Resistance Training and PMR

I am 77 and tapering slowly since my diagnosis lat May (4 mg now). I do believe that an intense bout snow shoeing in Jan 2023 caused my body to overreact, hence PMR reared its ugly head. Prednisone has been a miracle drug, but I am hoping to be done with it soon. With that said, exercise has been a lifesaver. At first I was only walking 3-4 miles 5x per week (a shoulder surgery prevented other exercises). Now I can finally use the gym so I am doing resistance training 2x per week. I have also been doing yoga 2x per week since September. All this is to say that my exercising has not caused any flare ups. Do my muscles feel sore? Yes, but it’s not the same kind of debilitating soreness that I experienced with PMR. So I would concur the the above comments and start exercising slowly and know that you body will thank you. Keep the faith. Liz Ward

My rheumatologist said NOT to exercise when I was diagnosed with PMR. I was in a lot of pain in my arms/shoulders/neck areas and am still on a low dose of prednisone. My pain has lessened but it still there. I like the idea of exercising and wonder if any of you have felt that the exercise makes the PMR worse or if most feel it doesn’t have much impact on the pain and just improves muscle strength?

Diagnosed 4 weeks ago. Have always exercised, bikes and weight training. At 75 I think it’s important to have muscle tone. I find that areas with previous injuries tend to hurt more in the morning. Prednisone hasn’t taken away all the pain. My rotator cuff tear is especially sore until mid afternoon. Doing limited expertises with small weights, 10-15 lbs. Bench Presses 65 lbs yesterday, 3 sets of 15 reps. Shouldn’t have done it, very sore today.
Going to keep it up, but very conservative.

Had your PMR symptoms gone away before you started exercising or were you still having some pain when you started the exercise?

Jean, first and foremost, we and our conditions are all different. Even the docs don't really know exactly what's going on in our bodies from day to day. So, this is really not a one size fits all issue. I have worked out regularly and heavily for over 40 yrs. When this problem started in Jan, it began in my thighs, so I decided to call a halt to exercise. Take a break from both strengthening and cardio. The condition progressed into my arms, etc. I saw a Sports Med dr because I thought since I had recently stepped up my program to strenghten my thighs more, my problem was due to that. He spent no time except to send me for a hip xray which showed nothing significant and on to PT, which I quit almost immediately as it was just too painful, mainly after I got home. I know my body and I knew this was not muscular pain that results from exercising new muscles. It had worsened the pain from the PMR and you know what that kind of pain feels like.
I saw a rheum, who felt I didn't have pmr because the US did not show enough inflammation, however, she did tell me not to do anything that caused pain.
I have just begun to walk for 30 min every other day. It does not seem to be making things worse. I am not medicated, only 1 Advil per day, well aware that it might not be a great idea but trying to get docs to do labs and check everything regularly. What regularly means, varies from person to person, I've noted. Again, it depends on one's condition and what they're dealing with besides possible PMR.
I am also doing some mild strengthening and stretching. Just started those and so far, so good. I warm up first, do 10 bridges for back strengthening, 10 leg raises. ( I am adding clam shells for hip strength and sit stands soon as well as increasing the numbers of sets I do of the 2 I'm already doing). That's it for now. then I stretch afterwards.
At first, the walking really increased my leg pain, but now, so far, it's much better and I feel better doing it. I put on the news but turn it down and play music! LOL. If I see something I can stand to hear, I'll switch modalities!
BTW, I also have untreated osteoporosis, so all my exercises are osteo-safe to the very best of my knowledge.
Let me know if you want links to any of these exercises.
Best to you.

You might enjoy Yoga. I work some Pilates into my daily 30 minutes of practice and it has really helped maintain my strength, Four months ago I could barely move, so I am thrilled to be almost back to my pre PMR fitness level.

I'd like to see the exercise links you've mentioned.

Thanks!

Unfortunately, with osteoporosis, I can't do Yoga or Pilates unless they're osteo-safe. I have seen some of those here and there.
How wonderful that you are back to exercising as you were before PMR. Guess you're on steroids. Or very very fortunate!
I will be glad to send links..and I have so many different varieties. Can you tell me what you're interested in seeing? I have everything from cardio classes to strengthening.

To start, here's a video from my Bone Builders class. If you are familiar with strengthening and wgts, you'll know how much wgt to lift and what moves might not be good for your body. I'm careful with the overhead triceps extensions and cautious (since PMR) with the leg lifts in that I was putting a lot of extra pressure on my thighs and they were the first to hurt w/PMR. May be different for you. I try to use perfect posture during this workout and abs pulled in. You won't maintain it, no one can, but I just remind myself to straighten up throughout.
If you want more or different, let me know. I have a lot of videos.

This may not be for everyone but in my case it has been a life changer.
I'm a 73 year old male and I've had PMR for almost 5 years wth many tapers and flares so firstly I changed my diet to eating only whole foods.
Absolutely NO added sugar and fruit juices with high sugar content.
I dropped 50 lbs (from 230 to 179 today) and the inflammation reduced significantly.
I did this through intermittent fasting and walking a minimum of 1 hour per day.
Resistance training was too painful...until recently.
That's when I changed the fasting regimen to 36/12 which means 36 hours with no food followed by 12 hours of being able to eat however much I want. I still adhere to the no sugar diet of course during the eating period.
The results have been miraculous for me.
Within a week, yes, I said a week, I had full flexibility in my neck and shoulders. That's something I hadn't had for years and the pain in my hands, hips and knees was insignificant.
I was then able to do some mild resistance training 3 days a week using bands.
Dr Jason Fung, a nephrologist, was my inspiration throughout this journey.
Through his medical practice he was able to reduce obesity and reverse type 2 diabetes in his patients using intermittent fasting and the side effect of reducing inflammation was the kicker for me.
He is now a authority of the benefits of intermittent fasting and you can find him on YouTube.
BTW. He doesn't promote any products. His channel is purely about information and the results he has seen in his patients.