Posted by alexandra_k on May 1, 2011, at 5:21:43
In reply to Re: walking poles/hiking poles » alexandra_k, posted by floatingbridge on May 1, 2011, at 1:09:31
> When you speak of orthonics, what do you personally feel about them for arthritis?
well... i'm supposed to have orthotics for my feet... i think the idea is to give me a heel raise to help me walk since i don't have much ankle flexibility.
i've just recently been learning about barefoot running, though. it is a bit hard because vibram (company) have been sponsoring the studies... nothing new for medicine, though, i guess... but seems to me that humans were walking, running, and jumping (some tribes on rocks, even, so concrete pavements are no excuse) with far less feet problems than we experience today for all our designer bouncing soles footwear.
seems that what our bouncing sole designer footwear does is teach us to strike down on the ground hard with our heel. we then rock our foot forwards to launch from the ball of our foot. i can't walk like that very well because of my problems with ankle dorsiflexion, it is true.
if you look at how tribal (non-shoe wearing) people walk, run, and jump (even on rocks) they tend to use a gentler landing on the ball of their foot or more distributed through the ball and midfoot. the heel then gently lands and then a launch from the ball. vibram five finger shoes are 'minimilist' shoes that just provide a fairly thin sole (to stop you getting broken glass in your feet) and you learn to walk more like that because HEEL STRIKING HURTS!
heel striking is traumatic for your ankle, knee, and hip joints.
midfoot / ball landing will give you some muscle soreness in your midfoot (around your arches), your calves, the front of your lower leg, and your outer quad down by the knee. use the muscles spare the joints!
it is a bit slower walking like that... i'm doing a lot of stretching... stretching my toes back from the ball of my foot. stretching the heel back from the ball of my foot. i don't wear the vibrams more than about 2 hours per day because my muscles take some time to recover. but: no joint pain! no lumbar spine pain from walking / standing either!
but yes. i walk slow.
so... i could wear orthotics to give me a heel raise so i could walk like most people. but then i'd have the joint problems that most people seem to have... the muscles are strengthening (slowly, gradually) and i think that is the best rehab for them of all.
of course i am wearing orthotics in the sense that i need a significant heel raise on my weightlifting shoes in order to squat. olympic lifters typically do wear shoes with a heel raise (because they need to squat so low with an upright torso) and i need even more of a crutch than most when it comes to that. i only wear them for lifting because otherwise i can't do the lifts at all. i am still working on my feet, though, and hope i will be able to do it barefooted one day! though... that doesn't seem likely.
Aikido sounds fun! I was looking into learning a martial art... One good thing about them is that they teach you how to roll and fall etc. that kind of stuff is hard. most people need to be taught and it takes a while if you are older than, like, 7.
> This is under investigation. Injury to the lumbar for sure. Spinal instability in lumbar, cervical, potential instability in one spot of thoracic. MRI's eventually. Degenerative discs. The big cr*ppy news is fibromyalgia and crazy fatigue.
Hmm... The joints are stacked alternating stability / mobility.
E.g., ankles are supposed to be mobile, knees are supposed to be stable, hips are supposed to be mobile, lumbar spine is supposed to be stable, thoracic spine is supposed to be mobile, cervical is supposed to be stable.
If you don't have mobility where things are meant to be mobile then the next joint (the one which should be stabile) will start to become mobile and problems will result. E.g., people with immobile hips often have knee pain and / or lumbar pain. People with immobile ankles often have knee pain and / or lumbar pain. If you try and mobilize what is supposed to be stable (e.g., try and move your knees around where they aren't supposed to go or your lumbar spine) then you can create injuries for yourself, too.
Mobilization can be hard. My hips are a lot dodgey. Arthritic, I guess. Felt a bit like broken glass in the joints when I moved them. Didn't move them much because of that. Then started to mobilize them gently. Just moving them (without weight!) through a greater range of motion. Every day. Over time... The movement became comfortable and the broken glass feeling went away. I think that the joint fluid only really gets the chance to coat the joint properly when you move it. Moving it allows the joint fluid to get in there and wash out some of the gunk or whatever (pure speculation). But gentle mobilizations seem to help arthritis, yes.
FISH OIL: can't say enough good things about it. try it for yourself. some people need quite a lot of it. i notice a difference with 4 capsules per day (2 are recommended on the bottle).
GLUCOSAMINE: not entirely sure this makes a difference. take it anyway (got a bottle pretty cheap)
ANTI INFLAMMATORIES: sometimes. try not to do this too often. but will sometimes if they are feeling inflammed, yeah.By 'lunge' I just meant this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ95qwNaD78
you can weight them (and raise the back leg to make it harder) but more important to get the movement right.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sz7D44aAPKk&feature=related
> Did you always have this focus, just on other things?
yeah. addictive personality, i guess. always obsessed with something lol.
best of luck to you, too.
poster:alexandra_k
thread:983787
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20110407/msgs/984265.html