Pentagenarians & Beyond: W/B 10/6

No workout today. I should do some PT exercises though. I am tempted to take the entire day off. Sleep was not so good and I did some stretches this morning that helped a bit. I had a long wait at the doctor's office. He gave me a steroid injection in my shoulder. If this doesn't help, in a month I am to call and he wants to set up an epidural in the neck where the inflammation is. There is a lot of narrowing in the space in the spine and in one area there is hardly any fluid getting through. I am really not wanting to do that. He said the other option would be surgery and I said "no!" I will keep up with the next 4 visits to PT and then do the exercises at home on my own. Hopefully inflammation goes down and that will help so I do not need to do the epidural. Since the area in the spine is the main problem, that is causing a lot of the shoulder and arm pain along with the degrading from arthritis in the shoulder. I am not sure this was all helpful, but I am determined to fight it. I have been trying to concentrate on diet and things to help inflammation. So, I guess that is it. I think I need a nap :) He told me it was okay to go get my flu shot. I decided I will wait till tomorrow or something. Also I told him, I have had issues with my neck for years and generally know what to do to get it to stop. The different things that trigger the pain and inflammation. I am hoping I can do that and forgo the epidural. I have thought about this, and generally giving up sitting for long periods in one position on computer reading etc.. needs to be less. I will often do some rolling and stretching, but if I feel like I am only making it stay longer, I let up on that too or lighten to very little. Aggressiveness results in more pain.

Valerie, I think that maybe your sister in some ways does not want to have her problems fixed. That way she can still get attention from you or others. If she really wanted help, she would take people up on it. Apparently she still really wanted you to hear her problems by leaving you a long message. I am sorry, that has to be rough. I don't blame you for not calling her back. I think waiting for her to use the cell is a good thing. What is she going to do without your help anyway?
 
This morning I did Pyramid (Intensity Series) Lower Body, Up only premix. My time was 42 minutes with 125 calories burned. Average heart rate was 100 and maximum heart rate was 141.

Diane Sue, I remember the Orthopedist telling me that some people need to get a cortisone shot to be able to benefit from the PT. I had a shot after a few weeks of therapy. I don’t blame you for being very hesitant about surgery. Gentle stretching and rolling is a good idea. I started doing more of the Jane Adams yoga practices because they are gentle with slower transitions.

Hello to Everyone and have a great afternoon.
 
I think anything and everything short of surgery is the best thing to pursue. if those things don't work, then maybe you will need to consider it. as the last resort not the first or second. my shoulder was painful but I doubt anything as extensive as yours, and the cortisone shots, PT, rest handled it. I hope you are as lucky.
we mt biked again this morning, about 2 hrs 15 min. all uphill one way, downhill all the way back. about 3.5 to 4 miles each way. it was lovely out, but cold. still a lot of mud! we got to the top and sat for a while, and I spotted a bird in tree top that looked like robin size but not acting like one. it was a pygmy owl! wow what a score! they are active during the day and about robin size. we've only seen one once before long ago. it was so tame we walked right up to it. they aren't common and because they are size of robin, they don't stand out.

diane sue I think you are spot on about my sister. she always complains about everything. there are a lot of reasons people don't want to spend time with her. I hoped she would put some energy into learning because of all the good things it will do for her, but she buried the phone and unless I get out the stick, nothing will change. I have talked xx times about using land line to call the cell, and vice versa, so she learns to place calls, and what incoming call looks like, and messages. I would bet the ranch she didn't try it once. she likes to complain. she is lazy. she is like our mother.
 
Carolyn, is Jane Adams on youtube? I know Sarah Beth has some very slow mild yoga workouts. I am thinking some of those might be a good option. I think I gave half of my yoga workouts to my daughter in law to use. She goes to the same arthritis center and has problems with her feet and they suggested her quit boot camp workouts and do yoga and low impact. Somehow I am not wanting to get rid of my low impact even if it is supposed to be temporary. Although I did let her borrow Kelly's Body By Design and I am kind of missing that one. Also I am missing my Suzanne Bowen Stretch dvd, but I really think the lower stretch would be good for her feet and legs.

Valerie, I hope I am as lucky as you. It sounds like you went through a lot to get it under control. It was odd how mine just seemed to kick in suddenly. I keep reading on moves that are kind of bad for the spine anyway. Like repetitive moves where you are twisting the body and the feet are not moving. They say you should always lift a foot first as you move into the turn. I will try to be careful of what I am doing from now on.
 
Diane Sue, I like Gentle Yoga 7 Practices for Your Day with Jane Adams. She doesn’t have a YouTube channel, but if you google “Jane Adams yoga” you can get a preview of the dvd that is on Vimeo. Her dvds are sold through Amazon.
 
diane sue, I cant get imaging like mri's because it will fry my pacer so if its not skeletal, they cant get too much info on the shoulder area other than what I can tell them and what they see caused discomfort. I hope you improve. I took at least a month off all upper body workouts. I'm not sure if I was even doing PT then. I don't remember. my discomfort was more a nagging discomfort that got more painful with certain activities. he called it impingement. I think the best thing I did was learn to keep my shoulders down and back.

I did stacked sets upper body late today on top of the mt bike this morning. a good exercise day for a good 3 hrs total.
 
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Good morning,

No workouts to report. I did manage to do 10,000+ steps on Tuesday, and almost 9000 yesterday.

Judy, that is a long ride! It's great that Cathe makes the LIVE workouts available as single downloads now. I found that indoor bikes (at least the one at PT and also John's) are very uncomfortable...outside is so much different.

Carolyn, you are doing great with the rotation. The full Muscle Max is an awesome workout!

Valerie, safe travels back to MY. IKE is doing well. I had to get him a larger cone...his long nose was making him able to get to the incision. Although even with the times he as messed with it, (mostly licking) it is healing nicely. It sounds like you are doing all you can, and then some! for your sister. I hope she listens and starts by using the phone. With the way you have described her, I am surprised she has anyone that wants to help her.

Diane Sue, I hope the PT changes are helpful. Does it seem like the steroid injection is helping? I was interested in Valerie's comment about keeping her shoulders down and back, and how she felt that really helped her. I know when I use the computer a lot, I find myself slouching horribly. That is why I got the back brace. Did you ever try one? I am not saying it is your issue completely, but maybe since you said you have a lot of pain when you spend a lot of time on the computer etc, it may be connected to that?

Hi to Lori,

Take care,
 
I am going to do PT exercises and go get my flu shot. Shoulder was better last night.

Deb, the steroid shot does not usually take affect right away. I think when I had one in my knee after surgery they said 2 weeks. I read average is 1 week. Posture is very important. They have been working with me on shoulders back and down. I have been trying to keep them back and down. Although I think sometimes I work so hard at it I make my muscles in my lats sore. Posture sitting I am working on, spinal alignment while sleeping. Before bed I am doing the nerve glide exercise she told me to do, lie on the foam roller lengthwise for awhile, and do the neck stretches and chin tucks. Hopefully everything gets much better soon. I have one of the posture braces in my Amazon list, but right now I don't think it will work having pressure on my shoulder like that. I just lay an ice pack or something on it and it causes aching pain. I need that nerve hurting from the inflammation to let up. Nice work on the steps. I wish I could do that when I do not work out. On the days I do some cardio I get around 6000 for the day. Generally I am closer to 10,000. PT has one bike, a special treadmill, and some sort of lying leg press looking machine. I thought it was a pilates reformer at first till I saw someone using it. It seem there are a lot of people with leg, hip and back issues that are there. I feel somewhat like the odd person getting my neck and shoulder worked on.

Valerie, that is too bad they couldn't do the imaging. But, things worked out for you and that is what is important. In some ways I will be relieved to get rid of PT and just do the stuff at home. I know it is the nerve that runs down my arm from my neck that is causing most of the pain. But, it seems a lot is due to the neck space. The only upper body work I have been doing is what they give me to do and sometimes I am not doing all of it at home when it sets off pain. I have read that sometimes chiropractic adjustments can help, but I have never been to one and when I watch you tube videos I kind of cringe. Although the PT has tractioned and worked my neck and I have had things pop. I think I am pretty much getting done with that stuff. Yes, shoulders back and down is constantly on my mind. One thing is that I have a tendency to lift them up and then back and down and I should not roll them up and back. The PT keeps working on me with that, because in movements I tend to pull the shoulders up first.
Since the PT cannot see inside they have to go by what the see from the outside and what they feel when manipulating things. Plus us pointing out where the pain is and what makes it happen. To me that would be a tough job.

Carolyn, I will check her workouts out on Amazon.
 
I used to carry a heavy sales case for work, and often a shoulder bag, and over many years I got stronger on right than left, with a tendency to lift that shoulder even if I didn't have weight in my hand. when I exercised, I think I had a tendency to continue the lifting movement. the PT lady pointed it out and once I was aware of it, I changed the habit. hard habit to break! Posture things can sneak up on you.
no way to tell if that was the root of the problem. Cathe often points out not to "hike" the shoulder too. I ended up getting 2 cortisone shots, PT, and resting the shoulder. I never could pinpoint a particular exercise as a problem but its been >2 yrs now so whatever was wrong is corrected. its odd but now my left side is stronger than the right. when I got the cortisone shot, there was sudden immediate pain relief but it seemed to gradually improve over weeks. If I felt ANY twinges of discomfort, I stopped doing whatever it was. an MRI uses powerful magnetic forces, and will fry a pacer. I need to get other imaging.

Deb my cousins just got a new wirehaired terrier puppy. she is so darling in the pics. call her Molly.
 
Today I did Pyramid Upper Body, up only premix. My time was 51 minutes with 229 calories burned. My average heart rate was 100 and maximum heart rate was 152.

Deb, great job with getting in your steps. Any movement is a great thing for the body.

Diane Sue, I’m glad that your neck and shoulder are a little better today. I think that you will feel the effects of the shot gradually. I just noticed that the Jane Adams Yoga preview that I mentioned is also available on the Amazon page near the bottom.

Hello to Valerie, Judy, and Lori.
 
I finally got upstairs and did Jessica Smith Stride and Step walking strong, 33 minutes, 198 calories, 3,368 steps, heart rate 134 average, 153 max. I then did PT exercises and some foam rolling for upper and lower. This was 40 minutes. I am feeling somewhat better today. I keep reading up on information. It seems PT has done pretty much everything suggested there. No high impact and weights on shoulders or overhead as it compresses the spine and with spinal stenosis it can really make things worse.

Carolyn, I am going to go look as soon as I finish here.

Valerie, I am sure the posture changes helped. I read that PT can help open things up in the spine. But lifting heavy things is a big no, no. Hard for me. Right now every time I go outside and look at the yard and leaves falling and floating all over, I really want to get out there and clean up, but I am sure it would not be a wise decision. The hedge trimmer needs used too. My husband did it, but I think it has been a couple of months and they are growing into the walk way.
 
Carolyn, which segments of Jane Adams 7 practices for your day are your favorites? I bought two segments on Amazon Prime Video today. I did the one that was on the floor supposed to help spine or something. I also purchased the one that uses a chair. I did the first part of that one too.
 
Diane Sue, I like the Evening practice where she uses a chair and I do the Morning Energy practice quite often. There is also a core segment that I like.
 
Did a 15 mile road ride today, and getting ready to leave in the am. Paddling a kayak is what recharged my shoulder discomfort. it was getting better and I could not resist paddling. I was back to zero after that even though it was not heavy or arduous. luckily it went away after not too long and I didn't make that mistake again.
 
This morning I did Jessica Smith Walk Strong and Have Fun workout 1 that is low impact floor cardio intervals, I can get away doing this one, but do different moves when they do the jack arms. I can pretty much tell when something is going to be a no when I do it. This was 31 minutes, 198 calories, heart rate average 1132, max 162, 3038 steps. I then did Jane Adams 7 yoga practices day #6 core and flexibility, 34 minutes, 77 calories. I wasn't sure about the plank move on this and the one arm reach so I adjusted so I did not feel it in the shoulder. The plank starts out on the elbows which was not a problem. I also did 25 minutes of PT exercises, 52 calories, which did not include the neck and shoulder stretches I did this morning when I got up. Total time was 90 minutes, 327 calories.

Valerie, I can see paddling, even lightly irritating the shoulder. Glad it did not take too long to get back to where it was. I probably would have been tempted too. Nice that you got a ride in before you leave in the morning.
 
This morning I did JS One Mile of Motivation for 15 minutes and 113 calories burned. Average heart rate was 131 and maximum heart rate was 148. After that I did Jane Adams Gentle Yoga, the Evening practice, for an additional 29 minutes and 40 calories. Although the name is Evening, it’s good for any time of day.

Diane Sue, you managed a nice workout today. Yes, you definitely need to adjust the arm movements to whatever is best for you. What do you think of the Jane Adams yoga? I learned about her from another forum where the members do a lot of yoga and some even teach. I originally bought the dvd for my husband thinking that the practices would be too basic for me, but I have been pleasantly surprised. I get a nice stretch with her practices when I want to do something slower.

Valerie, safe travels tomorrow. I hope that the weather isn’t too bad as you drive.

Hello to Deb, Judy, and Lori.
 
Carolyn, I like the Jane Adams yoga. That is why I went ahead and added another of the segments. The nice thing is that I can pick just one segment for 1.99 and if I like it I can get another. It is gentle, but she manages to work some of the muscles, even when you are lying down. I didn't do all of the one that used the chair yet. I think I did half. I got to one part where I was stretching on the chair and my shoulder didn't seem to like it so I stopped. I will go back to it later. Normally I tend to want the yoga workouts that are a lot more active, but those do not get the same result when wanting to loosen things up.
 
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