Keep It Moving

Chronic diseases do not help us move the way we should. Sometimes it feels like we shouldn’t move at all, but we truly can. Other times, we better stay still.

I always hurt to some level. My muscles tighten for no reason because of incorrect signals or none from damaged nerves and brain lesions. My hands tend toward some combo of numb and tingly. I still type well because of years of muscle memory and I keep on using the skill for my writing.

But activity was never high on my list. I never lasted at sports in high school. I tried them for all the wrong reasons and stuck with intellectual after school endeavors instead. I learned a couple of different martial arts, but was moving so much I never ranked high belt wise. My activity after college boiled down to weekends of live action gaming, some attempts at sticking to a gym, and the martial arts. I moved thirteen times in the first 20 years of adulthood and had addresses in five different states. Some of them were only for weeks. You could say I did more moving of location than I did with steady exercise.

Last winter I wound up with tendinitis, and it took through May to resolve most of the effects. However, that shoulder still hasn’t reached its full potential. I believe it may have happened due to too much time on the computer between writing and online gaming with friends. I did not get up and move enough, though I try to stretch regularly.

Walking outside this year was bamboozled by two waves of smoke from Canadian fires and too much rain. By the time we had some nicer days again, I was having more issues with my left leg. When I first had odd neurological issues, it was my whole left side from the shoulder down going numb. It took four and a half months to get back to work and even then it proved trying. It took another four years to figure out it was multiple sclerosis.

Despite how my body feels, I need to keep moving. It is better to stick to a gym or something I can do at home just in case the body wigs out. I don’t know why I stopped it, but I had a fun basic aerobics program I liked that was based on Latin dancing. I pulled it back out this week and proved I could last at least twenty minutes of one of my favorite 45 minute routines. It also proved I can move better than I thought. Today’s aches proved I worked out, but it did not worsen the effects of the multiple sclerosis. I just know I need to work on doing this fun every other day until I get my core muscles strengthened again.

I definitely am the type to remain dormant, and my hobbies correlate. It takes effort to keep up with an exercise program, no matter how much I know I need it. I am sure some of you have this same issue. I encourage you to work with your doctor if you have any health issues to determine what you can do and then find something that inspires you to keep going. Maybe you need an accountability partner, someone to walk or workout with, or just a timer to make you get out of your chair for a little while.

I’m only in the beginnings of ramping up my moving. I can confirm that I felt more energy and fewer urgings to eat when I mixed in just twenty minutes of dancing around along with a little housework. This required a little extra sleep for the body to recover, but overall, the day after the start was going well. Now I need to go wrangle a vacuum cleaner because the cats have not learned the no hair rule yet.

Check how things are going with your moving life, then pick one thing you can do today to help. Take time to assess this first change after doing it for a couple of weeks and then determine if you can step it up. In some cases you may be able to step it up sooner, especially if you don’t have any chronic illnesses to overcome. Repeated efforts can turn into habits.

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