Need help if you're sitting most of the day

[Lolo]

I have received these instructions from my osteo. I have only included the ones that don't need a picture.

- All exercises should be performed in a slow comfortable pace
- Having a hot shower or applying heat to the area that needs to be stretched before the
exercises may relax the muscles for better stretching. (I use a hot water bottle)
- Don’t over stretch, some pain is acceptable. To much pain while stretching may cause
damage or prolong recovery
- Be aware of your posture while sitting, getting up out of seated positions and lifting.
Appropriate posture will help to reduce strain on your spine.
- Avoid leaning forward from your hips, as it strains your back muscles. Instead, take a small
step forward, bend your knees slightly and straighten your back.
- While you are sitting, bend your knees more and tuck your legs under the chair. This increases the lower back curvature which helps to reduce a hunching posture and strain on the spine
- Applying heat to your back or sore muscles once or twice daily for 10-15 minutes may relieve
pain and may help muscles to relax.

Pectoral stretches (2 Variations)

For the first variation, rolling up a large towel or multiple towels to create a 15-20 cm diameter and place the towel vertical along the spine and lie on the towel roll with your arms stretched out to the sides for 10-15 seconds repeating this 3 times in a row, twice a day with the 5 different arm positions.(I don't know what they are exactly but I slide my hands up and down on the floor.) Change the diameter size of the towel according to your comfort and to increase the stretch for your chest muscles.

For the second variation, you stand in a doorway with either 1 or both arms stretched out and leaning forward through the door frame. Hold each stretch for 15 seconds then increase the stretch or swap arms. Repeat this stretch 5 times twice a day for each of the 3 positions shown.(elbows high, elbows shoulder height, elbows down lower)

General Chest stretch

This stretch will help you to stretch out the rib cage and diaphragm. Lying flat on the floor and place a rolled up towel about fist size in diameter horizontal under your back and stretch your arms straight out above your head. Lie in this position for 2-3minutes twice a day. Also make sure to support your head with a pillow when you are leaning back and your head is not resting on the floor to avoid strain on the neck.

Levator Scapulae Stretch

Grasp your head and put the other arm behind your back. Then pull your head to the side and forward and the arm behind your back down and feel for a stretch at the back of the neck and shoulder. Hold each stretch for 5 seconds then increase the stretch or swap sides. Repeat this stretch 4 times twice a day on each side.

 

[Dechi]

@Dechi Aside from your shoulders, where specifically in your back do you have pain? And what sort of pain is it - general ache, or does it feel like "knots"?

Here are some ideas:

Miracle Balls - the kit contains 2 balls and the instruction book.

TENS unit. My personal favorite! I could use them for hours!

Tennis ball - if I have a knot in the area of my shoulder blades, I stand against the wall and put a tennis ball between my back and the wall, and push against it where the knot is.

Thank you for the suggestions. I have a tennis ball, my dear Wilson, but I don't use it much. I'll try to make a routine of it, along with the roller. I'll look at those miracle balls and TENS unit, which I've never heard of.

The pain is hard to describe. I guess it's general ache, but to specific areas, if that makes sense, lol ! I try to straighten my shoulders when I sit but it's hard after a while and I guess it puts tension down my back.

@mirshine and @Lolo thank you !

@Marigold7 my car seat is okay but thank god my bed is a good place to be !

 

[Mohawk1995]

Thank you for the suggestions. I have a tennis ball, my dear Wilson, but I don't use it much. I'll try to make a routine of it, along with the roller. I'll look at those miracle balls and TENS unit, which I've never heard of.

The pain is hard to describe. I guess it's general ache, but to specific areas, if that makes sense, lol ! I try to straighten my shoulders when I sit but it's hard after a while and I guess it puts tension down my back.

As a Physical Therapist well acquainted with ME I would say you have gotten some excellent advice. My specialty is pain, back pain being the most common so it is no surprise that many with ME suffer from it.

Contrary to what seems logical, sitting is very hard on the back increasing the disc pressures and strain on the posterior elements (Ligaments, disc wall) 2-3 times over lying down or standing/walking. Studies have shown that those who sit all day are nearly as likely to develop back pain as are those who bend and lift for a living. So beware the chair!

Although some will undoubtedly disagree with me on the next point, I believe the neuro-physiological phenomenon of becoming more peripherally and/or centrally sensitized can play a role with the pains ME sufferers develop. Simply put, the nervous system can become more or less sensitive to the environment and input coming in to it. In theory this would especially be true in a case where there is an elevated threat level (the case in ME). So inputs that might not normally lead to pain, can then lead to pain. IT IS IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER THAT THIS PHENOMENON IS NOT CONSCIOUS OR EVEN SUBCONSCIOUS (as some moronic psychiatrists and physicians have noted).

In addition protective muscle spasms and increased muscle tone can develop with this process and resulting in tight, knotted and potentially sharp spasms occurring in the supporting muscles of the back and neck.

The good thing is that for all of these issues, the advise you have been given is helpful. Change positions regularly, break up sitting (really bending forward) by straightening the spine (lying down supine or prone) and reverse the effects of sitting (using a foam roller or taking a short walk as an example). TENS could help modulate or "down-regulate" a sensitized nervous system. Movement... gentle, easy, big and pain-free can help as well.

So in short, limit the strain sitting places on your back, break up/reverse the effects of sitting and do things that soothe a sensitive or "irritable" nervous system.

 

[Dechi]

@Mohawk1995 thank you very much for your insight !

 

[KME]

Sorry you're in pain. My situation is different from yours in that I have to lie down most of the day; sitting is limited to mealtimes due to orthostatic intolerance. I find a little daily stretching routine really helpful. I just cobbled one together from stretches I remember from my sporty days and other stretches suggested in various books, and made sure I was getting my whole body. I start with stretches lying down, progress to seated stretches and finally peak with a few upright stretches (exciting ). I do it late in the day (when orthostatic intolerance isn't as bad) after a big rest. Helps my back and other aches and pains a lot.

When I was at a slightly higher level than I am now I liked getting myself set up in "restorative yoga" positions. This is not active yoga, instead, you prop yourself up in these really supported supine positions with pillows and towels, and just lie there. A bit like the foam roller idea. In theory you do a bunch of different positions in a row over the space of an hour or more, but I used often do just one position, or at most three, and it was great. There's a book called "Relax and renew" by Judith Hanson Lasater that shows how to do it.

Hope you find some relief soon!

 

[*GG*]

I sit around a lot as well, I find the Back Buddy helpful in getting the knots/muscles to stretch!

GG

 

[mirshine]

How does that work GG?

 

[Dechi]

@KME my daughter wanted to being me to one of those yoga sessions yesterday but I said no because I was too tired and it lasted a whole hour. But 15-30 minutes might be okay !

@*GG* yes, I'd like to know more about it too !

 

[*GG*]

How does that work GG?

Well for me, if you can take deep pressure, if not, you might be fine with a Theracane.

@KME my daughter wanted to being me to one of those yoga sessions yesterday but I said no because I was too tired and it lasted a whole hour. But 15-30 minutes might be okay !

@*GG* yes, I'd like to know more about it too !

They can be found on Amazon, it's like a Theracane, but more rigid so you can really get into bound up muscles, which don't help with flexibility and pair referrral.

GG

 

[Dalesar]

Hi,

Does anyone have any ideas for sore shoulders and upper arms due to lying in bed on your side?
Thanks,
DSM

 

[TiredSam]

Hi,

Does anyone have any ideas for sore shoulders and upper arms due to lying in bed on your side?
Thanks,
DSM

Lie on your back. Don't mean to sound flipant, but I used to sleep on my stomach or side and since having ME have managed to retrain myself to sleep on my back, which is my most ME-friendly position.

 

[mirshine]

I find either my back, raised up slightly.

Or kind of in the recovery position if that makes sense, except with opposite arms. So the arm in front of my face tucked under the pillow and the behind arm down.

My pillow down instead of across, so under my head but also down under my chest to give a slight lift.

I'm not sure if that makes sense. I'm too tired!!

 

[Lolo]

I use pillows in bed as well. I was a stomach sleeper and that's not good. So sleeping on my side I have a pillow between my legs and one in front (that's not going to be possible in summer) and one under the head. I can't sleep on my back because my sacral area starts hurting even with pillows under my legs or in a recliner, I just doesn't feel relaxed on my back, feel exposed.

 

[Basilico]

Hi,

Does anyone have any ideas for sore shoulders and upper arms due to lying in bed on your side?
Thanks,
DSM

Do you mean from sleeping on your side, or from lying on your side during the day, while awake (and possibly doing things like being on the computer)?

 

[tudiemoore]

I had a basket of all sorts of this type of equipment, seldom used and lost over time, moving 1,000 miles, etc.
In a virtuous frame of mind, I saw one of the foam core rolls and picked it on a whim--goal of building core muscle strength.

A good idea but when I lay down on it I couldn't get up! Really!

Floundered around for a while and finally, showing no athletic strength or grace, I rolled over, more or less wallowed up on all fours, and went from there.

I guess I really, really need to develop that core, huh?

tudiemoore

 

[KME]

@KME my daughter wanted to being me to one of those yoga sessions yesterday but I said no because I was too tired and it lasted a whole hour. But 15-30 minutes might be okay !

Yes, nothing restorative about an hour of anything when you have ME! 20 mins lying on my own floor in silence after following the instructions in the book to get into a nice supported position was about the height of it for me, when I was able for it. My motto was and is "Aim low"!

 

[Dalesar]

Do you mean from sleeping on your side, or from lying on your side during the day, while awake (and possibly doing things like being on the computer)?

I guess I mean from both. I seem to need to spend several hours a day resting. I have issues with my backside so lying that way doesn't work for long.

 

[Basilico]

@Dalesar , I was asking because if it's when you are sleeping or resting, it might feel better to lie on your back with a pillow or rolled towel under your knees and also possibly your neck - this is what my chiropractor said is the ideal position for the spine.

But this position is not very practical if you are on the computer or trying to actually do something.

If you were able to set up a hammock, either bolted into a beam in the wall or attached to a free-standing frame, that would be ideal since with the parachute fabric hammocks there are no pressure points - I have one that I sometimes set up outside in the courtyard of my apartment complex (using straps and the trees) and it's extremely comfortable for hours. This might be too complicated, so that zero gravity chair @halcyon mentioned might be a good option.

 

[caledonia]

I've found the Rebuild Your Back book helpful. I injured my back pretty bad in February of this year trying to mop the bathroom floor. I think I might have injured a disc. It was five weeks of ice and heat to get back to a baseline.

I've been doing the first batch of stretching exercises so far. I haven't quite worked up to the rebuilding exercises yet. But the stretching ones are doable for someone homebound with ME, and they do help keep pain and stiffness at bay.

http://www.rebuildyourback.com/back_pain_books.php

 

[Dechi]

@Sushi The roller you use is very expensive, around 100$ and more with shipping.

What do you think of this one and should I take half or full (no idea what that means) and what lenght ?

https://www.amazon.ca/EVA-Foam-Roller-Round-Massaging/dp/B0169W4BHK/ref=sr_1_24?ie=UTF8&qid=1496954044&sr=8-24&keywords=Soft back roller

@Basilico Yours is high density, I'd like a softer one. Do you think they make them softer ?