PMR and exercise: What helps you?

Thanks Teri! I gave mine away too. Not sure I want to invest in one of the expensive ones unless my ship comes in 🙃

My ship sailed! For now, I'm sticking with Dr. Fishman's 12 Poses for Osteoporosis.

I found yoga tedious and boring until a) I found the right teacher and b) I started using music. I’ve now been teaching yoga for 12 years and find it a big help for just about everything.

I was feeling great, even walking two miles, and then I “hurt” my calf muscle, or my Achilles tendon (not sure which) three weeks ago! I keep hurting myself, so I’m not doing anything until I’m completely off meds!

Can't use stairsteppers, treadmills, etc. because of bad knees so my doc directed me towards the rowing machine at the gym. Read an article in the NYT that noted it was the most overlooked/underused machine at most gyms in spite of providing an excellent, all-body workout. Just don't "bust your buns" on it at first. Go slow, take it easy, and you will find it provides an excellent workout. Follow the LISS method: Low Intensity, Steady State. Which means, for me, spend an hour on the rower every other day, keeping my average heart rate at in the 100 - 110 bpm range (I am 84 with a maximum heart rate of 140 bpm). Give the rowing machine a try, but do listen to a podcast of good music or an audio book because like all exercise machines, it's a bit of a bore.

Once I started taking prednisone, I have been able to exercise once it kicks in. Usually about 2 hours after I take the prednisone. I’m on 12.5 mg now. I can walk, bike, swim and play golf. I know exercise helps my body and mind.

Giving me motivation to start again . I have GCA [apparently no PMR ] and have been on large dose prednisone which , for me has had bad side effects. I have numb feet, lumbar stenosis [this is causing the numbness according to my rheumatologist ] and now atrial fibrillation, none of which I had before starting on the prednisone. I need to get back to Seniors' gym and try to improve my fitness. Thankyou.

I’ve found DDPYoga. It has a remedial phase, which you actually do in the bed. It is exactly what I needed since I go at my own pace. Mostly stretching right now and I’ll move on when I feel ready. I only exercise every other day. It seems like I need that recovery day more than I did when I was “healthy”.

I'm trying to figure out how much exercise/activity is too much.

I've had PMR for about 3 months and been on Prednisone for the past 2 months and feeling pretty good for that time. Working on tapering the dosages and will do another taper staring today. I have always been "fairly mobile/active" (not a workout warrior) with activities like a brisk walk with the dog to start the day (2+ miles on weekdays and 3 to 5 miles on the weekends), typical yard work, house projects and playing golf with a push cart both days on the weekend. For a month between onset and diagnosis, this obviously went to zero for all activities, but when the prednisone kicked in, I started getting back to my routine, except for taking a riding cart for golf to be cautious and the fact it's been in the 90s with high humidity.

With the long holiday weekend and temperatures back in the upper 70s low 80s, on Friday I walked the dog and walked a round of golf (5+ miles). Saturday, did the same. Sunday, walked the dog 4.5 miles and spent 3 hours standing on concrete in a hot garage preassembling knee walls and handrails to install at my in-laws garage. Then Monday, another 4.5 mile dog walk and spent another 5 hours or so prepping and installing the handrails, all on concrete, with lots of bending, up and downs, etc. Today I feel good, with some muscle soreness (not joints) and my typical 1+/10 pain in the shoulders.

I've always been a believer in "listen to your body", so I'm cautiously optimistic I can get back to my regular routine. One benefit of this weekends activities is that I was able to go back to sleep after waking up at 3:00 in the morning instead of just staring at the ceiling until the alarm goes off.

I know each person is different, especially with PMR and handling activity, prednisone, etc. Quite a few comments in here mentioned exercise triggering their PMR for the worse, so I'm looking to see if anyone else has had similar positive experience and want to make sure I'm not setting myself up for setback.

Thanks, Terry

Continue to listen to your body. I’m 79 in a few months. I cut back initially from 5 mi walks to 2 miles and I walked slower. I did have some mild pain but not debilitating. I’m tapering, I walk 3 mi now and I’m on 3 mg of pred and will taper to 2 in a few days if my SED rate is good. Slow and steady wins the race.