So I am confused: when the pain hits or it is in a moment of not being extreme, should I stretch? should I rest it?

I go to water therapy and he says not to overdue it. Well overduing (sp?) it means driving my son to class at 9 am, waiting, and driving back home at 12 pm. I read that strengthening the muscle helps, so I should stretch on days I don't go to therapy right?

So many conflicting reports I just don't get it.

My PM doc says that when I get the block and I am pain free I need to use that time to really strengthen my muscles. Well I was almost pain free Sunday and I walked (short walk).

What is your advice?

Hi Christine!
Yes, by all means... do what your PM doc says!! do some stretching, not over doing it.. but to keep those muscles limber and from getting too stiff. Good luck! Love, Desi (P.S. I can do as much as my body can tolerate, after that, I rest my muscles) Just do what ya can!! Hang on in there, Gal!!

You will definitely know if you overdue it. Stretching and moving and keeping the muscle strong is helpful. My daughter will use warm water and move her foot in that to keep it moving. We do PT exercises three times a day per her PT. Here is a link to an interesting article--

http://www.neurologynow.com

Click on the March/April edition, then to the article Exercise Rx for Nerve Pain.

It doesn't specifically address RSD but it did help motivate us to keep up the exercises even when we didn't want to.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I have been looking for something like this for a little while now. I appreciate this.

You are welcome....

I had a great conversation with my daughter's PT. When we make her work hard and move her foot and use it, her pain spikes for a bit and then she tends to get better. Now, this isn't saying it stays that way always but moving it tends to help her. She is a pediatric therapist that has worked really hard to learn a lot about RSD--we have had her for 5 years. She has commented that PT for adults is different for children--not sure what the differences are but she was thinking that more and more therapists look to doing stuff with adults that children do in PT.

One way to exercise that we found was a local hotel pool. Our clinic pool had temperatures for all the local pools so we found a warmer one and they gave my daughter and I free monthly passes to use the pool 24/7. I paid for my other daughter to go so she didn't feel so left out. We could bring in noodles to help lighten the weight and had a blast. She particularly liked the hot tub afterwards! Maybe there is one in your area that would help you out. I took a brochure to them about RSD and they were so kind.