Back, Neck, and Hip Pain Relief After 70 Years of Pain

 For nearly my entire life, I have suffered from back pain. You might see me sitting on the floor of a department store, leaning over a cart at the grocery store, or just praying – for relief.

Fast forward 70 years and one amazing doctor recommends something that no other doctor (that I remember – I'm not really sure – my mind capacity is filled with Swiss cheese holes) has recommended. Could it help?

Drum roll, please! YES! Not only did it help, it offered amazing relief and a whole new outlook on life! The photos in the video shown above share exercises that were tailor-made for me and modified according to my ability to perform them. I show them in this video so that you can talk to your doctor about what exercises you can do to relieve your back, neck, and hip pain. Always consult your doctor before you begin exercises of any kind, but especially when you are already experiencing pain.

Here is the pad I use for balance. According to my physical therapists, balance becomes an issue when you become older, so to better balance your body, learning how to balance on one of these thick foam pads is very helpful.

I had to purchase the foam pad, but my physical therapists provided me with resistance bands. If you need resistance bands, here is a link for you:

I cannot tell you how amazing I feel now that I've been exercising with only those two tools! Can you imagine? I'm 70 and I feel better today than I did when I was 19! And all I do is s-t-r-e-t-c-h!

I wish for all of you a healthy, pain-free life. Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to read my blog. Please find some joy today and sprinkle it everywhere.

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Rules of Exercising

   For a long time I didn't allow any kids on my stationary bicycle after my kids broke the first one I had. Decades later I finally bought a new one and NO ONE was allowed to ride it. 

But it sits next to my treadmill in my family room now and because everything is open and I can see what goes on in the family room from the kitchen and dining room, I decided to allow my grandkids to use the treadmill as long as they followed the rules. The rules are to walk slowly when babies are around and to hold onto the sides or the handles depending on the child's height.

When winter weather came around, I decided that as long as my grandkids followed a few simple rules (not sitting on the wheels and riding it only if their feet could touch the pedals), they could ride my exercise bike. Great idea, right? 

My 2-year-old granddaughter, however, unable to figure out how to ride the bike with her feet in the pedals, devised this new sitting position that allowed her to at least sit on the bike.

Gotta give her credit for her ingenuity.

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Who Says Kids Don't Get Exercise When They Play Video Games?

I'm going to miss these little guys. I've spent the last three weeks with them and it has been such a joyful experience.

From the second Kaden and Zac awaken in the morning, they are constantly busy. I don't think they even know what the term, bored, means.  They play video games and then act out various video characters in real life, taking on different personas as they don capes, swing swords, and shoot guns, becoming fearless avengers and caped crusaders. 

When they are not play-acting or running through the house, we tell stories, engage in activity time, and have funny conversations, like the time we were playing I Spy and I had the kids going for a while trying to find something blue. I had chosen Kaden's eyes. So we discussed eyes. Zac said his were black. I said they were dark brown. He insisted they were black. I said only his pupils were black.

And here's where I started laughing so hard I was crying, because Zac couldn't pronounce pupils. He kept calling them pukers. "I have pukers? What are pukers?" For some reason he was having a hard time pronouncing that word. And for some reason I couldn't stop laughing.

During exercise time, the boys would throw themselves on a huge stuffed animal, and I would have to say, "Come on, Guys, I'm the old grandma here, remember?" And they would sigh and begin again.

Throughout the day they were always doing something and yet, when their mother called to ask them what they were doing, they always said, "Nothing. Just staying inside." 

They would have her on speaker phone, and I would just laugh, wishing I could explain to her through videotape what doing nothing all day looked like. Just watching them is sometimes exhausting. Who says kids don't get enough exercise playing video games?

Going home is bittersweet. When I'm with one family member, I'm always missing the others no matter where I am. I'll miss you, but I'm hoping you'll get a chance to visit me in Illinois!