Margaret Martin's Exercise for Better Bones - anyone followed

[karmel]

the 12 week program working with a physio or specialised trainer as encouraged to do? Are you meant to work 1-1 with a physio or trainer for the whole 12 week program? Has anyone done this please or just done a couple of 1-2-1 sessions. Where I live this would cost at least £60 per hour. Just downloaded Melio Guide Daily Activities for Better Bones - it showed how I was going about daily activities completely the wrong way. I have put on my weighted jacket to remind not to bend over to do certain things around the house.

[Hidden]

karmel- thank you for your post. I was unaware of Margaret Martin until you asked has anyone done the 12-week program. So I had a google. The book looks very handy, and I requested a free e-mail 6-day tutorial. It looks like a great way to exercise at home, and to better understand, or maintain awareness of the mechanics, posture, etc. For me personally, this is something I can do without 1-2-1 sessions. I"d exercise in front of a full length mirror so I can check my posture. It seems that her videos are very well voice-guided. It would be lovely to afford a personal op aware instructor, especially for the motivation, but I'm going to give this a go on a shoe-string budget. Please let us know if you are doing the programme and how you are getting on with it?

[karmel in reply to Hidden]

I have just been reading the first few chapters and haven't started on the first chapter where you start doing the exercises. Before you do any exercises you have to rate your fitness and then download a workout schedule for your level - so you are getting a very constructed workout. Even though I used to have very fit and have done a lot of fitness classes in the past, I still needed my alignment to be corrected by an instructor. It helped seeing other people in the class having their alignment corrected so you had something to go on and someone to ask. Sometimes you don't know you are doing something wrong and you can be doing yourself harm. I personally think the photographs in the book should be bigger and in colour rather than in black and white, but saying that it is very comprehensive. The Melio Guide Daily Activities for Better Bones was a real eye opener as it showed how you be carrying out your daily activities ie. housework, brushing your teeth - activites I didn't even think about before.

[Hidden in reply to karmel]

karmel - I'm following the book and without calculating my FRAX score I've started with 'beginners' level and 'high risk'. The stretching and balance exercises have quick, measurable results which id encouraging! I recently stopped yoga classes so I'm fairly confident that I can do these exercises safely on my own at home and make my own schedule from the information in the book. Then I will find time to have periodic supervision to check my alignment. I'm planning to re-start Tai Chi and have found a place where classes are affordable to add some group exercise into the mix. The toughest things for me were to put the book down, then put the mat down and start. Actually I started on the bed, but quickly preferred the floor. Have you found time and space for yourself to start? I hope you enjoy it. I'm so pleased you mentioned it. Thank you.

[karmel in reply to Hidden]

Hi 4thPlinth, I started off with the posture Building Exercises on the floor, but it got too awkward having to keep looking at the book so I started doing them on the bed. There are a few of them that I will do as either a warm up or a cool down but I am going to concentrate more on the strength and balance - and like you I am going to make up my own schedule. I am finding it very helpful doing some exercises while looking at them being done on 'you tube' (or doing the exercise straight after while it is fresh in mind. How many times a week are you going to do your schedule? BTW what are you finding the most difficult to do when you cannot lean\bend over. I think I will start a new thread on that.

[Hidden in reply to karmel]

karmel- I had prolapsed and ruptured lumbar discs about 35 years ago. I have osteoarthritis in that region. Ever since, I have bent over, hinge fashion, and I still do so, as far as possible keeping my back parallel with the floor. So I have had a long back-aware period in my life which helps me now. I have always worn a backpack, never handbag to assist posture and keep chest open, and a bum bag for things I want easier access to. My dishwasher is small, on top of the work surface. I couldn't manage a floor-standing one. My oven is at the same height for the same reason. I have lino floors, I couldn't use a vacuum cleaner. I don't iron( !! ), putting up the board and the ironing position are more uncomfortable than appearing rumpled! And I have chronic fatigue so I need to prioritise activities. I now have a dog. Strangers often make a fuss of her, patting her etc., and if they have a dog, I don't reciprocate because it's easy to get down, but I need space and prefer a clean, dry place to put my hands, or knees, to get up again. Every morning soon after I get out of bed, I do a down-facing dog. It's a ritual. It may take a while to give it up. About the book, I may take it apart and put in a ring binder to make it easier to use. Yes, I watch yoga etc on YouTube - it is easier to follow when someone does it, rather than just tells you what to do. When you start a new thread, I'll remember more difficulties to reply

[goatsmilk in reply to Hidden]

Thanks I will look into that

[Jangil9]

Hello Karmel

I live in Australia and have commenced exercises for my Osteoporosis. Check out

theboneclinic.com.au/

I started the ONERO programme, run by a local Physio, and am enjoying the classes. I can't wait to see if this style of exercise helps my rather bad T score in my spine. Only time will tell.

I will check your site out too.....thanks.

[karmel in reply to Jangil9]

That looks very impressive. I personally think in the UK we are lagging way behind other countries when it comes being pro-active about op. There aren't any classes that are specifically geared for women with op, well there aren't where I live.

[Glasgow22]

After 2 lumber vertebrae fractures, I have never been told not to bend over. ?

[Walkingdogs in reply to Glasgow22]

Hi, Bending over just a little was how I got one of my vertebral fractures. I’m very careful now.

[Glasgow22 in reply to Walkingdogs]

Oh heck !

[Justme13]

The Onero programme looks impressive. I live in UK. I refer to the ROS exercises.

I was referred by my Gp to the nhs and council run programme Live Active, but my gym /exercise programme was designed by an exercise professional with no/minimum knowledge of OP.

[Justme13 in reply to Justme13]

Oh, and I also bought Margaret Martin’s yoga book for OP.

How does her book on exercises for OP compare with the ROS exercises?

[karmel in reply to Justme13]

I found that ROS and MM differed on one exercise what they said was safe\unsafe to do. I also have found looking at various op clips on youtube that they say are ok to do are not ok. It really is a minefield, as there seems to be very few practitioners who understand what is ok or not. A physio I saw told me to touch my toes, I said no I am not going to she said you have to do it so I can see, I said I could before but I am not going to. Bending over to touch your toes is a no no.

[Justme13]

Yes, is it the cat/cow? Yoga pose. ROS says ok for both. M Martin says not to do the one where you arch your back......think that's the cat. Helpline adviser even told me one of their volunteers fractured doing cat/cow!

[Hidden in reply to Justme13]

Justme13- doesn't MM say don't arch your back rounding forward and back? I don't think she says don't do side bending lying down.

[Justme13 in reply to Hidden]

I didn't mention side bending. MM yoga book, which I use, says ok backward bending.

[karmel]

In MM's Yoga for Better Bones she doesn't recommend doing side bends\side stretches and ROS do, she also does not recommend doing a full camel pose as some yoga sites do. Was it ROS's helpline adviser that told you that then?

[Justme13 in reply to karmel]

Yes.

[Hidden in reply to karmel]

karmel - even so... MM in her beginner's flexibility exercises, lat stretch, prone, she shows "bringing your body into a crescent shape" (Page 81)

[karmel in reply to Hidden]

4thPlinth - Yes that is the lat stretch and that is ok but in MM's Yoga for Better Bones MM said "Side bends are known to increase the load on the sides of the vertebral body. It is important to elongate the spines in order to distribute the side bend evenly throughout the length of the spine."

I have taken that as MM advising not to do side bends, (that is in a standing position bending from the waist) if you have op. ROS's warm up includes side bends (standing up and bending from the waist). I will not do side bends now 4thPlinth

[Hidden in reply to karmel]

karmel - sounds a good plan. There must be another way to stretch that muscle anyway.

[Chev20]

Hi I went to a few physio sessions to be shown how to do the exercise programme and to check my posture. She does some great free videos . The book is my exercise bible . I discovered it a month after my diagnosis as I found no proper help for people of middle age with OP.

If anything g it strengthens your core and improves your balance .Its the only one that shows different levels of the same exercise .Stick with it and take it slowly . Little by little before you know it you will be able to do most of it . If it feels wrong don’t do that exercise . We all have one or two regardless of OP our body doesn’t like . 🙂

[Justme13 in reply to Chev20]

So, you’re not in the uk?

Does that mean uk residents are being given wrong information from ROS?

[Hidden in reply to Justme13]

justme13 - I doubt that a well-qualified physiotherapist anywhere would ever give exercise advice over the phone because it could so easily be misinterpreted. MM's is well qualified and she puts a disclaimer with her advice.

[Justme13 in reply to Hidden]

Not a physio. ROS helpline. Just in passing happened to mention about a volunteer in their office fracturing from the cat pose.

[Chev20 in reply to Justme13]

Yes I am in the uk .Info is too limited . I joined a few Op Facebook groups and picked up on different stuff the look into .

I research everything . Very disappointing how poor the guidance is from GPS . I got independent advice of the GP.

[karmel in reply to Chev20]

How did you get independent advice from your gp? Did you pay privately?

[karmel]

Justme13 - I am in the UK and after reading your earlier post about the ROS's volunteer's fracture doing the cat - I will follow MM's exercise.