| Walking: Three mornings a week I walk a mile. I like to walk and usually even with the pain I enjoy this. It also has the advantage of getting me outside. Yoga: Two mornings a week I do yoga, that's probably because I was doing yoga when the FM started and I could do it at home. My level of competence is not as good as it was but it does help the flexibility and is a calming activity. Stretching Exercises: I do ten to fifteen minutes of these two evenings a week. Weights: I do fifteen to twenty minutes of these two evenings a week. These are not heavy weights but even so, quite often I have to shift the weight level down and then try to work it up again. In the last few years I find it very easy to cause tendon damage so if I notice any unusual pain I pay attention and take a break from whatever seems to be causing it. I've also been lucky enough to have a physiotherapist who is willing to look at how I do an exercise and let me know if I should be changing anything. I love to swim but the water has to be warm enough or that can be painful. Also I tend to react to chemicals in some pools so have to be careful where I go. I did aqua-cise classes for a while and really enjoyed them but it is difficult sometimes to go to an exercise program when you may have to miss classes because of flares. I really believe that it's important to find the exercises that are best for each individual. I've watched exercise classes for FM and I've listened to recommendations by some of the "experts" and I've felt very discouraged because I knew I could not follow the programs at the level they were advocating. After watching some of the people I know with FM who started these exercises enthusiastically and then dropped out and didn't return I've decided it's better to have a program that works for me long term and I figure if I exercise only half of each year that's better than nothing. Afterthoughts The big thing with FM is it keeps you humble. I wrote the above and in general it is what I do but I've just gone through several bad weeks so here's an afterthought. With FM we never seem to be totally painfree. I have to know my own body, there are days when if I pushed myself to do the above exercises(even the least strenuous) I would hurt my muscles and it would take days to recover. There are days when I now recognize I don't feel like starting to exercice again but I have to push myself because those are days when the FM is lying low but I am so accustomed to the pain I don't want to have any more. The big challenge for people with FM is that we have to do our exercises with a flexible schedule and that makes exercising difficult to maintain. Posture One of the things I've noticed in myself and the other people I know with FMS is that we tend to start slouching a bit as if we are curling in against the pain. Somedays it hurts to hold our body in a sitting or standing position. Unfortunately this does nothing for our appearance and it's no help to the internal organs. We need everything working as well as it possibly can. So I am always checking myself in mirrors and reminding myself. Shoulders back and keep the tummy in as far as it will go. I know there are days we're lucky to get one foot in front of the other but the posture thing gets easier the longer you do it. copyright� 2000, Mitsou. All Rights Reserved. |