Did I mention that I saw the physiotherapist yesterday? Yep, I saw her yesterday. She suggested that I might benefit from some massage on my back and legs in order to loosen the muscles there - they're very tight.
She also said that I should be stretching the muscles as much as possible because then I'll be more flexible and (theoretically, at least) I'll have less pain. I asked whether yoga would be a good idea and she said that yoga might definitely be something that would help.
We also talked a bit about the pain and weakness I have along the outside of my left leg. She said that the muscle is probably weak because of my back and that I should try to strengthen it, and that exercising my legs while in water would be a great way to do this. When I took swimming lessons before, there had been a class in the deep end where the ladies wore flotation belts and did aerobics... I think those ladies were older than me, though.
The last thing the physiotherapist suggested was that I get a back support thingy for the chairs I sit in - like an obusforme thing. Ian laughed because it's mostly older people that need these..... it's like all of a sudden my body got old!
Sigh. I don't know how much I've whined about my lower back here - it feels like I whine about it almost incessantly in person - but when it hurts, it hurts a LOT. The pain has become so much worse in the last six months that I sort of wonder what's going on. Hopefully it is just me getting old and not something like more mets or something.
Oh - and one other thing she said was that when she's flying, she wears pantyhose or compression stockings that she puts on before she leaves the house and removes when she's settled into her destination. Since she's done this, she's more comfortable during the flights and she has less jet-lag. Go figure! I think that the extra compression would make me feel more comfortable so the next time I fly anywhere (which I think will be in the summer), I'll wear some nylons or something and see how it goes.
1 comment:
Hi Chantelle,
Those ladies in the pool aren't (necessarily) older than you -- I've done deep-water aquafit and it's terrific. There's also a shallow-water equivalent if you prefer to have your toes touching. The nice thing about aquafit is that you can work as hard as you personally feel like doing that day. If you want to work hard, the resistance of the water really makes for a good cardio workout, and because it's low-impact you don't get the back and knee pain you would from aerobics or something like that. On the other hand, if you just want a gentle workout, you can just push a little less and you get a nice gentle stretch-type session that energizes you without tiring you out. I can also personally attest to it working well for relieving back pain, since I took several aquafit classes over the last year on the advice of my own physiotherapist and really felt the difference on weeks when I wasn't able to attend. If you prefer working out with a younger crowd -- and I will admit the low-impact aspect of aquafit does often appeal to seniors -- try checking out the university. They offered several aquafit classes back in our day and of course those classes were mostly filled with students.
Cheers,
Anne Marie
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