Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group New New

shouldn't laugh at your descriptions, but reminds me of some of the crazy things i do in the name of pain relief.....

don't know if i'm doing more damage or not, but it seems to help, the PT taught me how to do traction for my neck, but could get the same kind of relief, easier by doing the shoulder stand like i learned in yoga. headstands definitely too much strain on neck, back, etc, but shoulder stand seems to give my neck a nice stretch and seems to strengthen the back muscles better than most exercises i can do, especially if i hold myself up there using my back muscles and rest my hands on my thighs. since there is no evidence of fusing, should stand seems safe, just some "arthritis" in cervical spine.

what do you think about the shoulder stand if i really do have AS (still just don't know?). figure i'd ask you since you do pilates, would be familiar perhaps with shoulder stand.

and when my rhomboids/trap get messed up, neck muscles spasm, have to get the neck muscles back under control because if they spasm too long, that occipital spot becomes inflamed where the muscle crunches over the bone and then it just snowballs from there. yeh, after all these years, that's one of my hot spots. interesting to hear someone else with a similar hot spot.

Hey Sue, I've done the shoulder stand, too. I would be very careful coming down out of it, especially since you have damage to the cervical spine. But if it's helping, do it.

One of my favourites is the Swan pose (Cobra in yoga terminology - slightly different, but close enough), during which I extend my thoracics. It's a great stretch for the front abs and sternum, and gets my upper back moving in a completely different direction than usual.

Soon, I hope, there will no longer be a 2mm layer of reno dust on everything, every day at the end of the day and I'll be able to do my pilates home program again. Can't wait!!!!

Warm hugs,

thanks kat. for whatever reason, the shoulder stand was the one pose my body seemed naturally good at to the point it was the one the yoga instructor would have me demonstrate to everyone else so i come up and down easy enough (controlled and all that). but i'll keep the cautions in mind. the cobra on the other hand, i do it, because as you say, its bending in the opposite direction, something i probably don't do often enough, and its gentle on the body (never a risk of overstretching or overexerting and thus pulling anything as i am wont to do), but its the pose where the instructor would come over, tell me to bend my thoracic spine, and when i'd tell her i was trying but that was it, she'd come press gently on my back, and exclaimed, "wow, you're right!" seems i'm extra bendy in some directions (ok, very few) and rather stiff in others (ok, most)

been following your renovations, a hassle to live through, but in the end, hope you are pleased. we had a major kitchen redo, completely gutted, and i just love my kitchen! and a back "sitting" room, had a huge bay window installed looking out onto our big field out back, old paneling and drop ceiling replaced with dry wall and paint, really brightened the place up, gas stove put in - went from the worst room in the house to the best. been "talking" about getting the bathroom done ever since....one of these days. can't imagine doing more than one room at a time, i'm impressed whenever anyone does that. can't wait for you to be able to enjoy it all, including doing your pilates at home again!

I have to say, if I ever renovate my whole house again, I don't want to live there through it!! At the same time as I'm over-joyed at the changes, living with the chaos and dust is awful. We can't use anything in our kitchen without wiping it down first and this is extra important, because the walls and ceilings have been there for 100 years, so who knows what now-banned building materials are in there. It's also pretty neat, because the original floor boards are actual 2x4s, instead of what passes for a 2x4 today. And when they took the wall down between the bathroom and the back bedroom (so we could expand the bathroom and move the laundry room up there) one of our guys found a small hat badge that looks to be from one of the world wars. I've been researching it, but am having trouble pinning it down ... if you'll excuse the pun.

One of the more exciting additions to the bathroom is the steam shower we bought. It's fully enclosed and came with two little stools so we can take a steam bath in there. It was a bit extravagant from a price standpoint, but it's fully worth it. My sweetie insisted we get it, as he knows how well I respond to warm humidity. The first time I used the steam function, he was astounded because he said all the stress left my face.

I'll post some pics when I remember to download them off my camera.

Warm hugs,

Interesting to read how folks found themselves explaining things away...
I explained my SI pain and stiffness along with other symptoms away for years, literally. Given what I do for a living (I've been a fitness instructor and personal trainer for 25+ years), I simply figured I had overworked 'the area' and wasn't stretching enough or I had moved wrong, or I had just been torturing my body for too long and was getting old. But, while searching for something else entirely, I mentioned this SI issue to my rheumy, along with the year long shoulder pain, the neck pain, the chronic achilles tendonitis, and the one 2 month long bout with iritis (that I initially wrote off as allergies), he suggested AS. While I'm not officially diagnosed, I mention these details to you, t star, just so you can appreciate that maybe, even if it seems hasty to jump to any conclusions, at least you can get a jump on what you may or may not have regardless of the approach.
Like Kat said, it's all so arbitrary. The best any of us can do is listen to what we know about our bodies and keep the medical professionals informed and on track.
This site is great for information from friendly people with 'gads' of experience on many fronts. You're sure to find some help here. Welcome. Keep us posted on your progess.
Wishing you well!
PT