Health & Rehabilitation Section

I am happy to report that my homemade rehab with help from you, has gotten me back on track! I still hold back on that particular type of exercise, and am easing back into them fully I hope, but I am not in pain! yeah, no pain.....thx for your confirmation of what I may need to do to get better..
->Carolyn

You're welcome, It is always good to hear there has been progress in that area.

Hey p90x_Dude, (can we call you Dude for short??)

This year I've seem to develop chronic neck pain. Sometimes it's a very slight, dull pain and other times I can't even turn my head.

I do neck rolls & neck exercises as much as I can, but do you have any other recommendations?

Thanks so much! :flowerforyou:

Hello Shann, sure you can call me dude, some of my patients do when I tell them what we're doing that day DUDE!!!! LOL.

Let's see are you having neck pain more in the morning, day or evening? If it's when you first wake up, may be a positioning thing with you pillows. May try a cervical pillow (wraps around the base of the chin on both sides all the way around the base of the skull.

If it's progressing throughout the day it could very well be you need to work on posture. When standing erect, do your ears track in front of you shoulders (even if it's only an inch or so)? do your shoulders round a little and do you always have trigger point in your upper & mid traps?

If so this could be a condition we almost all have "forward head" and "rounded shoulders". It comes from years of bad posture and/or alot of bench press and little chest stretches (thats me for both). If you don't have those problems, give me more details and I'll try and see what clicks in this ole head of mine.

thanks,
Dude

OMG! This is great!

During the summer at the beach, my dog took off after some seagulls, because someone was feeding them, and I was holding onto a flexi-leash while she jolted off after them. My brain said to let go, but my body didn't react in time and my hand and arm was yanked from her 60lb jolt.

Well needless to say, for the next few weeks I couldn't really pick anything up with my right arm. It didn't matter if it was half a pound or twenty pounds, it hurt to pick anything up. It seemed to get better, with a little bit of an annoying twinge here and there. Some nights it would hurt more then others, but I figured after a while it would go away.

Well now that I have been exercising and lifting weights, the pain got really bad at first, but now it seems to be helping, and the pain isn't as bad as it was a few months ago, but it does twinge from my hand all the way up to my bicep. Mainly around my fore-arm to my elbow and just up into my bicep.

My husband says I should keep doing what I am doing because it will help. My sister says that I shouldn't do anything because it will agrivate it and make it worse.

My husband and I talked about it, and he has had tennis elbow and he said that is what it sounds like. I don't want to make it worse, but I don't want to stop working out? Any suggestions?

Tennis elbow will hurt right on the outside bone of the elbow. In fact if you feel right at that point on the outside of the elbowand extend your wrist. if this causes increased pain you may have tennis elbow. Also, you could have hyperextended the elbow and injured the tricep tendon.

Try heating it before any activity, limit activities involving that area and icing it afterwards. You shoud never try to push through pain. Pain is there for a reason telling us something is injured. No Pain no gain is a lie. No soreness & discomfort no gain is more along the lines of truth.

About a week and a half ago I was doing intervals of walking/running on the treadmill when all of a sudden my left knee started hurting. It wasn't an unbearable pain so I pushed through to the end of my work out another 20 minutes or so. Since then my knee has been hurting when ever i move it. I was not very smart and did the eliptical machine for an hour two days later. The day after that iced it to see if that would help. I didn't exercise for 10 days to give my injury time to heal. It seemed to get better but it still hurts whenever i move it and pops every time I stand up. My boyfriend tells me I need to stop exercising until it completely heals, but i don't want to take anymore time off exercising since I am trying to lose more weight. The last 2 days I walked on the treadmill for 60 min and my knee was really stiff afterwards and hurt, but it got better a couple of hours after. (Also there is a spot on my knee cap that when i push on it its painful, if that helps any) So is this something that i have to deal with or should I take time off exercising until its completely healed?

Hm, at what point does it hurt in motion (straight with weight, knee slightly bent with weight, knee fully flexed with weight). How about if you slightly twist to the left or right :noway:

Whatever it is, does not want to heal so my recommendation is to stop working out and get it checked out. An orthopedic doc who can get an MRI to make sure you have no meniscus damage. It's easy to irritate the meniscus and also the plica (google them and you'll find out more). Also google medial/lateral collateral ligaments and anterior/posterior cruciate ligaments.

Stop heavy loading activities (treadmill/elliptical) for 2 weeks and if you can get into a pool do some swimming or deep water walking activities (chest height not 12 foot ). If it gets better, slowly begin to work back into the treadmill/elliptical but decrease the minutes to rather than 60 minutes, try (2) 30 minute or (3) 20 minute intervals throughout the day if possible. If it's no better after the 2 weeks definitely get an appointment with a physician.

keep me posted

I know there is no section in this area, but being I'm a physical therapist and I'm responsible helping people achieve healing I'd like to open up to any concerns, questions or comments in this area. Being most of us are getting our fit lives back injuries can happen, so I think it would be good if we were here for each other in that respect (listen to the new kid on the block talk). Just a suggestion.

You are truly wonderful to help us with our physical problems. :flowerforyou: I have fibromyalgia, osteoporosis, and osteoarthritis. I'm 63 and a retired legal secretary. My three sons are grown, so it's only my husband & me at home now. I joined MFP July 1 and have lost 15 pounds with about 20 to go. The only exercises I do are the back, neck, and leg exercises my rheumatologist gave me to do in bed first thing in the morning and last thing at night (about 30 min), plus I try to walk at least 30 minutes a day.

My biggest problem is: Almost every night I wake up with leg cramps so bad I have to get up and walk them out! Potassium just seems to increase the problem, so I don't eat bananas much. Any suggestions besides more medicine? I do take four prescription meds (Boniva, Mobic, Prevacid, & Flexeril), plus an aspirin a day, multivitamins & calcium..

Thanks again for all you do. The LORD must be so pleased to have such a caring disciple
Marti in KY
BTW, I have a 2nd degree black belt in Kung Fu and love Tai Chi. Can't do much board breaking anymore :brokenheart:

Wow this one is tough, being it's really crossing the barriers of medicine, pathology and fitness. My question is are the leg cramps dependent on how much walking you do? Also where are the cramps located? Sounds like you're having what's called either "true" cramps. My suggestions are:
1. Warmup and stretch well before and after activities, especially the groups that tend to cramp
2. Hydrate, hydrate and more hydration especially when working out to the point of perspiration.
3. Talk to you doc about your calcium/magnesium levels.

Low blood calcium, magnesium: Low blood levels of either calcium or magnesium directly increase the excitability of both the nerve endings and the muscles they stimulate. This may be a predisposing factor for the spontaneous "true" cramps experienced by many older adults, as well as for those that are commonly noted during pregnancy. Low levels of calcium and magnesium are common in a normal pregnancy unless these minerals are supplemented to the diet. Cramps are seen in any circumstance that decreases the availability of calcium or magnesium in body fluids, such as from diuretics, hyperventilation (overbreathing), excessive vomiting, inadequate calcium and/or magnesium in the diet, inadequate calcium absorption due to vitamin D deficiency, poor function of the parathyroid gland (a tiny gland in the neck that regulates calcium balance), and other conditions.

God bless you and know that I give Him all the glory and honor for the burden He's placed on my heart to help His children.

Angelo