What Makes You Move?

My husband has several patients who weigh more than 300 lbs.  These particular people are not in good health.  They suffer from a lot of pain - joints and muscles.  They suffer from respiratory problems (congestive heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are common), from high blood pressure, and from type 2 diabetes and all its awful co-morbidities like peripheral neuropathy, diabetic retinopathy, and impairments all over their bodies.  They cannot walk well or far.  They are not wealthy.

I always wonder how these poor souls remain so obese and so immobile.  And, since getting out of their homes and into their vehicles is so hard for them, I wonder who maintains their supply of food so they can maintain the weight?  In every case, there is another adult in the home who is clearly the 'enabler' - the person who enables the morbidly obese to remain that way by running to the grocery store, doing all the household chores, and watching a loved one slowly fade away, usually in some degree of pain.

I don't want to be that patient or that enabler.  However, even that person who is 100 or more pounds overweight, who has trouble walking, and who is in pain - even that person can improve his/her life by simply standing up and walking in place.

If this simple activity is done for only a few minutes a day, life will improve for these folks just like it does for the rest of us.  If that person starts with only one minute of activity per day for a week then ups it to 2 minutes the next week, the pain will not increase, nor will there be in increase in appetite or desire for food.  In fact, the appetite and the desire for food will likely diminish a bit due to the increase in physical activity.

How many times have you read here that this is not Rocket Science?  It's a phrase which comes to mind often when I think of how to motivate others to increase their level of physical activity.  Walking is the simplest, easiest, cheapest, most readily available way to get increase physical activity.
There is no way to change the equation.  1 plus 1 will always equal 2.

Increase in physical activity will always result in an increase in a sense of well being.  Maybe not the first day, but soon thereafter.  Nothing else will fix what ails one as quickly as this.  Try it!




*************************** Remember my 100% GUARANTEE. Should you decide to stop walking and resume your old habits, I personally guarantee that you'll get back 100% of your former life - your pain, your lifestyle, your attitude. You can trust the information you find here. It's from a dedicated walker. Trust me and your life will get better! I promise.

Another List

I found this fantastic list of reasons for walking (and other forms of aerobic activity).  You can read the entire article, and other good ones too, at the Mayo Clinic Site where the list below originated.  I'm not a physician - but they are!  And scientists too.  The Mayo is a fantastic facility.  Because of my job, I've been fortunate to have seen the kind of extremely detailed work up they do of each patient they see.  Every patient is seen by a wide variety of specialists - from neurosurgeons to nutritionists, from social workers to specialists in every medical field.

Lucky for us, for free, we get the benefit of the combined wisdom of all those specialty practitioners wrapped up in the following list.  Read it and you'll know many of the reasons walking is good for you.  However, I still maintain that the main reason to walk every day is that it makes you feel good.  What could be better than that (with all the added physical benefits)?

Keep excess pounds at bay
Combined with a healthy diet, aerobic exercise helps you lose weight — and keep it off.

Increase your stamina
Aerobic exercise may make you tired in the short term. But over the long term, you'll enjoy increased stamina and reduced fatigue.

Ward off viral illnesses
Aerobic exercise activates your immune system. This leaves you less susceptible to minor viral illnesses, such as colds and flu.

Reduce your health risks
Aerobic exercise reduces the risk of many conditions, including obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke and certain types of cancer. Weight-bearing aerobic exercises, such as walking, reduce the risk of osteoporosis.

Manage chronic conditions
Aerobic exercise helps lower high blood pressure and control blood sugar. If you've had a heart attack, aerobic exercise helps prevent subsequent attacks.

Strengthen your heart
A stronger heart doesn't need to beat as fast. A stronger heart also pumps blood more efficiently, which improves blood flow to all parts of your body.

Keep your arteries clear
Aerobic exercise boosts your high-density lipoprotein (HDL or "good") cholesterol and lowers your low-density lipoprotein (LDL or "bad") cholesterol. The potential result? Less buildup of plaques in your arteries.

Boost your mood
Aerobic exercise can ease the gloominess of depression, reduce the tension associated with anxiety and promote relaxation.

Stay active and independent as you age
Aerobic exercise keeps your muscles strong, which can help you maintain mobility as you get older. Aerobic exercise also keeps your mind sharp. At least 30 minutes of aerobic exercise three days a week seems to reduce cognitive decline in older adults.

Live longer
Studies show that people who participate in regular aerobic exercise live longer than those who don't exercise regularly.

Take the first step 

(As in, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.")

*************************** Remember my 100% GUARANTEE. Should you decide to stop walking and resume your old habits, I personally guarantee that you'll get back 100% of your former life - your pain, your lifestyle, your attitude. You can trust the information you find here. It's from a dedicated walker. Trust me and your life will get better! I promise.

Your To-Do List Can't Just Be In Your Head!

Most of my good friends fall into the perfectionist category.  Don't ask me why.  I guess they are somehow attracted to my relaxed attitude about most things that would drive a perfectionist  crazy.  My tupperware is a mess.  My laundry is clean and folded but stuffed here and there.  We have books in every room, stacks and stack of them.  There is yarn on every horizontal surface.  Dust doesn't bother me and order will never reign supreme in any home in which I reside.  Not a possibility.

But, I do have my own manner of organization.  Really!  I am never late for appointments, pay my bills on time, and take care of all the important aspects of life that need to be done in a timely manner.  How?  One way I've discovered is to make a list.  That's a List, with a capital L.

Sometimes the state of my house gets me down.  I'm such a rotten housekeeper!  My house is not dirty, but it is cluttered.  My mind is also cluttered.  It becomes very easy to fall into the trap of doing what's urgent rather than what's important.

Think about that.  Urgent or Important.  Here's an example.  The phone is ringing and the baby is crying.  Which is urgent?  Which is important?  The baby is clearly more important than the phone although I cannot stand to have a phone ring more than 3 rings.  While that may be an extreme example, it's merely used to make my point.

What's on your To-Do List?  If you follow someone like the FlyLady, you have a built in To-do list, hers, which you tune into every day when you get up, get dressed right down to your shoes, and hit the ground running.  Bless the FlyLady.  She sets a standard that is reasonable, rational, and absolutely unattainable by me.  But.....I have learned a couple things from her that work very well for me.

I've written before - more than once - about putting YOURSELF on your To-Do List so that you build your walking/exercising time right into your daily schedule.  But, if you list is in your head - if it's not WRITTEN DOWN - it's not real and you won't do it.  I'm telling you!

For years, when I guess my brain was either more flexible or less cluttered than it is now, I could actually get by with a To-Do List in my head that wasn't written down.  No more!  Especially when I'm trying to include a new activity or deadline in my schedule.  I must have that list in writing, in front of me, carry it around, and mark off each item on it.

So, if you're finding that you still have difficulty making time for yourself - for walking, exercising, relaxing - please write down your To-Do List and put yourself on it.  Put your activities in order of priority.  Note that YOU must not be the last item of business on your list.  You must be near the top - if not at the top.

When the nice FlyLady has you lacing up your shoes every morning, make those walking shoes.  When you pack your lunch for work, put your walking shoes (nicely wrapped) in your lunch bag too.  When you make your list of errands, park in the farthest spot available and double time it through your errands.  When you plan coffee with friends, make it coffee 'to go' and walk around the park with your friend while you sip and catch up.

If you don't write it down, it's unlikely to happen - especially if it's new behavior.  Give yourself the best chance for success.  Make yourself the most important thing on your To-Do list - because you are!



*************************** Remember my 100% GUARANTEE. Should you decide to stop walking and resume your old habits, I personally guarantee that you'll get back 100% of your former life - your pain, your lifestyle, your attitude. You can trust the information you find here. It's from a dedicated walker. Trust me and your life will get better! I promise.

Follow Up on Back and Toes

First, fortunately for me, the nagging back pain I had has disappeared in as mysterious fashion as it appeared!   I have a twinge from time to time, especially when I've gotten all revved up at dance or walking then driven home.  When I get out of the car, I've cooled off TOO much, I guess, and the twinges occur.  But, that's it for now.  Good news!

I recently wrote about my painful toes.  So, here's more about that:

I finally got myself to an orthopedist who doesn't mind dealing with feet.  He had a completely different diagnosis than the podiatrist I had seen before.  No orthotics required.  He first explained that the problem is the condyles (smooth bone ends we might refer to as knuckles) of one toe rubbing over top of the neighboring toe, resulting in the corns, calluses, and pain.  The solution?  Well, he could operate and smooth off the condyles and after 7-10 days in a big fluffy shoe and a couple more weeks off walking and dancing the pain will be gone, never to return.  Or - I could try this little foam thing that he slipped between the offended - and offending - toes.  That has been working fine.  I still feel the foam spacer, but it doesn't hurt.  Another idea is a silicone sleeve for the toe(s) and I'll try that next as it might take up a little less space.

In both cases, I have continued to walk and dance.  I have tried changing shoes, socks, and duration of activity with mixed results.  I can't just stop my activities.  I'm not anxious to have surgery on my foot - and since it's my right foot, there would be the further inconvenience of my not being able to drive for 3-4 weeks.  That's actually far more than an inconvenience.  You'd see me walking in that fluffy boot - but I couldn't drive in it.  So, I'll stay with the more conservative option unless the situation worsens.



*************************** Remember my 100% GUARANTEE. Should you decide to stop walking and resume your old habits, I personally guarantee that you'll get back 100% of your former life - your pain, your lifestyle, your attitude. You can trust the information you find here. It's from a dedicated walker. Trust me and your life will get better! I promise.

Oh, My Aching Toes

I FINALLY got to see a new Orthopedist this morning, one who specializes in feet as well as those other body parts Orthopedists like to operate on.   My regular - and favoritest - Orthopedist is just not that into feet.  Can you blame him?  I'd seen a Podiatrist too some time back for this same problem, but his only advice included a pair of $700 orthotics.  If I thought $700 orthotics would fix the problem, I'd have gone for it, but I've had orthotics in the past and they just didn't work for me.

Xrays were taken.  They revealed some damn fine looking feet.  My feet were clearly ready for their close-up.  News sometimes comes in see-through-able form.

So, my problem is manifold.  Of course, it's never simple, is it?  It's my right foot, second and third toes, and it hurts like Hades during much of my walking and dancing and even some times at rest.  I broke one of those toes just over 3 years ago - but that wasn't the problem.  Turns out that the bunion I have which does not bother me is forcing the offending toes into positions they do not favor, causing friction between them, producing corns - big, red, painful corns.

The solution?  Well, there's the surgical option where Dr. Orthopedist opens up the knuckles and shaves off the edges of the condyles.  Now, doesn't that sound like fun?  Then 7-10 days in a big, fluffy (his words) boot.  Then, 2-3 more weeks of healing before resuming normal activities.

Yikes!  Not only would that put me off my regular walking and dancing - but also driving as it's my right foot.  If I get to stay home from work for 7-10 days, I want to be able to walk and dance.  You see the problem, right? 

Or, I could just try this little spongy thing that is about the shape of a painter's easel that he fit between my toes.  Ahhhhhhh.  Instant relief!  I wore the little spongy thing the rest of the day today which included a walk of about 4 miles.  I could feel it, but NO PAIN!

Dr. Orthopedist suggested this might not be the permanent fix as the extra width produced by the insertion of the spongy thing (don't know its name) could cause rubbing elsewhere.  But, until that happens, I'm sticking with the spongy thing.  There's also a silicone sleeve I can purchase for one or both toes that will offer the same pain relief, said Dr.O.Will check those out, too.

So, if your feet hurt, go get help.  Don't wait almost 3 years like it did.  Maybe the fix isn't as easy as this one.  I'd be willing to have the surgery if the spongy thing didn't work.  I'm not giving up on my walking and dancing as long as I can stand!


*************************** Remember my 100% GUARANTEE. Should you decide to stop walking and resume your old habits, I personally guarantee that you'll get back 100% of your former life - your pain, your lifestyle, your attitude. You can trust the information you find here. It's from a dedicated walker. Trust me and your life will get better! I promise.

Back Pain

The past few months, I've been suffering from some back pain.  It hurts like heck and it's not something I've ever experienced before except for an isolated incident about 40 years ago after I stubbed my toe.  Woke up the next day and  could not move. I lived alone at the time, and, not wanting to die in my bed, forced myself to get up and get dressed and drive to work.  I knew an orthopedist who would walk through my department at some point that day and he would help me.  He kindly agreed to see me right then and there, diagnosed back spasm based on the fact that I couldn't stand up straight, had extreme pain and had stubbed my toe the day before.  Who knew that a stubbed toe could cause such pain??  In a few weeks, that pain was a faint memory.

Fast forward all these years and I'm experiencing similar back pain - not as severe, but nasty.  After I walk or dance and sit down to cool off, I'm fine until I try to stand up again.  Ugh!  Have to work consciously and conscientiously to get myself to unbend.  Really!

Back at the time of my first episode of back pain, the kind doctor gave me a couple of exercised to do.  They were miraculous in relieving he muscle spasm, and thus the pain.  So, I've been doing those.  They help but do not cure.  Asked Doctor Husband who prescribes anti-inflammatory OTC meds and those exercises.

Today at the library, I saw a book "The 7 Minute Back Pain Solution" by Gerard J. Girasole, M.D. and Cara Hartman, CPT.  I'm about half way through this book already.  Can you spell M-O-T-I-V-A-T-E-D?

I'm liking the exercise regimen which, of course, is longer than 7 minutes.  No such luck!  But, while reading the book, Dr. Girasole expresses some ideas that I've not seen very often.  But, I have found them to be true.

First - most doctors will tell you that losing weight will make the pain better.  Not!
Second - doing ab crunches and other 'core' building exercises will help.  Not! (if the core is defined as abdominal muscles)
Third - Even when in pain, movement is better than bed rest.

Got that?  Even in pain - exercise is a good thing.  Lounging around actually makes a condition like back pain worse.  Losing weight does not cure all that ails you - although it's often a good idea.  A careful bit of exercise - in this case, stretching - actually releases chemicals in the discs, bone, muscles, and cartilage so that your body heals faster.

Once again, movement is the best answer.  Once again, another 'professional' agrees with my strategy that getting off the sofa and onto your feet will make things better.  Remember, if it hurts, it's gonna hurt anyway - so just go to it!

Book Specs:
ISBN:   978373892587
Published by Harlequin Press, 2012
$16.95 USD




*************************** Remember my 100% GUARANTEE. Should you decide to stop walking and resume your old habits, I personally guarantee that you'll get back 100% of your former life - your pain, your lifestyle, your attitude. You can trust the information you find here. It's from a dedicated walker. Trust me and your life will get better! I promise.