exercises for chronic leg pain? (arms too?)

[custard]

hi.

i've had chronic muscle pain for years in my shoulders, arms and legs. think it is mostly due to stress/insomnia, so is a slow battle to heal... but curious if there are exercises i could be doing which would help. the symptoms of the pain are inflammation and stiffness.

here is something i recently learned which i am curious about: i noticed i got mild wrist tendonitis recently and have had it for a few weeks. was resting/icing it for a while which was helping to not exacerbate it, but it didn't help it heal either. a couple of nights ago, i went kayaking. this was a planned event and i was worried it would make my wrist worse. it did hurt my wrist/arms little bit while kayaking, but i guess it was a good kind of hurt. to my surprise, after a couple of hours of kayaking, the next day my wrist (and arms) felt much better. ever since then my wrist has healed significantly. so i wonder if it's something to do with the movements and increased circulation that helped.

the muscle pain lingers on though, as this is a deeper-rooted problem. lately my leg pain is worse, to the point where if i am sitting down for longer than 10 minutes my legs start hurting a fair bit. it also hurts to bend down (crouch) and get up again. even if i stand up after sitting for a half hour i feel stiff and the first few steps are painful. the specific area is the front and back of my upper thighs, right below hip joint. i bike almost every day, and while i tend to feel better right after the ride this doesn't seem to be reducing the pain in my legs at all. i'm just trying to think in the same vein of how the kayaking seemed to heal me with the increased circulation and blood flow.

anyone know anything i could be doing that might have a similar effect to how the kayaking helped my upper body? and why bicycling doesn't seem to help at all? thanks.

 

[CFC]

Have you tried resistance training? Specifically weight-lifting?

For most people, that fixes a lot of the chronic aches and pains that result from our highly unnatural sedentary lifestyles. Sometimes after just a single session. It recruits and then properly 'switches off' the motor units in the muscle, thus reducing muscle tone and causing deep relaxation.

Cycling, as a relatively low-intensity form of exercise, probably won't help much at all. Kayaking is generally more intense and activates more of the muscle tissue, which is probably why it helped.

 

[custard]

Thanks for the tip.

I'm a little resistant to try weight-lifting though as that tends to focus more on strengthening than on circulation and movement, which I think is what I need more of. I think that's why the kayaking helped - the paddle isn't too heavy, but still carries some weight. I think it was the fluid, circular motion of my arms and wrists that probably allowed the blood to flow and the muscles to relax more. I'm still pretty weak/inflamed so I don't want to overdo it right now. I want to loosen up my body before I focus much on strengthening.

Cycling I think is good cardio for me, but my guess as to why it doesn't help with circulation is because I'm sitting so my pelvis is in a sort of "locked" position the whole time. Yesterday I tried some squats, leg lifts/stretches, and a few yoga poses, and that actually seemed to help a little. The pain has slightly lessened today. Anything that involves movement around the joints seems good. So that's more what I'm looking for.

 

[CFC]

Thanks for the tip.

I'm a little resistant to try weight-lifting though as that tends to focus more on strengthening than on circulation and movement, which I think is what I need more of. I think that's why the kayaking helped - the paddle isn't too heavy, but still carries some weight. I think it was the fluid, circular motion of my arms and wrists that probably allowed the blood to flow and the muscles to relax more. I'm still pretty weak/inflamed so I don't want to overdo it right now. I want to loosen up my body before I focus much on strengthening.

Cycling I think is good cardio for me, but my guess as to why it doesn't help with circulation is because I'm sitting so my pelvis is in a sort of "locked" position the whole time. Yesterday I tried some squats, leg lifts/stretches, and a few yoga poses, and that actually seemed to help a little. The pain has slightly lessened today. Anything that involves movement around the joints seems good. So that's more what I'm looking for.

Do you realise you've just given me a whole load of excuses? If literally all you want to do is loosen up your body, get a massage and learn some stretches. But otherwise resistance training/overload will help specifically with all the issues you've raised, more quickly and more efficiently than pretty much anything else. If you want to get better, give it a try. You've got nothing to lose but a few hours/week of time.

 

[Moreaux]

Yoga is very beneficial - sometimes a good stretch eases the chronic tension that we have, that were generally oblivious too. If at all possible, try to get deep tissue massages once a week. I was going through a similar issue and could barely move it was so tight and sore so I started doing yoga and the massages - within a month it was gone.

There are some great yoga videos on YouTube - I recommend trying to do it in front of a mirror so you can make sure your positioned properly.

I also second strength training. Hope you feel better soon!

 

[custard]

I wasn't intending to give excuses. I feel a bit humiliated by the fact that you chose to bold some of my words and called everything I said an excuse.

I'm resistant not because I'm lazy, but because in the past I was recommended muscle strengthening by my physiotherapist and it didn't help at all. I realize I do need to get stronger, but in the past when I focused only on repetitive strengthening exercises without increasing my range of motion and circulation, my muscles were always tensed and locked in, and the pain did not get any better. It would be nice instead of calling me out on all of my "excuses" you could explain more specifically how something fairly static like weight-lifting could help. Or what else you might've had in mind.

Sorry if my reply sounds harsh or I'm taking things too personally. Had a bad day.

Moreaux - thankyou for your advice. I think yoga is a good idea. I am probably going to start taking classes again soon enough. Not sure I can afford a weekly massage, but hopefully yoga alone can do some good. Again, curious how strength training can help with inflammation resulting from chronic tension.

 

[CFC]

Hey custard. Sorry, I wasn't trying to humiliate you, it was supposed to sound like friendly cajoling One of my jobs is as a rehab specialist, and I have patients come to me all the time and say pretty much exactly what you said, so I guess sometimes I can be a little direct.

What exactly did your physio get you doing last time? It sounds like some kind of isometric routine (as you mention static) which you're quite right wouldn't be very helpful. I'm happy to help though obviously it's somewhat tricky done over a keyboard.

 

[Guntluva]

Hi Custard, I'm a personal trainer so I'll reread your original thread - give it some thought and get back to you soon.
Let me know if you have any questions though.
Cheers, G

 

[David Wooderson]

All I can say is I had a botched surgery that led to fentanyl.

I couldn't get out of bed because it felt like there was a blowtorch on my crotch for nearly two years (i'm a guy)

Corrective surgery didn't work in my case

After I went through detox and had a few months of sobriety I became a member of this site....
I saw a picture on this site from neversickanymore that was something to the effect "you tried everything else, why not exercise fatty?"
I started in comical small amounts before giving the pain killers a break...
For me, I know get more pan frm not exercising/weight training than from laying around.
I never would have thought that would be the case but I gave it a shot because I was at a breaking point......

 

[assclass]

have you seen a physiotherapist?