One of my earliest symptoms of my PD was pain. It still is when my meds start wearing off. Usually starts in my shoulders and then moves into my upper arms. Sometimes it goes into a whole new level of pain in my right arm, which is my most affected side, and I find myself sitting in my chair trying not to move a muscle. I got so fed up with it the other night I leaped out of my chair, as much as I can leap, and just started windmilling both my arms around in circles... I didn't care if it hurt, I was just fed up! Voila, the pain was gone. Now as soon as it starts up I start moving around like a crazy lady. It's made quite a difference. I'm also more conscientious about getting some kind of exercise everyday. The more arduous the better as long as I don't injure myself.
I may be the only PWP on the planet for whom this works but I thought I'd share it just in case.
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Enidah
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Now and forever (change your profile name) you’re Windmill Lady.
I have read where a person raises both hands high over their head and begins clinching unclenching the hands rapidly. That to sooth tremor.
I'll try that. Sometimes what I do is exaggerated my tremor and tremor my arms and my hands for a while and that seems to help too. And I still use this one , on the inhale think or say peace on the exhale say quiet hand, you have to say this over and over and over again but it does help.
Yes, I get this very uncomfortable feeling in my legs, so it's either getting on a stationary bicycle or going for a walk. A massager and a spray of magnesium oil also helps in conjunction with the exercise.
I very much enjoyed your text about not being afraid of the big dog and how that was a surprise but since you have PD what else is there to fear? I have been experiencing that with this covid-19. It's not that I'm blase and don't care if I get it it's just that I already live in that land uncertainty...the boom has already been lowered. So when people talk about getting back to 'normal'...well, that's not our story.
I think the less people with musculoskeletal pain move, the worse the pain gets over time. Whether the pain is caused by PD, arthritis, damaged ligaments or tendons etc. we tend to constrict ourselves into a tight protective posture, too scared to open out our bodies because we know it might be painful to do so. We create a habit that works against us.
The more I stretch every day, the better my body feels over time. Even if the stretching really hurts when I do it. No pain, no gain?
I've also been taking powdered magnesium and calcium tablets recently which seem to help. I've read that magnesium relaxes tight muscles and calcium supports the magnesium. People with PD apparently have reduced levels of magnesium (not blood levels) often caused by PD meds. My clenched and painful hands seem to be much more relaxed and easier to use.
Your windmilling exercise is possibly another way of opening and stretching your body's core muscles which, as you say, will feel good as long as you don't cause any damage. I would definitely recommend regular daily stretching exercises for every part of your body, not just the ones that hurt but also for the ones that don't. You can bet that if any part of your body doesn't hurt at the moment, it's bound to begin hurting at some point in the future. Each of our sets of muscles, ligaments and tendons works in tandem with set next to them, which work in tandem with the set next to them and so on. So that, ultimately, the more you exercise all your muscle sets the better for the whole of your body. Stretch all your muscle groups (legs, feet, arms, hands, fingers, back, shoulders, thorax, pelvic, neck, the whole lot) four or five times a day, every day until you begin to feel things getting better all round. Well, that's what I'm trying to do anyway and so far it seems to be working. Use it or lose it as they say.
I want to get to the point where I can start to lift light weights to rebuild muscle loss but I don't want to do that until I'm confident I have full control of my movements again.
Good luck with the windmilling but maybe think about the rest of your body and work that too as often as you can. I'm no expert but it makes a lot of sense to keep working on muscle strength and flexibility. Pain should be less and we should be able to do more physically.
Thank you for all this encouragement to stretch. I’m great at walking miles at a time I’m just terrible at getting myself to stretch and do exercises like that at home. As we get older and things hurt and then we get weaker it’s quite a discouraging cycle. I have started doing a few push-ups and making myself stretch more. I have never been limber and as you can imagine PD isn’t helping with that.
Yes, you're right, it can be very tough to keep doing things that make you feel worse in the hope that, eventually, you will feel better for it . A never-ending cycle of willpower over pain and discomfort. But, to do nothing and keep on stiffening up with muscles atrophying at the same time would make it so much harder later on. I know how you feel. I can get fed up about the pain and movement problems but I know that I have to do something to help myself and stretching is something I can do anywhere at anytime. It's great that you can walk as much as you do. I used to walk about 50 k a week until a few years ago. Now I can't walk more than 2k without suffering with massive fatigue and then weakness. I don't think I'll ever get back to anything like it used to be so the only thing I can do is to keep my body as limber and supple as possible. Hence the stretching. I do it as a preventative measure as much as anything else, to keep everything from getting tighter, weaker and more painful. I think that's really important. It takes discipline. That's for sure. Again, no pain, no gain. Depressing but, unfortunately, true. Wishing you all the best, whatever you do.
I have very similar pain and also observed that movement helps relieve it. Finding that without the gym and yoga and boxing not being open I suffer a lot more..
I know what you mean. I have the same pain. I find doing these help much: PD circuit, chiropractic adjustments, physiotherapy/massage, Reformer pilates, hydrotherapy, long walk, stretching exercise, climbing stairs.
Minimize time spent on sitting down, try to move around as much as possible.
Make daily living series of exercises...every little movement counts. Any movement at all...
I seem to have an Osteoarthritis pain in my lower back, but a different type of pain in my right gluteus and hip extensor muscles. During my off times, the muscle pain feels as if all nerve endings in those areas are raw! I, too, am having to work through it - I don't want months of hard work to end in pain and muscle atrophy. Increasing my Turmeric, occasional Celebrex, magnesium oil topically help. Even mild pain at night was interfering with sleep, and I found that taking 2 Tylenol Extra Strength at bedtime works better than anything else for me. In fact, since starting the bedtime Tylenol, I've started sleeping 7 hours straight, something I haven't done in 2 years. I have chosen to do without my evening wine, since my liver is probably my healthiest organ at the moment, and I don't want to jinx that!
I was taking Tylenol for a while and I think it helped and then I kind of forgot about it. I think for most of us we probably take so many things it's easy to let something fall by the wayside. I think I need to write this stuff down.
I concur with you Enidah. Since the lockdown,I have been unable to exercise like I used to,so I noticed I am feeling the wearing off pain more on my left affected side, than on my right side.Exercise really helps with pain,rigidity and non motor symptoms like anxiety and depression for me.
Part of my new stretching routine is to make sure I always walk with my hands joined behind my back. And I'll pull my arms and shoulders back as far as I can and hold them back there as long as I can. That's everywhere I go. If I walk around the house I'll do it. Certainly if I go for a walk outside, as much as I can I'll link my hands behind my back. Never again will I put them in my pockets.
It does what you'd expect it to do. It opens up your shoulders and chest. It gets you used to standing upright again and I actually feel like l'm 2 or 3 inches taller now I've been doing it for a couple of weeks. My posture is much better by a long way. I feel as if I'm losing my hunched, forward-leaning posture. It can hurt quite a bit I have to say but I suppose I'm forcing my muscles and ligaments and tendons into positions they haven't been in for very long time.
Give it a go. I'd be interested in knowing if it helps.
Good idea! I know our hunched postures can actually cause arm and shoulder pain due to pinched nerves. I will try that when I'm out walking. I try to be very conscious of my posture but I like the idea doing something singular to be of benefit.
It can't hurt (well probably at first!). You're right. Being continously aware of your poor posture and trying hard to correct it has to be the best first step. No matter what the cause is. It's a good habit to get into.
I'll tell my hubby about that. Just wondering, tho, do any of you have swollen feet? That's his pain. The skin on feet are reddish too. Is it part of PD or Sinemet, or Resigiline? He takes small amounts of each. I try to get him to talk about it but he doesn't much. He also has trouble with balance and has double vision in one eye....a result of cataract surgery and another to try and correct it....didn't work so he has glasses but they are not much good. Has anyone else had either of these things...the feet and eyes?
I would post your question about the feet and eyes issues your hubby has on the forum as a separate post. You'll probably get more views and hopefully more comments as it may be a little hidden here.
I don't have swollen feet but lots of trouble with eyes. I know vision issues can be common with PD. Have you seen a neuro-ophthalmologist (a neurologist who specializes in vision)? I would check that out if you can and mention PD when you make the appointment.
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