Gentle(st) stretching routine

rvallee

rvallee

Senior Member (Voting Rights)
I need to find a good stretching routine, preferably in bed (sitting is fine). Most of what I find is way out of my reach, but if I try to narrow down to things I can do, I mostly find what looks like random "wellness" sources and I'd rather have something that wasn't just made up by some rando. I'm sure most mean well but, uh, no.

Just having a resource I can peruse would be great, but I don't even know what to search for, how to call it. Best I can come up with is something like "bed yoga" but, again, random wellness sources that I don't trust.

Even the gentle stuff for seniors is way too much, it's generally standing up and uses way too much, uh, orthostatic tension? I guess? Even looking at things like stretching straps, I don't even have the strength in my arms to make it worth it, so much of it is focused on strengthening muscles.

On a related note, it's a real challenge finding a vibrating massager. I have a percussion massager but it's not what I need. Suggestions welcome. Corded OK, wieldy/small preferred. Even better if there's a common term for a vibrator massager that isn't meant to be a sex toy. Or a brand that makes such things.
 
In my opinion a good approach is to try different things and create your own routine based on what feels good for you. If it makes you feel good, then you will want to do it regularly and as we all know the challenge is often sticking to these sorts of plans. So the goal should really be to feel good and cultivate a habit. Setting the usual goals does not seem to work for me because it changes the mindset in a way that tends to lead to overdoing things. That feels bad and it's hard to continue doing things that feel bad. Once you have a habit going you can more easily modify the routine in whatever way makes sense.

Maybe this is something everyone knows already but I learned this late.
 
Is there any possibility of your being able to hire someone to come out to you & develop a customised/personalised routine? That's what i did & it was helpful. Actually i did it twice.... Once with a 'yoga & body work therapist' & then more recently with a local osteopath.

I had conversation with them on the phone & established that i wasnt interested in strengthening, or in yoga as a 'treatment' for ME, that i just wanted help to design some stretches that would be effective but within my limitations & all lying down.

I spoke with a few before i found one with the right attitude... lol you can imagine the nonsense.
 
The purpose of stretching I think is to keep joints flexible and able to move through their full range, and to prevent muscles becoming tight and over contracted. So I think I would think of each part of the body and the way it's supposed to move, for example movement at the shoulder can take the upper arm forward, to the side, back and rotate.

When I broke my shoulder, the physio started me with a set of passive exercises where I used my other hand sometimes with the help of a walking stick with the ends held in each hand, to gently move my damaged arm through each of those different directions, gradually increasing the range as I was able to cope with the pain. The exercises she wanted to teach me were done standing, which I couldn't manage, so I adapted them myself to do them lying down. Then once things improved, the next stage was active movement through the same set of exercises, where I used the muscles of the injured arm to move itself. Then finally doing the same range of exercises against resistance to strengthen the muscles. Again I adapted them do do lying down. I regained my full range of shoulder motion and my usual ME-limited strength in that arm. Another adaptation I needed to make was to do them in stages through the day rather than all at once.

I go into all that detail because I think it may be best for each of us to work out our own stretching routine, taking the same idea I applied to and adapting it for each joint or area of the body like the back, and trying, perhaps over the period of a week, to make sure each part is moved a few times as far as it's comfortable to move it.

Alternatively if you don't feel confident you know what you're doing, you could find a set of stretching exercises and just do one at a time, rather than seeing it as a routine to do all at once, and adapt it to sitting or lying down.

I agree most exercise routines designed for seniors or people with disabilities are far too much for pwME, even so-called gentle yoga or pilates. The Workwell people suggest if you can do any exercises, to do them only for seconds, working up, if I remember rightly to no more than 90 seconds, before resting.
 
Here's a set of gentle stretching exercises from Age UK:
https://www.ageuk.org.uk/informatio...ng/exercise/simple-exercises-inactive-adults/
As I suggested in my previous post, they could be spread across the day or the week, and don't do lots of repetitions, just do each one once, or whatever you can easily manage.

Gentle stretches
Try some gentle stretches in bed or a chair every day to keep supple.

  • While sitting or lying, bring your toes towards your shin and then point them toward the floor. Repeat for both feet.
  • Sitting on a chair, lift your leg up off the seat, keeping your knee bent. Return to starting position and repeat.
  • Sitting on a chair, pull your toes up, tighten your thigh muscle and straighten your knee. Hold for about 5 seconds, if you can, and then slowly relax your leg. Repeat for both legs.
  • Sitting on a chair with your feet on the floor, bend your knee as much as possible. Repeat for both legs.
  • Sitting on a stool, let your back drop and get rounded, then use your back muscles to straighten your back and arch it (but not too much!).
 
I found this video from doing a youtube search. It has stretching you can do lying down. Maybe you'd find some of the stretches helpful and not too exerting.

The woman's a little annoying, but I do like how she keeps reminding you to relax your muscles as you stretch them so you'll get a better stretch with less discomfort. I tend to hold on to muscle tension, so I find reminders like this helpful. I'll forgive her for saying laying down instead of lying down.

 
I'm not sure it really needs to be a scientific routine. I just stretch whatever bits feels as if they need to be stretched at the time! These are some of the ones I do, which are based on what I used to teach beginners as the initial stages of a contemporary dance warm-up:

  • arching my spine and stretching my shoulders and biceps by hugging my knees;
  • moving my back and hips laterally in a "tail wagging" motion whilst lying supine;
  • rotating my hips and shoulders;
  • stretching my hamstrings a bit by pushing into the heel;
  • stretching my quads by bringing my foot up towards my bottom;
  • releasing my neck with gentle head rolls;
  • rotating my ankles and pointing and flexing my feet.

That's much of the body covered, most of it can be done lying down, and it doesn't all need doing at the same time. I only usually do a couple of things at once, because even minimal stretching like this is quite tiring.
 
Anything that increases circulation and microcirculation helps me when I'm unable to stand or walk for weeks/months.

A dry body brush to increase microcirculation if you're able or have the strength to brush. I feel as though I went for a 15 minute brisk walk after brushing for 5 minutes. No more stiffness.

Magic back stretcher to lie on to open up my shoulders/chest to increase circulation and breathe better.
 
Hoopoe said:
In my opinion a good approach is to try different things and create your own routine based on what feels good for you. If it makes you feel good, then you will want to do it regularly and as we all know the challenge is often sticking to these sorts of plans. So the goal should really be to feel good and cultivate a habit. Setting the usual goals does not seem to work for me because it changes the mindset in a way that tends to lead to overdoing things. That feels bad and it's hard to continue doing things that feel bad. Once you have a habit going you can more easily modify the routine in whatever way makes sense.

Maybe this is something everyone knows already but I learned this late.
Click to expand...
That's pretty much what I'm trying to do. I'm very good at adopting good routines. I just have no ability to visualize and very little imagination anymore, so the only way I can do this is selecting from options. I can do that fine, I just can't come up with it on my own since all I know is sport stretching, way too rough.

So I need a good resource with options to select from and I'm good, but I'm not good at searching for stuff anymore so I got stuck. Anything is fine as long as it's legit and based on anatomy, not from wellness influencers.
 
JemPD said:
Is there any possibility of your being able to hire someone to come out to you & develop a customised/personalised routine? That's what i did & it was helpful. Actually i did it twice.... Once with a 'yoga & body work therapist' & then more recently with a local osteopath.

I had conversation with them on the phone & established that i wasnt interested in strengthening, or in yoga as a 'treatment' for ME, that i just wanted help to design some stretches that would be effective but within my limitations & all lying down.

I spoke with a few before i found one with the right attitude... lol you can imagine the nonsense.
Click to expand...
Having some help would be the best option for me, but it would have to be a regular thing. The type of stretching where therapists use their mass and strength, doing all the work. If I were rich that would be my option. And massages. And other help.

But I have to make do with my lack of strength, and the routine should be simple enough if I can find a resource to guide me.
 
Trish said:
Alternatively if you don't feel confident you know what you're doing, you could find a set of stretching exercises and just do one at a time, rather than seeing it as a routine to do all at once, and adapt it to sitting or lying down.
Click to expand...
That's what I'm asking here :) Well, mostly. The title may be a bit off, I'm not looking at a complete routine, so much as a resource to do my own.

It's just that everything I found so far is either too hard for me, or has a wellness influencer vibe that I'm not sure about. I was hoping there is some resource out there aimed at us but haven't found any. Which is really damning given all the fluff about "self-management". It's very hard to actually self-manage without good resources.
 
Trish said:
Here's a set of gentle stretching exercises from Age UK:
https://www.ageuk.org.uk/informatio...ng/exercise/simple-exercises-inactive-adults/
As I suggested in my previous post, they could be spread across the day or the week, and don't do lots of repetitions, just do each one once, or whatever you can easily manage.

Gentle stretches
Try some gentle stretches in bed or a chair every day to keep supple.

  • While sitting or lying, bring your toes towards your shin and then point them toward the floor. Repeat for both feet.
  • Sitting on a chair, lift your leg up off the seat, keeping your knee bent. Return to starting position and repeat.
  • Sitting on a chair, pull your toes up, tighten your thigh muscle and straighten your knee. Hold for about 5 seconds, if you can, and then slowly relax your leg. Repeat for both legs.
  • Sitting on a chair with your feet on the floor, bend your knee as much as possible. Repeat for both legs.
  • Sitting on a stool, let your back drop and get rounded, then use your back muscles to straighten your back and arch it (but not too much!).
Click to expand...
Ok good start! Thanks.
 
perchance dreamer said:
The woman's a little annoying, but I do like how she keeps reminding you to relax your muscles as you stretch them so you'll get a better stretch with less discomfort. I tend to hold on to muscle tension, so I find reminders like this helpful. I'll forgive her for saying laying down instead of lying down.
Click to expand...
Great, I'll give it a watch. This is actually mainly the reason I'm looking for this, I really messed my legs a few days ago by doing stretches that tensed my leg muscles too hard. It was really good for my back but my legs got so bad I was afraid I had screwed myself into way lower disability. Fortunately with more rest than usual it should be fine, but that much pain out of so little is just absurd. The margin for error is ridiculous.
 
Mij said:
Anything that increases circulation and microcirculation helps me when I'm unable to stand or walk for weeks/months.

A dry body brush to increase microcirculation if you're able or have the strength to brush. I feel as though I went for a 15 minute brisk walk after brushing for 5 minutes. No more stiffness.

Magic back stretcher to lie on to open up my shoulders/chest to increase circulation and breathe better.
Click to expand...
Yeah I'll probably add in some recumbent biking with no resistance once my jelly legs are improved, just for circulation. I bought a massager gentle enough for the scalp, should be good for around bony areas, which at this point is mostly everywhere. Stuff I couldn't do with a percussion massager.

Is the magic back stretcher good? Looks perfect for me, in that I'm trying to use gravity as much as possible to apply the force. Comments look good. Price seems only OK if not gimmicky but this looks good to me.

Since I mentioned vibrating massagers, after some searching around I went with:

Handheld Head Massager – Electric Scalp Massager for Self-Care or Headaches

Waterproof Electric Vibrating Massage Ball 3-Speed Rechargeable (gonna try using my weight on a yoga mat with this one)

Shiatsu Neck and Back Massager

I really neglected this area so far. I never really adapted to this being permanent, and it's caused me a lot of harm. Well, no more.
 
rvallee said:
Is the magic back stretcher good? Looks perfect for me, in that I'm trying to use gravity as much as possible to apply the force. Comments look good. Price seems only OK if not gimmicky but this looks good to me.
Click to expand...

There are several different models since I bought mine 13 years ago. This is the one I use which is smoother on top and doesn't have huge nodules sticking out:


The stretcher has 3 levels but I only set mine at the lowest level, there is no need to push yourself. I start with my knees bent and slowly lay them flat on the floor. I start with my arms placed at my side, then I spread my arms out away from my side, and when I feel more comfortable, I place my arms over my head. This really gets the blood flowing. Start slow and build to 5 minutes a day if you can.

Here is a video on how you should use the stretcher properly:

 
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