Click on the link to see the video: http://www.viddler.com/darmorrow/videos/40/
Things are going well. Did a 15 minute walk, 45 minutes of the Yoga for Scoliosis DVD and also worked on the Reformer. All on different days. 
Going on the elliptical now for 30 minutes. Feeling pretty good.
http://www.inneridea.com/library/pilates-osteoporosis-pilates-exercises-osteoporosis-exercises
Safe Pilates Mat Exercises
All is going well. I was tempted to take the jumpboard down and use the footbar instead. I’m not ready for that as I found out.
Done as written with cat stretches or glut stretches in between, I find it to be a nice workout. The more I do the workout, the fewer stretches I feel I have to do in between.
I do the stretches at the end, including the Bones section from th Yoga for Scoliosis DVD by Elise Browning Miller.
Continued from Stott Pilates Based Rehab Reformer Post-Rehab Workout Phase One
BEFORE MOVING beging to EXHALE and THEN execute the movement.
This post is meant for people that have the Rehab Reformer. That probably means you are a teaching professional. If you’re not, check with your surgeon or physiotherapist before attempting any of them. You have to be post rehab which means you’re done with your physio and looking for a way of going further.
If you’re interested in the workout, print it out and take it to your surgeon (assuming he knows what Pilates is). Your best bet is to have your movement specialist have a look at it and let them yeah or nay it. Then you need to find a Pilates Reformer professional that is trained in Stott Pilates and has the Injury and Special Populations certification.
And now the workout:
Warm up for 10 minutes preferably with some form of cardio.
Front Rowing
Seated on block, platform extender or shortbox: 1/2 -1 spring. Watch for tension in the neck as this translates down the entire spine. Keep a long spine and in neutral.
Plow- watch for extension caused by pulling too far back. Offering – keep the hands in line of sight ie not too far back = extension. Triceps – same again. Punches: cross the straps. Short Range of Motion.
Long Box Facing Pulleys 1/2-1 spring Watch that the sacrum does not pivot or tilt.
Can cross ankles and bend knees to take pressure off the lower back. This doesn’t work for me. Activate the gluts and use a thin pad under the hip bones.
Breast Stroke Prep: Hands on outside of the Shoulder Rests. Chest on the box. Lengthen the neck and upper back to look through the hole in the box. Head may rest on the reformer. Exhale and then begin moving from the mid back region and come into neutral. For many of us this is an extension. One flat line from back of head to feet. Inhale at the top and then exhale and focus on sequentially rolling the upper spine back to start. Repeat this 4 times. If there is no lower back discomfort, continue.
Plow: Grab the ropes and crawl the hands up only as far up as you can keep the shoulders open ie not rounded forward. In/Ex into neutral position. In to slide the shoulders down and bring the hands under them and ex as you pull back towards your hips. In to bring your hands under the shoulders and ex back to start. Stay in neutral until final rep and return to start.
Triceps as above.
This post is meant for people that have the Rehab Reformer. That probably means you are a teaching professional. If you’re not, check with your surgeon or physiotherapist before attempting any of them. You have to be post rehab which means you’re done with your physio and looking for a way of going further.
If you’re interested in the workout, print it out and take it to your surgeon (assuming he knows what Pilates is). Your best bet is to have your movement specialist have a look at it and let them yeah or nay it. Then you need to find a Pilates Reformer professional that is trained in Stott Pilates and has the Injury and Special Populations certification.
And now the workout:
Warm up for 10 minutes preferably with some form of cardio.
I’ve added more links for everyone to check out. I’ve included some modified Pilates and Yoga, info on Scoliosis and Osteoporosis and just in general education sites on the spine.
Feel free to send me any links that you have and want to share.
Thanks
Dar
I’ve been modifying my Reformer workout drastically so that I will know what has the potential to hurt my back during my recovery.
Basically I can’t do anything for 8 weeks. Then I have to be really careful. So I have the chance now to modify the workout because if I do something that hurts my back later, I’ll know that’s a no go.
I took the Injury and Special Populations from Stott Pilates which has helped a lot. I also have the rehab DVDs which is a total help after doing the course.
When I’m done, I’ll post the workout here and explain what I modified and why.
Well, I did my best trying to get stronger and hoping that things would improve. They did but not enough. Dr. Gul ordered another thoracic and lumbar MRI along with a contrast at the end. I was in that darn machine for 1 1/2 hours. No moving. It was ugly.
I tried to get them to put me in feet first because I had some claustrophobic last time That was weird and unpleasant. Unfortunately, there was no option to do that. I had them put a towel over my eyes and I just braced myself for it. I have had way too many MRI’s and never had an event so I hoped I could just not think about it. It snuck up on me before. Well, that worked but it still was not a pleasant experience.
I can hardly believe how soon I got MRI. I saw Dr. Gul in his office on June 24. I had the MRI 2 weeks later and a repeat appointment on July 22. Unheard of! Usually you can expect to wait at least 6 weeks and that’s if you are on the urgent list.
Anyway, long story short L2/L3 has bilateral blockage of the nerve roots. So that means a bilateral laminectomy. I sure hope it’s better than the L1/L2 laminectomy that I had Oct 17. That’s what is causing the problems with the lower extremities. Apparently the stenosis is also a problem because there isn’t sufficient blood supply getting to the lower nerve. Geez.
At the same time, the L5 nerve is compressed. That explains why I have so many symptoms on the right. But just to be sure that the surgery at this level will help, Dr. Gul wants to do a steroid injection. Really don’t want that. However, they are doing under fluoroscopy which is pretty safe. The sound of it is enough to give me the willies.
Anyway, if I feel some relief after the injection, he will do L5 on the right at the same time as the laminectomy. Recovery is going to be tough.
When I was leaving the appointment with Dr. Gul, he had the nurse do the pre surgical admission. Right. I phoned his secretary and she said that the doctor that does the injection is off for a week but that once I get the injection, my surgery will be around 4 weeks after that. So September sometime….
This is really a lousy situation. I was hoping to go back to work in September…Forget that. And Bill and I were working towards going back to San Miguel in October. Forget that.
You know, sometimes life just sucks.
Hi All. Well, it’s been quite some time since my last post. Things have been going along and I was trying to get stronger and hoping that the pain would go away. Just go away.
We spent a lovely month in Mexico and I was really good for the first two weeks. After that, my back started to hurt again. There are lots of cobblestones and hills in San Miguel. I loved it none the less. But my back didn’t. The worst of it was that I started getting cramps in my feet and toes. Legs hurt. I couldn’t sleep a night through without having to get out of bed because of the cramps.
I think one thing that caused my deteriorate was the fact that I didn’t do much in the way of exercise or pilates. It took me a long time when I got back home to get back into a condition where I felt the difference with my back.
There’s no excuse for that. I was just being lazy and I didn’t think it would make a difference so quickly…but it did.
I spent a month or two with a physiotherapist before we left as well. Overall I have to say that I didn’t notice a whole lot of difference. She is a lovely woman and Pilates trained but somehow I didn’t see much of that translate into her physiotherapy.
