Exercise

What exercises or types of workouts do you all recommend with lyme and other related illnesses? I have been told no aerobics, but I do Xbox fitness for about 30 minutes a day on my Xbox one and that is kind of like aerobics so I'm not sure if I should continue doing that? I also lift light weights and try to train each body parts with weights at least twice a week and I just stop both when I start to feel light headed during workouts. Can anyone recommend a work out routine or is what I am doing okay for now? I do have a gym membership and home weights as well.

Well , they say go light on aerobic activity, because it lowers the immune system. Yes, apparently runners and such do have a lower strength immune system from this. You would think the opposite would be true.

On the other hand, weights or anything using the large muscles without heavy breathing pulls oxygen into muscle fiber where it can actually kill lyme bacteria.

I've read this and even heard this from a LL Pys. Ther.

On better days in the past I;ve done both. All I could tell is with lyme you get (some of us) really prolonged soreness from any exercise.

From a pain and muscle recovery point of view , you need to have more rest days in between. But if all you do is rest, then people with the lyme body pain usually get worse and muscular atrophied.

I just make sure I do way less than I feel I can, otherwise I will be in pain for 3-4 days.

My neck is the touchiest part- over do it and I'm screwed.

An example of what I try to do:

For required "light" activity I ride a bike just a little 2x a week. I only do one 5-10 ride per week ever (if I can). Snowshoe in the winter, between skiing one per week if I can (pain allowing, and not below 0 f).

I recently broke thru my "barrier" on weights with PT help, only on core (center) and lower body so far. I had to fix many tendons first which was a four year project. I have to maintain this or lose it.

Walking is best for most people on UNEVEN surfaces because every foot step is different from the last one.. Walking a long way on pavement can lead to repetitive injuries with lyme.

Learn your new limit and practice moderation. There are some lyme people with no body pain (WOW) that would be a dream!!

Getting rid of lyme would certainly speed things up!

astroman said...
Well , they say go light on aerobic activity, because it lowers the immune system. Yes, apparently runners and such do have a lower strength immune system from this. You would think the opposite would be true.

On the other hand, weights or anything using the large muscles without heavy breathing pulls oxygen into muscle fiber where it can actually kill lyme bacteria.

I've read this and even heard this from a LL Pys. Ther.

On better days in the past I;ve done both. All I could tell is with lyme you get (some of us) really prolonged soreness from any exercise.

From a pain and muscle recovery point of view , you need to have more rest days in between. But if all you do is rest, then people with the lyme body pain usually get worse and muscular atrophied.

I just make sure I do way less than I feel I can, otherwise I will be in pain for 3-4 days.

My neck is the touchiest part- over do it and I'm screwed.

An example of what I try to do:

For required "light" activity I ride a bike just a little 2x a week. I only do one 5-10 ride per week ever (if I can). Snowshoe in the winter, between skiing one per week if I can (pain allowing, and not below 0 f).

I recently broke thru my "barrier" on weights with PT help, only on core (center) and lower body so far. I had to fix many tendons first which was a four year project. I have to maintain this or lose it.

Walking is best for most people on UNEVEN surfaces because every foot step is different from the last one.. Walking a long way on pavement can lead to repetitive injuries with lyme.

Learn your new limit and practice moderation. There are some lyme people with no body pain (WOW) that would be a dream!!

Getting rid of lyme would certainly speed things up!

I've heard the same about too much cardio.

Excercise in moderation is good, but I think I would agree that while cardio is good, too much may lower immune system(overdoing cardio basically).

I love lifting weights, it is a good way to excercise the muscles, and move the lymph around.

You immune system consists of your lymphatic system, and your lymphatic system depends solely on muscle movement to circulate around your body; so moving your muscles is great to trigger the flow of lymp, which will help your immune system function. :)

I like to do both weight lifting and cardio in moderation.

Astroman is right on. It is an individualized thing. I have a perspective that is backed up by research. I started all this research about 6.5 years ago by scanning many thousands of posts on several lyme forums. I read all of the "archives" that were available on each forum which went back several years before 2008, the year in which I started my research. I developed a mental trending analysis for many of the relevant issues associated with LD. I read a lot of posts that stated that the person was totally debilitated and wiped out if the person attempted any kind of "aerobic" workout. I have also seen a smaller but surprising number of posts where people insisted that regular intense cardio was at the center of what made them well! I would imagine that most of the lyme sufferers would fall somewhere in between just like my daughter.

Rather than make a "one size fits all" recommendation, I think that the wisest physician is the one that leaves it up to the patient to determine the appropriate level of physical exertion just like Dr. J. did with my daughter. Well, what does this recommendation look like? If you wake up the next day and feel worse for the exercise, then it is clear that you overdid it! You then make adjustments. Its simple as that. Other people are not debilitated by the additional call for energy expenditure, and have discovered that ongoing and regular oxygenation serves to ultra potentiate every antimicrobial/supplement/nutrient that they are taking. It is not a matter of choosing one or the other, but rather, it is a matter of finding the optimum location on the continuum between the two extremes FOR YOU. Nobody can describe or quantify the appropriate amount of aerobic activity for you, because they don't have a clue.

I have found that some of the hard and fast rules for getting well are often nothing but myths. Fortunately a lot has changed in that regard since my daughter first became sick. Many of the LLMD's today have dramatically different opinions about certain issues than they did 6.5 years ago. They were forced to yield to obvious realities. I was forced to yield to obvious realities, and that is a huge part of the reason why my daughter is well today. I had to think outside of the box to find a treatment approach that would heal her.

This semi rant is absolutely not directed towards anybody, but rather is a call to individualize every aspect of your treatment approach. Traveler has preached this approach over the years, and it still is the wisest statement ever made on this forum! As she has said many times- "what works for another person will not necessarily work for you".

Don

Post Edited (Heathersdad) : 12/8/2014 11:16:24 PM (GMT-7)

I have been told over and over—and have read over and over—that you should not push yourself to the point of fatigue.

Well, when you're fatigued all the time, of course, any physical exertion will fatigue you. I have come a long way from extreme daily exhaustion where I had a hard time standing long enough in my kitchen to make a meal or standing long enough in my shower or lifting my arms above my head to wash my hair.

But, I still have some fatigue most days. I have joint problems in my hips and knees and my feet hurt so I have trouble walking any distance but I can ride my bike. But my leg muscles generally ache and ache during and after riding my bike and the day after. I don't overdo the ride— I'm not out of breath for the whole ride. But while I'm riding and afterwards, my legs hurt. There's no way around it. But if I didn't push through it I would not be able to leave the house. I hope I'm not doing any damage. My legs are naturally muscular and I have not noticed any atrophy but it's really tough to "feel your way through it" if you have trouble understanding and reading the communication from your body like I do.

But, I think that even when you are only doing resistance moves and the other recommended types of exercise, you're still increasing your heart rate, which id pumping aerated blood throughout your body, spreading oxygen and good cheer.

Another poster mentioned he/she was still running 4-5 miles a day—and then I read Agent9er's post above. This still surprises me! But then again, I forget how long I've been so physically limited… my reality is very different.

-p

Pirouette said...


But, I still have some fatigue most days. I have joint problems in my hips and knees and my feet hurt so I have trouble walking any distance but I can ride my bike. But my leg muscles generally ache and ache during and after riding my bike and the day after. I don't overdo the ride— I'm not out of breath for the whole ride. But while I'm riding and afterwards, my legs hurt. There's no way around it. But if I didn't push through it I would not be able to leave the house. I hope I'm not doing any damage. My legs are naturally muscular and I have not noticed any atrophy but it's really tough to "feel your way through it" if you have trouble understanding and reading the communication from your body like I do.


-p

Wow- I could have written that.

I used to compete beyond fatigue when I didnt know I had lyme. I think it really messed up my body, light injuries everyware. I could rest for a week and it wasnt enough to recover. Since the Docs said I was fine, I'd do it all over again till I finally figured out all was not fine and almost quit all exercise cold turkey. Now in moderation only.

Question for the athletes:

I basically live with dull pain in my large muscles - quads and arms, calves, etc. But I push through it to ride my bike and stay as active as possible as long as I have energy to do things. Lately, it has been pretty bad—can barely walk.

Yesterday, I felt like I was hit by a truck—exhausted. Can't pinpoint why exactly but also had a strange sensation in my left calf muscle—it had the intensity of a cramp but was not a cramp—felt more like someone pushing on my calf with a large object. Never felt this before. Did I tear something? It's an inconsistent pain—doesn't hurt with every step just with some specific movement. Not a great description, sorry.

-p

Post Edited (Pirouette) : 12/12/2014 11:40:26 AM (GMT-7)

Very interesting—thanks so much astroman. I will start some investigating. ;)
As I started "exploratory massaging" I noticed that my L hamstring on that side is leo sore… so I have two areas to focus on.

-p

astroman said...
Pirouette-

My calves were rock hard 8 years ago. I do a lot of manual muscle work on them myself, not to easy as positions get very creative. Now I can identify certain areas, and fix before it spreads. You can learn what healthy muscle feels like, by comparing massage feel to the same muscle on another limb if that one in not in pain.

Lumpy or ropy muscle upon pressure manipulation is not normal. You push and feel fairly hard with fingers or thumbs. Tendons develop this too- just follow the tendon with your fingers until it feels tough or ropy and is usually tender there- thats what needs to be fixed.

Lyme muscles are like a semi-plugged toilet. What "plugs" the muscles are the tight knots, some quite small and some larger in surface area. This slows the circulation bringing in new nutrients. So recovery takes forever. UNLESS someone does manual muscle techniques to SPEED up the circulation, which diminishes the aches. Sustained pressure to the area, start at 10 sec and move up, with fingers, thumbs or my fave - a LaCross ball.

Fact: you cannot stretch a muscle that has knots in it. Example:Tie a knot in the middle of a sock, pull on both ends. Its still shorter with the knot, and the knot is now tighter. That is exactly what stretching does if you have muscle knots - nothing. And many people with lyme say stretching does nothing- this is why.

Feel your calf like a muscle detective, find the knots and push on them. Skip every other day, till it improves. It hurts at first till you let up, then, Ah! - what a relief.

I do this post workout wherever it hurts. I lay on the lacrosse ball parallel to the floor on my hip areas everyday. Otherwise I'm in more pain.

Unfortunately , reducing muscle pain takes effort on our part. It does work though.

I was 40 with washboard abs when I got sick. My years of weight training have ended. As for exercising, anything that can get the blood flowing to the joints is good. Exercising to the point of lactic acid formation is bad. The best exercise that I have found that helps me the most is climbing. Using the large muscles of the legs with the large muscles of the back do better for me than anything. It takes less than a minute to see benefit. One sprint of 50 yards kills a lot of pathogens as well. Anything that can increase blood flow to hard to reach areas should be beneficial.

Dr Joseph Burruscano has wonderful exercise guidelines in his online, 37 page treatment protocol. I am not too computer savvy or I would add the attachment. Very informative! Check it out...

Thanks again astroman—great info. Most of the time I del so disconnected with my body it takes awhile to understand what is going on. But these massages might not just be a good way to support the muscles they may also help me "feel" what is going on.

I'll admit that I am terrified of becoming immobile—I live alone and, well, that is just not an option. So being able to get around on my bike is essential—it's a much easier challenge than walking anywhere—my joints can't handle the impact and weight I guess and at times it's like nothing coordinates anymore so it's very awkward. So I'm hypersensitive to anything going on with my ability to ride. I agree that prevention of further damage? atrophy? injury? is so important with us.

GH—
That is amazing that you are still so active. What a gift.

-p

Anyone do exercises in a pool?

Astroman, I was able to determine my body's deficiencies and address them through nutrition and supplementation. I advocate that in conjunction with addressing suppressed immune function and our genetic deficiencies. At one point, I couldn't walk 100 yards.