As I was organizing my physical therapy receipts, I noticed that although I’ve been in therapy for 3 months now, I’ve only actually been to therapy a total of 21 times. That’s just an average of about 1-2 per week, very different from my therapist’s suggestion of 2-3 times per week.
I know being busy with other things is hardly an excuse, especially since in almost all situations health should be the top priority. Besides, how can you continue being busy when you’re not 100% healthy anyway? Another excuse I find myself using is that I’m not well enough to go out. Although valid at times, such as when my ankle is swollen and I can’t walk, as long as I can walk to the train station, not feeling well enough should not be an excuse. So now I promised myself that save for exceptional situations (life-and-death, or I’d-probably-get-fired-if-I-don’t-do-this), I will stick to my M-W-Sat morning therapy schedule.
My therapist also said that keeping the muscles flexible and from becoming too tight is also key to decreasing the pain from the spinal and ankle osteoarthritis, and would help him do his job more effectively - correcting my tilted cervical spine, my lower back scoliosis and tilted pelvis, and realigning my upper and lower leg.
Here are some of the stretches he taught me, demonstrated in these ExpertVillage.com videos.
For the lower back - Rotator Stretch:
For the lower back - Knees to Chest Stretch:
For the lower back - Quad Stretch:
For the lower back - Cobra Stretch:
For the neck and shoulders - Shoulder Stretch:
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