I am starting to do some exercises… only very small ones and only when i feel up to it, so not even every day, although i will try. I have been trying to ask people (doctors, physios, alternative therapists) for ages to help me with my upper back pain and to help me strengthen my core muscles in my back in case any weaknesses that have built up there due to my life spent mostly sitting or lying are contributing to my problems, but no-one has been very helpful. I find holding myself up to sit or stand very energy consuming, uncomfortable and difficult and i am sure i am not using certain muscles enough that deal with these postures. Whether this is anything i can do anything about, i don’t know; as my muscles do not behave normally and tire very quickly and therefore cannot be strengthened when tired.

So anyway my mum has been given some physio exercises to build up core strength as she has back problems too. Also i am inspired to try by Rachel M who has gently built up some strength in her arms and shoulders and is now touching her toes!

The first things i am trying to do more often is to touch my toes, and to “hang” forward in this position a while to open up my shoulder blades as well as to stretch the backs of my legs (hamstrings?) as it is quite uncomfortable and i have to bend my knees in order to touch my toes at all. This is due to inactivity and inability to walk far and i don’t see why i cannot improve this very gently.

I also want to do the  yoga “pose of a child” as this also opens up my upper back and i really feel this doing some good in this, my most painful area. It makes my shoulder blades fall upwards (!) which is obviously not a postition they are used to as they feel almost as if they get stuck there and it hurts, so i don’t do it for long! Also my circulation is not good so i cannot stay like this for long and have to get up very carefully. It seems to make my thighs ache afterwards, who knows why.

I am also doing one where i point one elbow at the ceiling and one at the floor and link hands behind my head and stretch, then swap the arms around to do it the same both sides. No picture of that one… it is a bit odd but you may be able to work out what i mean. It is also supposed to stretch the shoulders etc. This is one of my Mum’s physio expercises.

There are lots of other things i would benefit from but i am starting with these…