Saturday, May 29, 2010

Quilter's back exercises...

A few little chickens, log cabin and plain, that I have made lately for gifts and fetes,





After 6 weeks of not being able to exercise, this week I am back!! I have been having more than the usual back and neck problems in the last year or two. My hands, especially, the left have been going numb of a night and getting painful and with less maleability generally
...the things I have broken would stock a house! Needless to say, stitching and keyboarding have moved to the backburner as well.
The shoulder pain is scoliosis related and has been going on since I was 13 but the rest is the last few years, I have often thought it could be the start of MS but when it got really bad recently I have seen 2 chiros, a doctor , a couple of masseurs, had x-rays and am now at the physio who is achieving great results. The x-rays were because they thought it was a pinched nerve or spinal cord, everything has come up clear so the physio is hard at work at
1. fixing the constant shoulder and neck pain.
2. fixing the numb fingers
3. stopping it all coming back
Has achieved #1, it all feels great and I am back to pilates, boxing and circuit training, but I have to do a range of specific exercises and the main two are really exercises for all quilters so I am showing you. DD is the exercise model.
This is a tennis ball in circulation stocking with knot at the bottom. This is for getting right into the shoulder blade and muscles around there. You just rub that up against the wall, working both sides.
These are stretchy physio bands. Grip these, with nice soft knees, not locked up, and pull your shoulder blades together, effectively sticking your chest out. This should be done very regularly when you have been sitting sewing. I have to do it 10 times +(x50) a day!
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Nice easy ones, that may help your quilting back pain as well. yell if you have had similar trouble.
Have made a few things of late, My little niece, Daisy is two already, I had her bday last week, she scored an eyespy of all her favourite animals as her baby quilt. She is also wearing the little pik tutu I made her. i made her a couple of other little denim and applique skirts as well. She loves wrapping her babies!


She is cat mad and got a pretend cat for her bday, she wrapped and unwrapped that about 20 times!

i made her a little pram one with the scraps.

The rest of the time I have been chasing sheep and lambs...the head count for lamb pets was 9 this morning, but I conned 2 more onto a foster mother so I am back to 7! Thanks for the spider assitance, a banded orb weaver seems to be the consensus, with perhaps slightly unusual banding.

Have a great day, Tracey

6 comments:

  1. The aches and pains all sound so familiar! Thanks for the exercise tips, I'll give them a go and just maybe I should go see the doc about the weird pains in my elbows and forearms, especially in the mornings!
    Your beautiful niece looks very happy with her gifts.

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  2. Just doing a little catch up here, Tracey.

    Love the little chickens. I need to try a few of those.

    What sewer cannot agree to some of those pains? I will definitely be giving the exercises a try. We get so engrossed in our project and soon find ourselves in a real painful position.

    Your little neice is so cute. I love her blonde hair. She is soooo girl!

    Looks like you have your hands full with the lambs again this year. All are so sweet looking, but lots of work.

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  4. I had some pretty severe shoulder and arm pains that hsve been relieved by corrective massage and sleeping on a different mattress than what had previously been the most comfortable for me. I sleep on my back quite a lot now and just use very small baby feather pillow for neck support, which helps keep my arms from going numb.

    The numbness and pains in my hands were lessened by wearing a wrist brace while sleeping. The braces designed to relieve carpel tunnel problems are fairly inexpensive and certainly worth a try for sleeptime. My doctor suggested trying them before making an appointment with a neurologist, which can get quite expensive.

    The exercise you pictured certainly looks worthwhile. I'll try it! And the tennis ball is a great help too!

    I'm a quilter, but not a blogger, although I very much enjoy reading some quilter's blogs. Your blog is one of my favorites.

    Kathy

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  5. Those chickens are so cute, and your niece with her adorable curls and holding your gift. So sweet! Hope you are getting better with your exercises. I haven't ever had numb hands but surely have a sore neck and shoulder frequently. Hazard of my hobbies, my work, and my bad posture mostly (it couldn't possibly be age, nooo).

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  6. Your beautiful niece looks very happy with her gifts.
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Thanks for finding the time to comment, I'll try hard to get back to you!! Sorry, have had to add word verification step due to comment spam!