Has anyone found an exercise or other way to help with heavy limbs? I fast walk 4 miles every other day, sometimes adding a day on in-between days. But I’m wondering if anyone has actually tried with any success to alleviate their heavy legs, feet, arms etc.
I’ve recently added weight lifting to my program with 8 - 12 lb dumb bells, and am adding various exercises with a resistance band. Not sure if this is helping yet or not.
When you walk, do you concentrate all the time on the actual movements? By that I mean, consciously lifting each leg up and placing the heel on the ground in front of you. I think you will find that if you do that, you will not experience that heavy feeling.
My understanding of Pd is the it affects any type of movement that we do without having to think about what our arms and legs are doing. The messages do not get through to the limbs properly and we experience that as dragging.
Think carefully about what I have said and CONCENTRATE ON MOVING YOUR ARMS AND LEGS!
Hi John,
Yes I am doing conscious movements. It has helped a lot with larger, gross motions, but I am trying to improve things like lifting my right arm when reaching for something. My arm is very heavy and it’s difficult to get it above my head for example. My leg is also heavy and turning it at the ankle and hip is difficult, so I’m wondering if there are exercises to target specifically these challenges.
Yes! I am sure there is. The secret is to be CONSCIOUSLY EXERCISING everything. Moving subconsciously is, in my opinion, the problem! I COULD BE WRONG!
Hi John,
what happened with your plans to visit NY?
I went to NY twice, but failed to get together more than a few Pd takers. My health issues last year caused me to cut short my trip to the USA. This year my finances have stopped me.
This is hard to explain w/o showing someone but this is a something I discovered that tricks my brain and makes a movement much easier – not heavy. It is best used with repetitive motions because it requires concentration. I have only used it on my arms and it works great. I’m guessing it would work for walking also but I'm not sure as I have other issues with walking – gait and balance and a hip problem which already take a lot of concentration.
Two things I use this on are hitting a speed bag and bouncing a basketball. This all has to do with which movement you are focusing on. When you hit a speed bag you have two basic actions. One is to lift your arm and once it is raised and poised to hit the bag, your arm comes down and hits the bag. I notice when I am focusing my effort on lifting my arm I can barely do it and my lack of strength continues when hitting the bag. However when I switch my concentration on hitting the bag - with all I've got - my arm raises reflexively without even thinking about it and I give the bag a wallup. This works bouncing the ball also. When I am focused on lifting my arm, my strength and reflexes are slow – when I focus all my attention to pushing the ball to the ground, my arm lifts reflexively and all my power goes into forcing the ball to the ground. So no focus goes to lifting - all focus goes to connecting and hitting.
I don’t know if this just works for my brain and I don’t know if it is transferable to walking but thought it might be worth sharing.
Thanks, I think you're on to something.. I tried playing simple catch, and badminton and found they too help with automatic arm ,shoulder lifting. I assume a speed bag a punching bag ? I've never been able to bounce a ball properly, but will try to at least start trying again.
Great! I thought maybe it was just the way my brain was wired. I don’t understand why it works but it takes all of that heaviness away and creates more power. The speed bag is not a punching bag. This is what hitting a speed bag looks like. youtube.com/watch?v=KT1iehI...
Also what helps is to do this re-focused motion repetitively and quickly without a ball or bag … just do the motion in the air over and over with your focus on the power release rather than the lifting of the arm. I think it helps to burn the memory of the re-focused action into the brain so it becomes more automatic.
Ohh....I've seen these bags, never knew their name ! You reminded me of something else....I found when actions require 2 alternate limbs the weaker one performs better than going it alone. Like putting dishes away, washing hands, marching..
They say we only use 10% of our brain, a shame researchers only research drugs, and not PD brain enhancing movements.
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