Living a Healthy Life with Chronic Pain (22 page)

Now, let’s bring the arms in front of our body and bend your arms at the elbows, moving your arms toward your shoulders. Making a gentle fist, and curling your fist, extend your arms back out and hold this position … Feel that stretch in your forearms and the back of your hands. Let’s repeat this a few more times … bringing your arms forward, curling your fists inward, and extending your arms out.

Now, keeping your arms extended or dropping them to rest on your legs if you wish, rotate both wrists in a circular direction one way … then the other way.

Now, lifting your arms out to the side of your body as if they were wings, move them back, opening your chest and holding this stretch for a few seconds, remembering to keep your shoulders soft and relaxed. Bring your arms to the front of your body, and repeat … Now release your arms down.

Take a deep relaxed breath … in … and out … Lift your arms, raising them as high as is comfortable, very gently and slowly. Bring your hands together and guide them down toward the center of your body … and finish by bringing your arms down through the center, exhaling as you do. And now you’re done!

Similar to the MEP, the exercises in this section are designed so you can practice balance activities in a safe and progressive way. These better balance (BB) exercises are listed in order of difficulty. Start with the first exercises and work up to the more difficult ones as your strength and balance improve. If you feel that your balance is particularly poor, exercise with someone who can give you a supporting hand if needed. Always practice by a counter or stable chair that you can hold on to if necessary. Signs of improving balance include being able to hold a position longer or without extra support, or being able to do the exercise or hold the position with your eyes closed.

The National Institute on Aging, a division of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, offers an exercise guide and video that includes other balance exercises. There may also be some balance exercise classes in your community to help continue your progress. Tai chi is a wonderful program to help you work on balance and strength. (See more on tai chi later in this chapter.) It is low impact and gentle on your joints.

Stand quietly with your feet comfortably apart. Place your hands on your hips and turn your head and trunk as far to the left as is comfortable and then to the right. Repeat 5 to 10 times. To increase the difficulty, do the same thing with your eyes closed.

Using a counter or the back of a stable chair for support, do each of the following five to ten times:

1.   Rock back on your heels and then rise up on your toes.

2.   Do the box step (as if you were dancing the waltz).

3.   March in place, first with your eyes open and then with your eyes closed.

Do these exercises standing close to a counter for support or with someone nearby for assistance. The purpose of this exercise set is to help you improve your balance by going from a larger to a smaller base of support. Work on being able to hold each position for 10 seconds. Once you can hold each position with your eyes open, practice with your eyes closed.

1. Stand with feet together.
   
2. Stand with one foot out in front and the other back.
   
3. Stand heel to toe.
   

The purpose of this exercise is to increase ankle strength and give you practice balancing on a small base of support while moving. Staying close to a counter for support, rise up on your toes and walk up and back along the counter. Once you are comfortable walking on your toes without support and with your eyes open, try it with your eyes closed.

The purpose of this exercise is to increase your lower leg strength and allow you to practice moving on a small base of support. Staying close to a counter for support, raise your toes and forefoot and walk up and back along the counter on your heels. Once you are comfortable walking on your heels without support and with your eyes open, try it with your eyes closed.

Holding on to a counter or chair, lift one foot completely off the ground. Once you are balanced, lift your hand from the supporting surface. The goal is to hold the position for 10 seconds. Once you can do this for 10 seconds without holding on, practice it with your eyes closed. Repeat with the other leg.