Our company leaves today and life will settle down into the post holidays-winter routine. Maybe I will be able to get back to my walking exercise routine which is what always suffers if there is any disrupting influence in life. Between Christmas, New Years, and guests we have continued to eat too richly. It's time to exert some discipline in the kitchen.
I also need to develop a strength building exercise program for my operated arm. I've postponed expecting strength in that arm since I read the 6–12 month time span was when power would increase. But I suppose it won't increase if I don't do something to help it. There is certainly some wasting of muscle in that arm. And the tricep part of the upper arm has a definite crinkly appearance, from reduced use I suppose.
Prior to breaking my right shoulder and the subsequent surgery, I walked with two hiking polls. While the activity is pretty passive, I suppose it is the repetitive motion that has such a beneficial effect on upper arm musculature. I had tried using weights and modified push ups without noticeable improvement but when I switched to the walking sticks I really could see a difference,
It seems a bit shallow to worry about appearance when I have struggled so with function. Maybe it is sign that function is becoming less of an issue. I find that my use of the operated arm is very nearly equal to what I normally do with the other arm. I no longer have to remind myself to use my right arm, it happens automatically. The only limitation remains strength. Possibly the heaviest thing I lift is a gallon of milk which weighs about eight pounds, I can carry it, preferably with arm extended , not bent. But when it comes to lifting it to put it in the fridge I have to let the unaffected arm take over. I think Dear Husband has some eight pound weights but that doesn't seem like a good starting place.
I have the exercise bands given to me right at the end of my official course of physical therapy. I think that will be my starting point. I don't want to go back to physical therapy now. Surely I can create my own exercise program. First step is just to get back to walking regularly and using two walking sticks. Even when l have walked since surgery I have only carried one stick and switched back and forth between which hand held it. Not enough, I think.
So if you see one of those kind of funny looking walkers, the ones with the Euro style sticks that are meant to be hiking rough paths in the alps, it might be me. My walking course is pretty tame, flat and mostly asphalt or concrete. The roughest thing I encounter is a neighborhood dog. Even the most passive, friendly canine acquaintance does not like the walking sticks. I don't know if it is the tap-tap of the sticks as they strike the paved ground or if the sticks look too much like weapons. But while dogs, and even cats, are a little intimidated by the sticks, my real walking nemesises are unimpressed, the vultures!
A neighbor, well intentioned no doubt, is dedicated to feeding the feral cats, in spite of City advice not to. Unfortunately, the cat food placed in vacant wooded lots attracts vultures who roost in tree canopies and supplement their diets by tearing up garbage bags looking for food scraps. Waving a walking stick threateningly or clanking them together has little affect on the urbanized scavengers. Under extreme threat they will grudgingly hop out of range, only to return to the buffet table as soon as I pass. I guess they know my right arm isn't strong enough to be a danger. Well, just wait... I am about to turn that around!
I also need to develop a strength building exercise program for my operated arm. I've postponed expecting strength in that arm since I read the 6–12 month time span was when power would increase. But I suppose it won't increase if I don't do something to help it. There is certainly some wasting of muscle in that arm. And the tricep part of the upper arm has a definite crinkly appearance, from reduced use I suppose.
Prior to breaking my right shoulder and the subsequent surgery, I walked with two hiking polls. While the activity is pretty passive, I suppose it is the repetitive motion that has such a beneficial effect on upper arm musculature. I had tried using weights and modified push ups without noticeable improvement but when I switched to the walking sticks I really could see a difference,
It seems a bit shallow to worry about appearance when I have struggled so with function. Maybe it is sign that function is becoming less of an issue. I find that my use of the operated arm is very nearly equal to what I normally do with the other arm. I no longer have to remind myself to use my right arm, it happens automatically. The only limitation remains strength. Possibly the heaviest thing I lift is a gallon of milk which weighs about eight pounds, I can carry it, preferably with arm extended , not bent. But when it comes to lifting it to put it in the fridge I have to let the unaffected arm take over. I think Dear Husband has some eight pound weights but that doesn't seem like a good starting place.
I have the exercise bands given to me right at the end of my official course of physical therapy. I think that will be my starting point. I don't want to go back to physical therapy now. Surely I can create my own exercise program. First step is just to get back to walking regularly and using two walking sticks. Even when l have walked since surgery I have only carried one stick and switched back and forth between which hand held it. Not enough, I think.
So if you see one of those kind of funny looking walkers, the ones with the Euro style sticks that are meant to be hiking rough paths in the alps, it might be me. My walking course is pretty tame, flat and mostly asphalt or concrete. The roughest thing I encounter is a neighborhood dog. Even the most passive, friendly canine acquaintance does not like the walking sticks. I don't know if it is the tap-tap of the sticks as they strike the paved ground or if the sticks look too much like weapons. But while dogs, and even cats, are a little intimidated by the sticks, my real walking nemesises are unimpressed, the vultures!
A neighbor, well intentioned no doubt, is dedicated to feeding the feral cats, in spite of City advice not to. Unfortunately, the cat food placed in vacant wooded lots attracts vultures who roost in tree canopies and supplement their diets by tearing up garbage bags looking for food scraps. Waving a walking stick threateningly or clanking them together has little affect on the urbanized scavengers. Under extreme threat they will grudgingly hop out of range, only to return to the buffet table as soon as I pass. I guess they know my right arm isn't strong enough to be a danger. Well, just wait... I am about to turn that around!
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