Have any of you who can't do strenuous excercise without symptoms worsening found any workarounds or low impact exercise that can get the heart rate up without having a negative effect on your head?

I think exercise bikes and other low impact gym equipment might be the way forward, I've never tried these things because I pretty much ruled out any sort of exercise other than walking.

I guess this all depends on if the issue is movement, heart rate or a combination. I'd like to find out but am a bit cautious.

Anyone have any advice or experiences to share?

No experience but I've always been a walker and that doesn't work anymore because it feels like it's jarring my head most of the time. I am considering a Stamina Magnetic Resistance Recumbent Bike like this http://www.walmart.com/Stamina-Magne...ike/ip/7680164

My daughter used an eliptical machine early in her recovery. Eliptical machines are really smooth and non-jarring. Then she progressed after many months to running outside, etc. You need to heal in two ways...the regulation of heart rate, etc. AND the ability to withstand light jarring that comes from jogging, etc.

A simple way to determine if your exercise is jarring your head is to put in foam ear plugs. With them in, you will hear the impacts that effect your head. Then, you can determine early in your routine if the exercise puts you at a jarring risk.

You do not need to exercise with the ear plugs. Just use them to check the jarring action.

You can also use them to learn to walk with a smoother gate. Many people plant their heels too hard. This is not only hard on the brain but is rough on the joints in the legs and cushioning disks in the spine.

With ear plug training, you can learn to walk like a dancer or even Grasshopper from the old Kung Fu (David Caradine) days.

I have had many issues with exercising, although I get a splitting headache once my heart rate gets up and nearly faint.

I have also done the eliptical, recumbent bike and swimming. My Dr's keep telling me that my issues are only due to muscle spasms in my neck that are affecting my optic nerve and causing these symptoms.

So now I am trying to do exercises that are low impact and easily controllable and don't make my neck or upper back/neck tighten.

Needless to say, I really miss working up a sweat.

Although....I did go to see a personal trainer who had me do an hours worth of monitored easier strengthening exercises and I really worked up a sweat. I had to sit down every once in a while so I didn't faint, but it was the best workout I have had in a year and a half.

Doing core work (vertical) on BOSU ball was really good, increases your heart rate and makes you feel a little more like you did before!

Good luck

I'm interested that your docs are telling you that your optic nerve symptoms are caused by muscle spasms in your neck. What kind of doctor? A chiro or neuro? My daughter's neck was injured at the same time she received concussion. She saw chiro for treatment but nobody ever equated her optic nerve issues to muscle spasms in neck. Hmm...

Keeping her vision straight during movement was the final hurdle my daughter crossed during vision therapy. At one point she was feeling really good and normal until she was physically active. Eventually she was able to do her vision exercises while balancing on a bongo board and now she does not have a return of symptoms with exercise. It's similar to rehabilitating an ankle injury that can withstand standing, then walking, and eventually running and jumping.

For her it was all about re-training her optic nerves to stay "turned on" equally. Losing your center of vision puts the brain into overdrive as it tries to make sense of what it's seeing, which leads to panic attack-type symptoms (headache, vertigo, nausea, pounding heart, etc.).

Can you feel this tightening in your neck muscles? Are you still receiving treatment for your neck?

These symptoms are so intertwined with other conditions (vestibular, blood pressure, etc) it's like a giant puzzle to be solved.

My daughter would ride the exercise bike. She started slowly (5-10) minutes at a time and then built up. We also kept her heart rate low initially and then slowly increased that as well. We found she was more sucessful with exercise after we started working with a NUCCA chiropractor.