Stretching Routine 2021

 Hi,

I mentioned in a recent post that I had updated my stretching routine recently. The pictures below show all of my current stretches, in the order that I do them:

Hamstring

I start with hamstrings - I have always tried to touch my toes as a measure of if the stretch makes any difference. Back in 2018 I noted that some days I can touch my toes and other days I cant. These days it is much more that I cannot touch my toes at all. I do each leg twice, each stretch for about 20-30s.

Adductor

As noted in 2018, I focus on keeping each leg as straight as possible, and my body upright. This is a  tricky position to get into this position, and I am often use the wall to help, probably more so than in 2018. I do each leg for 20-30s.

Calfs

This is a stretch in 2 parts, in each case trying to keep feet flat on the ground, legs straight and in line with my body. For the second one I each leg, each of the three stretches are 20-30s long.

Calfs and Adductors 

These two stretches finish off my calf and adductor stretches, and the second gets me extension in my chest. I hold each for some 20-30s.

Sitting Cross-legged

This is a new one. I realised that I had written quite a long time ago that I found sitting cross-legged uncomfortable as a child. I had generally avoided sitting cross-legged since then because of this discomfort. I sit like this for 20-30s, then swap my legs over and repeat the other way round. I concentrate on getting me knees lower. I added this after I added the next one, but do these first!

Perhaps over time I'll see if I can do this without leaning against something!

Cobblers Pose

This is a yoga pose as recommended by the German Geh(n)-mit-HSP study. Again, they show this without leaning against something. I concentrate on getting my knees down, and hold this for some 20-30s. You can see details here: https://www.treathsp.net/klinik/physiotherapie/uebungen

Hip Flexors

This stretch is a change from the way I did this in 2018, as I now do this like a forward lunge, but my knee is on the ground. I concentrate on pushing my hips forward to get the stretch, and do each side for some 20-30s.

Abdominal Stretch

These two stretches are new, and they were recommended in the German Geh(n)-mit-HSP study. I hold each for about 20-30s.

I think that I have noticed a difference with these stretches. I have found that my spine is more mobile in some Pilates exercises. Previously when lifting or lowering into/from a bridge position my spine was very blocky, and now I can feel more vertebrae individually. 

I became aware of these in Jan 2021, so it has taken me some 4 months of doing these to notice the difference in my spines flexibility.

Plank

Adding the plank after the ab stretches was a straightforward thing to do, and I hold this for some 20-30s, just to help my core strength.

Roll-downs

I finish with three roll-downs from Pilates, just to help with my spine articulation and general flexibility. I concentrate on flexing my ribcage, and as per 2018 my legs stay slightly bent throughout.

Overall Timing

So, there are more stretches here than there were in 2018. I still mentally count each stretch rather than use a timer. I do these stretches once a day, usually not long after I get out of bed, which differs from 2018 when I would do one set in the morning and another set in the evening. The total time for all stretches is typically 17 minutes (as measured with FitBit). I can get these all done in a little over 15 minutes if I rush, and some days it will be getting on for 20 minutes by the time I finish. The overall time doing stretches per day is similar to that from 2018. Now that I only do one set per day I am more rigorous about ensuring that I do these, so only a handful of days with no stretches, most often if I am away.

If you would like to compare these with the same from 2018 - see here: https://hspjourney.blogspot.com/2018/04/stretching-routine.html

You can also read about the German project here: https://hspjourney.blogspot.com/2021/01/which-physiotherapy-helps-with-hsp.html

I also wrote recently about why we do stretches here: https://hspjourney.blogspot.com/2020/05/why-do-stretches.html

Mental health awareness week

Hello, this post is a little later than I would have liked as mental health awareness week is coming to an end, but it has taken me a few days to reflect on what I wanted to post about.

To me, if you have a rare disease (like HSP) or a disability there seems to be quite a burden with potential to affect mental health. This post simply seeks to note down those areas.

Uncertainty

Simply, when you have a condition there are many more variables which can affect your future in ways that you cannot evaluate. Your future is less certain, and that uncertainty can be a burden, more so if you are the type of person who likes to plan their future in great detail.

Understanding

The burden of a condition or a disability is greater if you don't know about it. Understanding can be improved if you know:

* The name of your condition/disability and you have a firm diagnosis

* What symptoms might occur (and how they might affect you)

* What cures or treatments are available (noting, no cure for HSP at moment)

This area can be even more frustrating if the healthcare professionals you are seeking this information from do not understand what you have, or what you are seeking the answers for.

It is important to remember that you may be seeking answers that do not yet exist, and in that case the healthcare professional should be honest with you and say that there is no answer. They may be able to give you their opinion, or an approximate answer, or between you work out where to go looking to reduce this uncertainty. 

Support

The old saying 'a problem shared is a problem halved 'is true! Having a disability or condition can be a very lonely isolating experience, especially if you feel like you are the only person in the world going through your situation.

Being able to talk with someone you can trust can make a massive difference to your wellbeing.  If you are able to find a community of people who have the same or similar conditions can help you feel that you are not so unique, and you will know that there other people who are going through the same things that you are.

This kind of environment can also help on the understanding front, as within these communities there are people who are happy to share how they have overcome their own barriers, and their top tips for getting through life. You are often able to draw parallels between your situation and theirs and seek a path which you can either choose to follow or choose not to follow. These types of discussion can help reduce your uncertainty.

The communities can also be a place to share your frustrations and simply voicing these can help. Equally you may find benefit from listening to others share their frustrations. 

If you don't like the idea of finding a community of people with the same/similar conditions, and there is no-one in your close circle of friends or family that you feel you can talk with, then you could always reach out to more general mental health charities or groups. 

Change

We are all getting older, one day at a time, with our lives slowly changing as a result. If you have a progressive condition like HSP then your life may be changing at a different rate or in a different direction to the general path of change with age.

Having some awareness of potential changes can work either way. Those that like to plan well in advance may benefit from an understanding of how their future may be different from their present. Others may not like to consider how different their future may be. If you have HSP I think it is worth considering potential changes in the following areas:

* Mobility - your mobility is likely to change, and you may need to think about the use of mobility aids.

* Other symptoms - pain, fatigue and bladder problems (among others) can mean further changes on top of mobility changes - not everyone is affected by these (or other) symptoms.

* Travel - changes in your mobility may affect how you can travel, and if you enjoy travelling you may wish to think about how you may travel in the future

* Employment, hobbies and activities - any of those factors have potential to affect how you can do those things that are important to you. You may wish to think about how you can do things in a different way or from a different perspective to keep doing these important things.

* Your home - if your mobility changes a lot, you may need to think about changes to your home, to help you be able to move about your home and keep on with those day-to-day life essentials as independently as you can.

Grief

If you feel that you are missing out on futures which now seem to be difficult or impossible, then you may be grieving the loss of your future self. Grief is a natural process, but the process of grieving can be painful and take time. You may have to visit this process a number of times as your life changes.

Acceptance

If you do not feel that you have the condition that you have been diagnosed with, then you may not be accepting of your current situation. Accepting who you are and what you have can be a difficult process, but once you have accepted this you may be in a better position to consider what your future self may have to deal with. You may have to visit this process a number of times as your life changes.

Once you accept your own situation you can subsequently start to deal with accepting that others may see you as 'different'. If you have a condition like HSP and your mobility is greatly affected then people will always see your mobility aids because they are different from 'normal'. 

The acceptance part of using or changing mobility aids is twofold, firstly accepting that you are comfortable using a mobility aid (or a different mobility aid), and secondly accepting that other people will have an opinion about you, your condition and your new/different mobility aids. You cannot control what others think about you, their opinion is more about their upbringing than your situation. You are likely to be balancing the benefits of using the mobility aid against the mental 'cost' of being seen to be different.

Disclosure

Following from the process of accepting your own situation comes the next part of the journey, being able to share your story with other people.  

Some of the time it may not be important to disclose to other people that you have your condition, but in other cases it can be. The benefits of disclosure can be greater when you find day-to-day tasks more difficult, and in these situations disclosing your situation can help improve other peoples understanding of your situation. On the opposing side, once you have disclosed your situation it becomes more easy for you to be put in a different box than you were before, and that (or the potential of that) can be a hard thing to accept. In theory disclosure should open up avenues to support rather than block off progress to your future self, but I accept that it is not always as clear cut as this!

Depending on your situation you may feel the need to disclose your situation to your family or friends, to your doctor or other healthcare professionals, to your employer(s), to any insurance companies, to your driving licence authority, to your bank or mortgage provider (and so on).  

Summary

My journey in this area spends most of the time moving between the Understanding, Support and Change areas with the objective of reducing my own Uncertainty about the future. I don't often need to visit the Grief area, but I do spend some time in the Acceptance area. As my mobility is not affected significantly I have not had to deal much with the Disclosure area in official channels, but I feel that I will need to spend more time considering acceptance before I officially disclose more. 

In terms of this blog I will carry on sharing my story, in all its forms of disclosure! I will also carry on my annual surveys to share the wider picture of life with HSP, to help people with HSP form their own views about how their paths are different from/similar to others. It all helps me, and from some of the comments I receive I know it helps others too.