My name is Sarrah and I suffer pretty severe chronic pain due to spinal stenosis and 4 bulging discs in my neck. Some days the pain is so bad, that even with my meds, I just cannot find the strength to work out.
Is there anyone else with chronic pain issues? I would love to learn how you have over come them and get any tips, tricks or ideas you may have.
I to live with chronic back pain 4 herniated bulging disc. Pain medication almost daily. I also have to work 40 hours a week with children. I finally broke down little at a time walking, I walk about 20 minutes on a treadmill or outside, longer if not too much pain. When my back bothers me too much I use a pillow on recumbent bike. Sometimes it is very painful and I just make myself do it. It's not fun, but the weight I carry puts more pressure on my back and heart. I am 56 years old. Since Mother's Day May 9th I have lost 18 pounds. Just fight beyond the pain, cry out do what you have to do but fight, don't quit! You have to be strong, I do know your pain Sarrah and my heart goes out you. I walked the treadmill tonight and now back pain. Hang in Sarrah and keep trying. If you can only do ten minutes and later that day another ten minutes it all adds up at the end of the day, you don't have to do it all in one shot. Good luck.
Netdoe - I have a herniated disc as well. Have you gotten therapy? If not, I can recommend some exercises for you that I got from my therapist. I have seen a lot of improvement! I know that pain, so I really feel for you. ):
Sarrah - Like Netdoe said, even a few minutes is better than nothing. As stated above, I have a herniated disc in my back, and I also have cronic wrist and (to a lesser degree) knee pain. I'm conscious of activities that would specifically hurt those areas. For example, I don't do push-ups because that puts too much pressure on my wrist.
I focus a lot of my diet specifically, and honestly, that has helped me a great deal. Once you drop weight, you may even feel an improvement on your pain (extra weight doesn't help bulged discs, or really any injuries), and then you could maybe exercise more. I certainly hope, in the bottom of my heart, that that will be the case for you.
I'm dealing with extreme fatigue more than pain, but pain is a factor too, and I've been known to set off a month of very painful tendinitis by a bit of the wrong type of exercise. Assume that you won't be losing weight through exercising, just through dieting (perfectly possible), which takes the stress off there. Then tailor your exercise regime to the condition which is causing the pain. If some days you can't work out because of pain, that's absolutely fine. You don't want to be making the pain worse. Find the best solution for that, whether it's little and often, more infrequent but longer workouts, varying the types of exercise, whatever you're comfortable with. If your workouts are making the pain worse, scale them back. If you find that one form of exercise is better for the pain but burns fewer calories (e.g. stretching rather than cardio), don't worry about the calories burned, just keep your body happy. Don't get thrown off by all the healthy people who are working out like mad: they are not the same as us in this respect!
HI SARRAH:
I have bad knees and arthritis in other areas. I'm using walking as my main aerobic exercise. I split up my walking. I do around 30 minutes before work in the a.m., go for a walk during my lunchtime at work and try to get in another 20-30 minutes in the p.m.
The target schedule doesn't always happen. A tendon or something in my one knee gives out many times, and I have to stop with barely 1 mile walked. Other times, I am successful - but never without some degree of pain and/or discomfort.
I've even gone out into my backyard and walk a path for 15-30 minutes at a time. I have a large back yard and I couple walking around with a ball game with my dog.
I'm using a lot of Advil and icing my worst knee a lot. Every day is a new adventure, but I have learned that walking in small measures during the day can add up and I've been able to be fairly consistent with losing 2 lbs a week.
I, also, have recently purchased some exercise DVDs. Some of the dancing ones look like fun.
If you have access to a gym, a recumbent bicycle might we a possible choice. If you could afford one for home, that could be better.
I fight rheumatoid arthritis in many joints, as well as other complications. I have found the elliptical to be a God-send to me at my house. Living in AZ (and I have restrictive airway disease as well due to rheumatoid nodules on the lungs), this time of year it is too hot with a bit of humidity to do a lot outside. By the time I get home from work, we are scortching. So I pop my Naproxen, get on the elliptical and let the pain and sliding of my knee (there are no gel pads left, so it slides quite a bit sometimes) determine the workout regime for the day. I also like to bike within my subdivision on the weekend, and go for steady walks. I ice joints most nights and that helps with inflammation as well. It's all according to what your body says you can do. My DH says I make some weird noises sometimes to get through it, but you have to remember that when the weight goes down, that's less pressure on the things that cause you pain. I do have to say though, it is nice to see I am not alone trying to battle physical demons that want to make me fail... thank you for starting this thread!
Chronic Pain and physical activity
