Easy exercuse

AllanMisner wrote: »

Congratulations on what you are doing! But you'll need to work on progression if you want to see improvement. Try to do some of your exercises while standing. This will help improve balance and endurance, which is critical as we age.

Agree 100%. You want to maintain/improve core strength which doesn't happen when sitting.

If the OP's doctor approves, they may do well to get a few sessions with a personal trainer at the Y experienced with older populations to develop a program.

Congratulations on finding exercises that work fir you.

I second @AnnPT77's recommendation to look into aqua fit.
My pools have a number of programmes to fit people of varying abilities, including small classes led by a physiotherapist.
There are also deep water classes, this may suit you as no pressure is put in your feet whatsoever.

(I took my MiL to the physio classes post Stroke, I had been doing regular classes for years)

I don't know if this would work for you, but my brother in law has found, although walking is painful, he can cycle.

Maybe try the bikes and rowing machine at the Y.

Of course, these are just suggestions for if, in time, you want to move forward, or have a change in what you are doing.
What you are doing now is excellent.

Just thought, quite often in the gym there is a hand bike, (the pedals are turned with your arms) this may be a way to get some cardio in.

Cheers, h. (64yo)

Ann, was there anything specific that helped with your neuropathy?
BiL's is from statins (?) and his docs haven't come up with any relief.
(He is in Scotland so treatments, if any may be different,)

middlehaitch wrote: »

(Good stuff snipped by reply-er.)

Ann, was there anything specific that helped with your neuropathy?
BiL's is from statins (?) and his docs haven't come up with any relief.
(He is in Scotland so treatments, if any may be different,)

Finishing chemotherapy and recovering from it ended the more acute neuropathy for me. I was lucky - not everyone recovers so well from chemo-induced neuropathy (including some of my friends).

The very mild episodic bouts post-chemo were (I believe) related to fatigue (lack of sleep) or unusually large amounts of time on my feet, and are reduced if not eliminated by weight loss.

There are many reasons people get neuropathy - diabetes is another common one. For some, it is very, very painful. It often involves - confoundingly - not only neuropathic pain, but lack of touch-sensitivity. Man, did I drop a lot of messy stuff when I couldn't appropriately feel proper grip. We don't realize how much we intuitively rely on sense of touch for daily tasks, until it's compromised!

My understanding is that it's nerve damage or impairment, so recovery potential is variable depending on circumstances.

Advice that amounts to "just power through it and do things anyway" may, for some cases, not be useful, insightful, or compassionate. On the flip side, using it as a reason to give up and do nothing is a bad plan for achieving one's best life . . . but that's clearly not even remotely what OP is doing.

AnnPT77 wrote: »

I wonder if any of the other people responding have ever had neuropathy? I have (during chemotherapy, thankfully mostly temporary). I'm so sorry for your pain, but admire that you're working hard to find things that you can do, then working persistently at them. Good show!

With that kind of character, you will progress in what you do, and take on new things over time, I'm confident. Hang in there. I'm 62, so I don't think 68 is too late for amazing progress!

My Y also has some great pool exercise classes for people who have arthritis, are obese, or have other challenges that are helped by the water's buoyancy taking some of the pressure off the feet and providing some support.

If you're overweight, I wouldn't be surprised if progress on that front will help, too. I still have the occasional mild neuropathy episode when I'm on my feet lots - especially if I was fatigued to start with. I hadn't thought much about it until reading your post, but those episodes have become very rare - maybe even stopped? - since I reached a healthy weight.

Hang in there, keep working and progressing, and thanks for sharing good exercise ideas that can help people in challenging circumstances!

I can't speak for @AllanMisner but I have not had neuropathy and I'm truly sorry the OP is in pain from this. My point is core strength is critical at all times, but especially as we age. IMO, it would be good for the OP to find some way to get some core work in if at all possible (with modifications for her neuropathy) working with professions.

Happened to see this nice article on ground based core work. Perhaps some of the ideas in here could help.
http://robertsontrainingsystems.com/blog/ground-based-core-training/?inf_contact_key=e0a986e70785b2622738554b6d7c3d7c750fafed16630ee9eb076e5bd79adfb6#