I like doing my own gel nails but I don't know how I get round this when I can't lean over
I colour my own hair and lean over the side of the bath to rinse the colour off but I'll just have to wash it off in the shower
I use a water pick to clean my teeth and when I couldn't lean over the wash basin without getting wet started balancing on one leg, and lifting other leg while holding the wash basin with one hand. When cleaning my teeth I just use a mug to spit in instead of leaning over the wash basin.
I can't get the dirty laundry out of the laundry bin without bending over. To get to bottom shelves I sit on a stool to get stuff out and have to balance on one leg to get stuff out of the washing machine or use a stool to sit on. .
I know this may seem very silly but I am beginning to fully realise how I have to modify\adapt how I do daily activities. I just wanted to know how others with op have been able to modify what they can't do so they can.
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karmel
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One technique the physiotherapist told us was to make as though you are going to sit down when you want to reach something low down. This keeps your spine straighter, keeps a stable centre of gravity so you aren't straining anything. I use this technique to do things like feed my cats or lift small objects from the floor. Unfortunately it won't help with things like bending over a basin to wash hair, or reaching your own toes, but it does make everyday activities a bit easier.
Someone actually posted a video demonstrating this some time ago. The demonstration was very fast, most of us would move much more slowly, but it was useful. No idea how to find it, unfortunately, but if I come across it I'll post it.
Thanks Heron, I think that that that is what I do when I can and if I can't I balance on leg. I watched Margaret Martin's video on how to carry out your daily activities which I found useful.
karmel - could you use something cut from foam, like writing slope, to raise your hand to do your nails? Could you colour your hair sitting down on a chair in the shower and rinse it off the same way? I avoid hair colour and nail products because I have PBC. As I mentioned earlier, I have adapted years ago to spare my back. Looking at your list reminds me how much I have adapted. I don't use a Waterpik any longer, and I stand up to clean my teeth using a nonfoaming paste which produces a manageable amount of saliva. When I spit it out and rinse I bend over from hips, keeping my back parallel with the floor. I also bend over this way to do saline nasal cleansing because I have chronic sinusitis. I don't use a laundry bin, but a linen sack hung on a hook. I squat to load the washing machine. I squat to unload it into a big supermarket strong bag . I have a long, garden clothesline and take wet laundry one or two items at a time from the bag to put on the line. I don't have any bottom shelves. When I want to do an unusual task/activity, before I do it, I look to see how I will do it. It seems time-consuming but I have found that I can do all sorts if I plan first, and very little if I think I can't!
Thanks 4thPlinth, that was very helpful about how you bend from your hips when using the wash basin. I think I will probably end up sitting down to colour my hair now and just rinse the colour off in the shower. I should think my hair has turned white now. I think you are spot on planning on how you are going to do things before yo do it. I went on another website for another condition I have and some of the peeps who had been diagnosed with op, said that they were taking Alendronic Acid no side effects and they were carrying on as normal having op, and would just have another bone scan in five years.
karmel- Women especially have been persuaded to use their bodies in ways that don't help them: it takes some doing to stick your butt right out like a cat when "tucked in" has been "proper" all our lives. Planting our feet hip-width apart is not the way we've been drilled yet it's the way that we have least chance of falling due to loss of balance. And shoes, clothes, oh dear, so much. White hair is great. There's as much worldly resistance to it as there is persuasion to take drugs we don't want. Mmmm. Yes, when I have asked elsewhere what can you say about taking/not taking bone meds, by and large, people only speak of currently having no side effects, exactly as you say. My Optibac daily has just arrived with calcium citrate and hydroxyapatite. Thank goodness for this site and sharing!
4thPlinth - We've just hung up a wash bag to put dirty laundry in so I don't have to use laundry basket and have just used the Water-Pik with a straight table-top back - very helpful advice thank you. I'll check out Optiac.
Ps Sorry, I can't remember the poster's name who mentioned Margaret Martin's book
Physio taught me to kneel down or to sit down if I can't lean or bend over.... I love having my raised garden planters & there are some nifty tools that you purchase... I also have a stool to put my wash basket on while hanging it on the line..... I am at present searching for a comfy chair especially when I am having a bad day with my hEDS a riser/recliner... but making sure I continue to do my daily physio to keep what bone strength & mass I have.... As you say once you know you have to modify & adapt then this is helps I know I battled for ages saying I was ok & got to keep going etc (as women do & I'm sure some men) it has been my fantastic physio that has shown me how to accept change but still do daily chores & living with physio techniques & seeing sense... better now than ending up not being able to do anything due to a broken bone... So you're not silly just accepting of your situation....& writing on here you will find lots of good tips....
It seemed a bit trivial talking about doing my nails/colouring my hair in comparison to all the adjustments we have to make when we have op. It is like a nightmare just thinking about it all. You mentioned you had HEDS - do you have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome\hypermobility? Your physio sounds fantastic.
Yes I do - oh the joys so when I got the diagnosis of OP in my spine & Osteopenia in my hips my world did come crashing down… & nothing is trivial, I think some professionals forget the knock on effect when people with OP have treatment/ops.. It gets tiring to keep adapting & I know myself sometimes I have all the energy & positivity in the world then somehow it disappears & I feel like a ragdoll & really can't do or adjust... but I'm sure you like others find that spark again & put one foot forward & start again.... My physio is brilliant....
Charlie50 - I inherited my mum's riser/recliner. It was a parker knoll chair adapted by Celebrity. It reclined almost flat, I slept on it comfortably many nights at my mum's and when I brought it home with me. I no longer have it and I gave up trying to find one that compared. Please let me know if you find something that suits you well, and good luck with the search.
If you read my posts you will be able to see I have 4 possibly 5 spinal fractures, some of the things you are saying you have difficulty with are likened to what I experience.
These things are a result of my fractures.
Even though they are all healed now there is very little I can do without being in a tremendous amount of pain.
I also have Osteoarthritis in the spine multiple disc problems and cervical radioculpathy, and that's not the all of it.
Of course these conditions add to my pain.
These and other problems have shown up on a number of MRI I have had done.
I know the frustration and anger of not being able to do things for oneself. In fact in 2017 I had a lumber fracture without trauma that was followed by another 1 month later which was a result of trying to lean over the wash basin to cleanse my face, since this time I have always used a cleansing water, although I do miss soap and water I have found the condition of my skin much improved. .Balancing on one leg sounds to me like a bad idea.You could fall and result in a fracture. I have had it drilled into me for years now, no bending, reaching twisting ECT.
I now have resorted to a very short easy care hairstyle which luckily I am told suits me as I can not hold the dryer up to dry it.
All physio I have had has included balancing on one leg. It strengthens the core and it is the ability to maintain your balance and equilibrium at all times. You start doing it for a few seconds at a time in a safe place, so that you don't fall. In yoga and in fitness classes there are many one leg balancing poses. For me If I balance on one leg and hold the surface with one hand while I use my other hand have the trailing leg extended behind me I attain a straight back and that is not bending, leaning, twisting or reaching. It is a position that is recommended that you use by Margaret Martin, a very eminent physical therapist.
Cutting my toenails, so I go to chiropodist. Tying shoelaces is hard, but I solved the problem by buying shoes from Ecco that have a lace and a zip. Once the lace is tied I can just use the zip to take them off and on. Putting socks on isn’t easy either, but I have a low chair in the bedroom and that helps me manage to get them on, with a bit of swearing. 😂
Thanks Walkdogs I have a pair of shoes that have a velco fastening that I wear round the house and when I decided to wear another pair of shoes I realized how difficult it was tying the laces. I just leave all my trainers laced up and slip my feet into them - but like you there is a bit of swearing going on. 😂
Cutting my toe nails is doubly difficult as not only do I have to bend over, but with RA, my fingers aren't strong enough to do the cutting. Can't get to the chiropodist any more either.
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