Saturday, February 26, 2011

Rehabbing like a mother*

How’d that asterisk get in there? No, really, I truly meant how, as a mother, I am finding time to rehab my legs, that’s all!

If you are wondering why the blog-a-thon (blogorrhea maybe) over the last few days, there is a perfectly reasonable explanation.

I’m taking a few days OFF from all structured exercise. Need I say more. The unspent energy gets redirected to the areas of my brain responsible for writing….and sarcasm. For that I apologize.

The time off was strongly suggested by (threatened by?) all those who know and love me and admit I needed it. I’ve been pushing through, digging deep, exercising and working out in every way possible for the last few months and I hit a physical and emotional wall and was starting to come unglued.

Anyway, I recently admitted that I have not taken the time to do PT/rehab at home for my lower legs – balance exercises, theraband, calf raises, that sort of thing – or do my part to work out the kinks in the rest of my battered parts either. So I had a brainstorm! I will cleverly find ways to do it all AS part of my daily life, so here are some of the things I am doing. I hope they might give you ideas to creatively fit stretching or rehab into your life!
  • Hair drying: calf raises when drying the top, and hamstring stretches when drying the underneath.
  • Tooth brushing: balance on one foot to work stabilizers, then bend a leg, grab and ankle, and do a quad stretch. Advanced: lunges for hip flexibility.
  • Waiting in the school car pickup line: cross one leg over the other and lean forward for a piriformis stretch. (Be careful if your steering wheel has a horn.)
  • Folding laundry: do this job on the floor. Sit back on your heels to stretch quads, squat down to stretch calves
  • Kitchen activities: keep dynadisk (shown in picture) handy for toe or calf raises and balance exercises while making lunches, waiting on the microwave, washing dishes…
  • Working at the computer: attach one end of theraband to desk leg and the other to foot to work and strengthen tibialis muscles

The same principles can be applied to the workplace and other public environments depending on individual threshold levels for personal humiliation and embarrassment.  Mine are pretty high.