The Girl With Arthritis

After slowly rolling out of bed, I hobble to the bathroom. I don’t want to move a muscle — they’re all aching and don’t want to cooperate. Sitting on the toilet is a joke, and so is trying to get back up. No, I’m not in the midst of a juvenile arthritis flare. Nor am I recovering from an injury or fall. Nope. I’m recovering from a new regimen of exercises I started to strengthen my hips. And I am feeling it. Read more about dealing with pain from physical therapy...

Earlier in the week I asked for some suggestions for posts through Facebook and Twitter. The first request/question I got was from Kate Quantrell-Clarke saying "Yoga... Helpful???" Thank you Kate! For many years I have heard many benefits of yoga. Numerous people have found great results through stretching and strengthing. I think it's important to learn what yoga is and it's original practice. Even though it is presently considered physical exercise, yoga is an ancient practice of strengthing your mind, body, breathe and spirituality. Yoga that is meant to help you physically is called hatha yoga and there are various forms of it. Some are vigorous to build stamina, some are done at certain temperatures, and others are for relaxation and meditation. It can very easily become a life style due to how much it can help one physically and mentally. Gentle forms are highly recommended for people with physical disabilities because of its calm and subtle nature when done a...

I've had a wide variety of physical therapists in my time. My first was a young woman. I had to go to Physical therapy for a few weeks to recover  from a flare when I was eight. She was very nice, and I don't remember too much actual 'work,' because mostly it seemed like we played games and such. :) My next physical therapist came when I was about twelve. She was an older woman who always started out sessions by loosening my hip. She was very nice indeed, though she did not tolerate when I started giving up the last few minutes of the session: I had to be giving way more than humanly possible at ALL times. Sometimes I wondered if this was like military training. I had another physical therapist around that same time. He was an older man and very kind. I remember we had a lot of laughs. After he taped my feet so I wouldn't be so flat footed, he informed me I could stop walking like a robot. I only saw him a handful of times, though I did like when I got him. ...

I'm a very bad patient. I take all my medicines on time (most of the time). I go to my appointments. I eat rather healthy and keep my weight healthy. But I don't do physical therapy. Even though the doctor wants me to so much. I've had a long history of physical therapy. Years and years of it. It never really showed any results. I've found that working out on my own has been the most effective for me personally: swimming, walking and biking has been the best for me. At physical therapy, I was stretched out and did a lot of exercises that stretched and world muscles I didn't know I have. But, mostly it did not help because they were not muscles that I needed in everyday life. By working out by myself, I'm able to strengthen muscles I use and need. For example, stairs are a problem and by working on machines that mimic stairs (with less strain that normal stairs), I'm beginning to find I'm slowly having an easier time. For some, Physical therapy is...