Linda,
I'm glad you are feeling much better also. When did you start the diet? I started in about mid-August. It took me about a month to eliminate all of the hidden starches, like my meds and supplements and spaghetti sauce, but I've been pretty scrupulous since then. I also eliminated dairy the first of October.

Thanks for the broomstick trick. When I check my SI and find it out of alignment, I have an exercise which uses the legs very similarly to push it back into alignment. I might try the broomstick method some time also. I also do core strengthening exercises regularly.

I just finished reading "Muscular Retraining for Pain-Free Living" by Craig Williamson. The idea behind it is that we have patterns of muscle tension which have become ingrained and feel so normal to us that we don't even notice them. Pain, such as that caused by AS, can set off a pain/tension pattern which becomes semi-permanent. The idea behind the book is to train yourself to once again feel the dysfunctional tension and then let go of it. I suspect that some of the lingering stiffness in my neck is due to muscles which are habitually contracted and I need to learn to release them.

I did some of the exercises from the book for the first time last night and I couldn't believe how much more relaxed my lower back was afterward. I tend to overuse my back muscles giving me too much of an arch in my lumbar area. The PT has been pestering me about it. This book seems to be giving me a way to let go of those muscles.

I wish you continued success with the NSD!

Karen

Last edited by Karen_the_Mouse; 11/28/07 02:29 AM.
I cannot make the universe obey me. I cannot make other people conform to my own whims and fancies. I cannot make even my own body obey me.

Thomas Merton



Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul - and sings the tunes without the words - and never stops at all.

Emily Dickinson