Poor Posture

[Jannienannie]

After doing countless exercises for my extremely Poor posture I was told by my neurologist that I might never regain my past good posture. Has anyone else been told this? I feel very deflated today after seeing him yesterday. Stopped over Nannie.

[Farooqji]

these neurologists are there to share only bad news

[park_bear]

A good physical therapist can be very helpful.

The way to interpret that neuro's statement is he doesn't know what to do about it and thinks he knows everything there is to know. Not so.

[johntPM]

I'm in the same boat: a stoop (towards the front) and a lean (to the left). The real problem with this is that if I walk more than about 5 miles I get bad back ache. It's also beginning to give problems with my balance. I didn't make much progress with physiotherapy (to be fair I didn't do all the homework that I was given).

So, I built a gadget that detects part of my poor posture and warns me when things get bad by vibrating. I respond to this by straightening my back. I hope that by doing this I will gradually increase my core strength. (Please note the word "hope" there. I have no proof that it works in the long term.)

If you have a smart phone (preferably Android, using a Chrome browser), you are welcome to try it. It can be run for free from my website.

parkinsonsmeasurement.org/t...

It works best if you "wear" it on top of your head, held in place by a tight ski hat or using Velcro under a sun hat.

John

[park_bear in reply to johntPM]

Cool. Keeping that back straight is the solution!

[Jannienannie in reply to park_bear]

Thank you. Will try it.

[OTwholovesPD in reply to johntPM]

This sounds cool! Can you please clarify, what do you wear on your hat? Do you need an outside device/accelerator to go with this app?

[johntPM in reply to OTwholovesPD]

You "wear" the smart phone on the top of your head. The hat serves two purposes: it hides the phone and keeps it in place.

The only hardware that you need is a smart phone. It uses an accelerometer and some maths to monitor the tilt. Almost all smart phones contain an accelerometer.

John

[Jumex2017]

My husband too grumbles when I ask him to do exercises for posture. He stoops like a table top. Don’t let this let you down. Doing this exercise is better than none. If you don’t it maybe too late. By doing it there is hope. I asked him to put both his hands behind a chair as long as possible

[Jumex2017]

I too would like to know which exercises you do

[Xenos]

Mark Twain has the answer :

“They did not know it was impossible so they did it”

[Tribselyov]

PD takes its toll but so does Father Time.. it's a daily battle. But remember Faulkner also... something like "you can never swim across the river unless you leave the shore"

[6780]

myofascia release has helped me. i had bad posture before pd..positions reading, eating, driving, work on computer made my shoulders move forward and shorten up pec muscles. also a simple posture reminder...cross arms over chest, hands at shoulders, and straighten up. also if near a wall let shoulder closest to wall touch the wall and straighten up.

HEAD: put finger on chin and press a little to push back forward jutting chin.

these take a long time to improve posture but are easy to get in the habit of being aware of bad posture and take a minute to do a reminder exercise. develop the habit.

others may have better ideas that are quicker.

[Jannienannie in reply to 6780]

Thank you 6780. Very helpful ideas.

[pad10]

Posture stretches are also important - in addition to exercise.... ive found stretching my calves and my quads help me stand straighter. see my earlier post on a quad stretch.

healthunlocked.com/parkinso...

there are also upper body stretches that help like the cobra. core strength has got to be important...you are probably doing those exercises...that is one of my weaknesses.

i cant walk well - gait issues, pain etc. but i am realizing that although i cant do what others can do ... fast walking. etc...doing something is better than doing nothing (another poster reminded me that doing some thing is better than doing nothing). i will be worse off than i am if i give up. so i hope you'll ignore the dr and do what you can do. a PT might help also.

[NRyan]

Watch this. If it won't play...search you tube...Dr. John Bergman, solution for parkinson's treatment. Start at 8:30 for the posture bit.

youtube.com/watch?v=1_DBnv3...(Not working as expected?)

it gives lots of hope for posture.

[OTwholovesPD]

I would suggest LSVT BIG for improvements in posture lsvtglobal.com/ Which is conducted by an Occupational Therapist or Physical Therapist.

[HeartSong]

Jannienannie, our doctors are humans, they are not God (although, some of them like to think they are God). Therefore, they don't know the full extent of the possible. It's sad that the doctor made that statement to you. Don't ever give up hope; don't ever give up searching.

I, too, have much trouble with my posture. But, I was holding my own with daily exercise until last winter when I stopped exercising because I got very involved with a couple of projects. That was a big mistake, and my posture took a turn for the worse. I'm working my way back now, but it's slow going. I won't ever stop exercising again.

There are several different types of exercises that I've read about that have been shown to have a positive effect on the posture of PwP. Some of the things that come to mind are exercises from the physical therapist, tai chi, qi gong, yoga, fast walking, rock steady boxing, and forced exercise therapy. There are probably more. There is much to explore. If you work with one type for a while and it doesn't help, then try another.

An exercise from my physical therapist which has been very helpful for me is the wall glide. Here's a video: youtube.com/watch?v=qM1LCyW...(Not working as expected?) . On days that my body is extra stiff and I can't get my entire back to touch the wall, I do the best I can, but I never force it. It's important to be gentle and safe.

Additionally, I get a lot of hope and perseverance from my faith in God and in praying for others.

[Jannienannie in reply to HeartSong]

Thank you, Heartsong.