[Starznight]

Okay with new meds, I'm feeling great in body if not so much in the head, so I've been taking easy-going walks around the neighborhood, and while there were a bunch of new discoveries and interesting tidbits of nature long forgotten... It is getting a bit.... Boring? Might be the word/issue... Not really sure....

I want to RUN!! But I already know that with the stripped tendons in the ankles and shredded ligaments in the knees.... Yeah the muscles might want to run but bad, bad, bad idea! There is no supporting tissue for the joints, or very little... But as I'm walking down the road listening to my music the darn legs keep coiling for the attack, they're hard-wired that way... Walk just to warm up then let's go! Especially if I'm on auto-pilot.

So I need something to keep me grounded while strolling, before the neighbors sick the men in white coats on me, as I find myself starting to jog a step and have to stop walking and try to chide my legs, like the disobedient children they're being. And I'm also not quite up to cross-steps as far as muscular strength goes either, making it a fairly unvaried straight walk, which is something I used to do in the past especially when walking with someone else who could only walk. (I truly do believe I have ADHD, just haven't been tested )

But does anyone else find the monotony of just walking... Just...Blah? Boring? And how do you keep yourself entertained if you do? Can you skip rope without actually skipping? Would crocheting while walking be crazier then disciplining one's legs? A yo-yo? Dribbling a ball? Practicing juggling? Reading War and Peace? Reclaim lost youth and pretend birds are dragons and the only way to pass is walk backwards ten strides?....eh, probably the most likely one to place me in my very own hug-me-jacket. But open to suggestions

[agate]

Is your neighborhood made up entirely of single-family houses? That can be boring but if you like cats, you could try to make friends with some of them. They're usually around in people's yards.

Have you thought about watching birds? It helps to have binoculars with you but even without them you can watch birds.

You could try varying your route so you go down different streets. Walking around a neighborhood is a good way to find out what's going on.

If you are interested in trees or other plants, you could try identifying those that you see.

I wouldn't recommend crocheting while walking but dribbling a ball might be a way to make the walk more interesting.

[tkrik]

I can't walk too far or too fast anymore and when I do I have to use my walker but . . .

You could vary your steps both in stride and how you step. Do x amount of steps going forward, x amount of side steps on the right and x amount on the left, and walking backwards (which my PT says is helpful).

Listen to music or digital books.

Call a friend and walk and talk (another MSer and I did that for a long time and it was great).

Try to identify as many animals, plants, cars, etc. as you can on your walk.

I don't know if you are a religious person or not but praying while walking is great. The time goes by so fast and it's not boring if you stop "talking" long enough to listen. I'm Catholic so a rosary would give me a good 20 minute walk.

[Starznight]

I was raised catholic but never completed confirmation. And I do live in a single family home subdivision and love cats but surprisingly I haven't seen many while out and about. We do have many fat lazy cats in the neighborhood that are seen throughout the afternoon, but early morning it seems they're curled up with their peoples.

Stray cats don't stay as strays for long in my neighborhood and even many pet cats end up with new homes, or sharing owners even lol.... But I think I will grab the tennis ball Monday when I go out again and work on some old PT moves for the shoulder. Will hopefully solve for 2 or 3 issues in one, keeping me grounded, loosening the torn rotator cuff, and improving the overall strength of my left hand that was put out of commission over a year ago.

[Sparky10]

A tennis ball sounds like a great idea! Bouncing it will help with eye-hand coordination. You can mix it up; carry 2 and squeeze them to help build up hand and lower arm muscles. I was going to suggest carrying light weights. I'm up to carrying 3 1/2 pounds on my walks. The weights help me in different ways - they help...how do I put this...the momentum of swinging the weight helps me walk straighter. And you can mix this up too - every different way you carry them works different muscles. Keep a log of how you carry them so you make a point of doing it differently each walk.

[Starznight]

I really can't wait until I can hopefully add some weights, way back when I used to run track and even when I was playing tennis I wore weights a lot while 'training' I really think my coaches were trying to keep me bolted down more than anything (got roped into track and field after sprinting a mile) but it was a lot of fun especially when the weights came off.

Still for something like that I'm going to wait for a PT's go ahead. Lots and lots of soft/connective tissue damage, just walking now in prep of the work to come, and because it's great to have jeans falling off . I'm really anxious to get back down to my pre-injured weight or rather size, the weight's remained pretty much the same. But it's certainly time well past time to turn this fat back into muscle, almost 10 years of rest is far too long. But also the reason why I truly need PT, if left to my own devises I'd be out running from dawn to dusk.

I might be able to maintain that for a day or two, but I know it'd land me right back in bed and wheelchair for a couple of months afterwards. As it is I twisted my knee Saturday morning and have it braced up now. I still plan to go for my walk tomorrow but I think yoga is off the table for another week. Though at least for once I managed to take two steps forward and only fall back by one, let's hope next time I can make it a 3:1 ratio

[SallyC]

Yea Starz. Keep it moving...just not too fast.

[Starznight]

I did end up playing with the tennis ball last week before we headed up to Raleigh for my cousin's wedding, and it really did make it easier to 'walk' as opposed to 'run'. Back when I was 10 I tore the teres major in my shoulder but towards the tip of the scapula, doctors had never seen anything like it, loooong before microscopic surgery so they basically guestimated treatment. And I was told right after it happened that they wouldn't operate, even if I didn't have any mobility or control over my arm until I was 18, it was too invasive and I was too young.

Well after it healed and I could move some, so they dumped me on to the physical therapists letting them guestimate how to improve strength, mobility and coordination. Tennis balls became my new best friends. Toss under hand with upward spin catch over hand, bounce over hand with downward spin catch under hand, toss over hand to opposite hand back and forth...etc but that's what they stuck with since many of the other exercises they tried aggravated the injury too much.

Anyways trying to complete those exercises when it's been quite sometime since I've done them, plus walking... I don't think the legs will start itching to run for a bit lol.

[Starznight]

Well it might be time for a treadmill, or rather the DH will stick me on one if he notices the skinned knees and palms . Went for my usual walk, left the tennis ball at home since last night's injection was bothering the arm a bit. I was just walking, the legs weren't even itching to run or jog when - Bam! Crashed to the earth. Nothing I could have tripped on, was on even pavement, didn't feel dizzy, weakness, nothing.... Just went down, like someone pushed me from behind or something.

Got the ice packs out now for swelling, thankfully I didn't skin them up too bad and they don't especially hurt, my ankle really feels about the worse of it. But seriously, though not anywheres near the first time I had something like this happen, it really is quite annoying. More so because DH and DM are going to gain up on me to lock me inside again or make me promise not to walk further than a block from the house even if it means walking repeatedly around said block.