the next thing I knew, I was lying across the metal step of the trailer, balanced on my kidneys. Quite painful, but nothing broken. Bruised, yes. But, I’d slammed my left thumb into the pavement, and ended up peeling back a sizable chunk of skin on the side. It’s still quite tender, and it prevented me from practicing guitar for a few days. My physical therapist hasn’t been treating me for that, but rather for a possible rotator cuff tear in the right shoulder. I also have rheumatoid arthritis in my hands, which makes playing guitar more difficult than before. I’ve got an MRI scheduled for my right shoulder, so we’ll see whether it’s a true injury, or partly due to arthritis. The physical therapy consists of 15 minutes of deep tissue massage, then 15 minutes of electrostimulation, followed by various exercises to stretch and fatigue the muscles to make them relax.
Ouch, ouch, ouch, Joe!
You can always work the key with your other hand.
W2IZM
Yikes, Joe, I’m so sorry. My cousin also fell, broke her elbow, it’s pinned back together but she’s not allowed to lift anything heavier than a coffee cup for eight weeks. I’ll be sendinging healing thoughts to both of you, and hope not to hear of any more mishaps.
Ouch, Joe, that had me hissing and all in sympathy. Really hope you feel better and the PT helps.
It’s winter? You couldn’t much tell here. While the north and midwest get the polar vortex, this week and next, we are having spring-like, too-warm temps and rain. Today’s high was supposed to be 68 to 70 degrees and sprinkles of rain and fog. But after this spate of false spring, it’s supposed to dip back down to more seasonal 40’s. I keep switching between a t-shirt and a hoodie. I keep feeling I should be dressed warmly, it’s winter, and yet most of the day and evening, a t-shirt is enough. I have not turned on the A/C, and the heater hasn’t been coming on. — Before this, our temps were yo-yo-ing from winter to spring every few days. — My body has no idea what to do with this. I am not quite as sniffly, but I expect that to come back when we do another massive flip-flop in weather. I’ve decided that it’s only sinus and not an actual cold, because the symptoms are not enough to count as that severe, just annoying as all get-out.
For those going through sub-zero temps, I am so, so sorry. — My experience at college and here of below-20 temps a couple of years were enough to convince me I am glad I live where it’s warm.
The global warming predictions say my entire city could be mildly affected, all the way up to completely underwater, depending on how many feet the sea level rises and how many degrees temps increase. The thing is, we are already seeing warmer winters and hotter summers here, and who knows about the sea level. — I hadn’t really considered moving north / inland from my city, but if things keep going, that might even have to happen. Weird. (And I’m not being Chicken Little, just surprised by it all.)
Things are going so-so here. — Trying to stay productive and get some more done next week. Still feeling too isolated. Life is weird, but I am keeping on, keeping on.
I’m finally discovering that bad chairs with no back support are a contributing factor to when my back goes on strike. The last 2 times I’ve had one of my ‘turns’, it began (or the last straw) was sitting for more than a few minutes on a seat with no back. Fortunately, I’m learning that if I hit it hard with meds and good back support in the first day or two, that disrupts the cycle of spasms before it gets established. Now if only I were more faithful with the other exercises I’m supposed to do…