The health and fitness thread about random things

[MikeFromLFE]

Mrs M is out for the hospital and at my hotel.
The insurance company told her to discharge herself - which we insisted on seeing in writing. In the end the cardiologist was happy to discharge her normally, possibly due to my somewhat assertive posturing.
We're waiting for the insurance company to sort flights out, but at least we can breath a lot more easily. Mrs M is grateful for decent food and a comfortable bed.

There's a lot we've learned about travel insurance which I might pontificate on when my head is in the right place.

[Lightning Phil]

Mrs M being presently a resident of the local hospital in Inca, Majorca has discovered that Spanish clinical care is excellent, but that standards of Spanish personal care & dignity are not what an English lady of mature years expects.

She nearly drowned in the sea, and was looked after by some excellent lifeguards and the ambulance service.
She's now remembered that she 'just' missed her footing, keeled over on her front, and panicked being unable to get onto her back. That's when she inhaled some water.

She's making an excellent recovery, and we're hopeful of an early return to rain and cooler weather. I'll be happy to get away from the mosquitoes.

I was in Granada hospital for a week in 2004, no friends or relatives present.  The system seemed to rely on family visiting and looking after you. Fortunately the family of the patient in the next bed adopted me. That was fortunate as both arms were in slings until my operation and I was unable to feed myself or do basic things etc.

[mike]

Other ½ has entered an ironman (Copenhagen, August 2023) to celebrate a milestone birthday. She's a proper athlete, did national level pentathlon as a student and will be at the pointy end of the field if she can spend enough time training.  (sadly, she says, no horses or swords allowed in triathlon)

We paid for flights & hotel for me and the teenagers to go and cheer, then some bright spark asked why I shouldn't enter it too...  So I did. 

This was 2 months ago and I've loved having something to train for - so far without injury - and am losing weight and getting quicker at all 3 of the sufferings.  I'll be getting to the finish a few hours after her but am now at least 60% confident of actually making it!

[T42]

Crikey! Was let blood at 8 am this morning for my 3-month check-up next week and the results arrived at 2:30 pm.  The lab are usually fast enough, say 24 hours, but that's a record.

[hellymedic]

Other ½ has entered an ironman (Copenhagen, August 2023) to celebrate a milestone birthday. She's a proper athlete, did national level pentathlon as a student and will be at the pointy end of the field if she can spend enough time training.  (sadly, she says, no horses or swords allowed in triathlon)

Good Luck! Hope you can afford Copenhagen next year...

[T42]

MrsT & I were flu-bejabbered last Thursday. Fine yesterday, planned to ride today, but it's clobbered me. Arse. She's fine.

[The Family Cyclist]

Had some weird cramps recently. Used to be prone to them after sweaty exercising but haven't had any for years

About 3 weeks ago in the early hours woke up stretched out in bed and felt my right calf start to cramp bit was like trying to grab an slippy rope just couldn't stop it. Was sore but went for a gentle cycle next day and felt fine early part of next week

Due to real life haven't done much cycling since and what I have has been at a very low intensity and nothing at all so far this week

Early hours of this morning it cramped up again and whilst not feeling sore can feel some tightness in it

[BrianI]

Off to the specialist neurophysiotherapist this morning.
Probably another 40 minute drive each way for a 10 minute appointment where I'm told to "walk normally". 

[BrianI]

Off to the specialist neurophysiotherapist this morning.
Probably another 40 minute drive each way for a 10 minute appointment where I'm told to "walk normally". 

In amoungst other things, neuro physio suggested I take up Nordic Walking...    I'm unsteady enough on my feet as it is, without tripping myself up with nordic walking poles.... 

[woollypigs]

Hope they get you mended Brian.

Though I have walked in the Nordic countries and we never were required to have sticks. So I don't where this Nordic Walking comes from

[T42]

+1.

According to wiki it started in Finland.

[MikeFromLFE]

Nordic Walking seems to be popular among German elderlies.

It's never really caught on over here, although I know of one place locally where the dark art is practiced https://www.shuttlewood-clarke.org/ulverscroft-manor/activities/nordic-walking/

[T42]

When I was 17 I learnt to use an alpenstock in Bavaria. They're wonderful for hill-walking, and you can run down steep slopes using them as a brake: you trail it behind you and lean on it hard to slow down.  Back in the 90s on a stamp around the Alps we met lots of folk with Nordic-walking sticks, so next time we were in a kit shop I pulled one out of a shelf and leant on it as if it were an alpenstock. Oops.  Fortunately they're not expensive.

[Lightning Phil]

They are just walking poles, reduce load on knees by about 30% in steep terrain.

[L CC]

Not just in steep terrain. I can walk double the distance with than without. (Still not very far- maybe 3 miles rather than 1.5).

Don't knock it till you've tried. You might not believe the diagnosis but that doesn't mean the physio's suggestions aren't worth considering.

[mike]

I love using walking poles, definitely more confident on anything rocky and it feels much less pressure on ankles and knees. They also let you use your arms and back a bit more on the uphills which helps me (almost) keep up with the family!

[barakta]

Sticks of any kind only work if your arms are up to the job thobut and I seem to recall Brian has difficulties with his hands as well as his legs.

Regardless, if Brian doesn't feel listened to, then the physio hasn't done their job. They've not made the time to listen and think rather than blat out advice willy nilly.

Brian, I am sorry, that really sucks.

[mrcharly-YHT]

It is likely that the Physio suggested nordic walking precisely because Brian has trouble with his hands and shoulders.

the straps should remove the need for him to maintain a tight-precise grip.

the light-weight sticks will provide slight loading for his arms.

Moving the body with some loading helps develop the strength of nerve signals. that seems to be precisely what Brian would need.

If we hear 'Nordic walking' and think 'walking fast up and down hills', that is almost certainly not what is being recommended. I suspect the physio is thinking 'gentle short strolls on level ground, gradually increasing after evaluation'.

[Cudzoziemiec]

A friend with ataxia finds she walks best with one pole. With two, she does trip over them and can't use her hands. With one, it provides a bit of stability that she needs. Also, it's a psychological prop, particularly with the yellow and black hazard tape she has wrapped round it; it says "I have a disability, I need a little bit more time to cross the road etc, and no I'm not drunk". You don't have ataxia afaik and might find two or no sticks better than one, but point is, try and see rather than dismissing it out of hand.

[BrianI]

It is likely that the Physio suggested nordic walking precisely because Brian has trouble with his hands and shoulders.

the straps should remove the need for him to maintain a tight-precise grip.

the light-weight sticks will provide slight loading for his arms.

Moving the body with some loading helps develop the strength of nerve signals. that seems to be precisely what Brian would need.

If we hear 'Nordic walking' and think 'walking fast up and down hills', that is almost certainly not what is being recommended. I suspect the physio is thinking 'gentle short strolls on level ground, gradually increasing after evaluation'.

And issues with my balance and walking...

[L CC]

And issues with my balance and walking...

... which the poles will likely assist with...

[hellymedic]

Sticks of any kind only work if your arms are up to the job thobut and I seem to recall Brian has difficulties with his hands as well as his legs.
Regardless, if Brian doesn't feel listened to, then the physio hasn't done their job. They've not made the time to listen and think rather than blat out advice willy nilly.
Brian, I am sorry, that really sucks.

I NEED free hands to grasp things and occupying them with sticks just wouldn't work for me.

[L CC]

But this isn't a recommendation for life/living, it's a suggestion for exercise. Brian is an expert on Brian but the physio is an expert on physio for neurological disorders.

[ian]

Seeing a GP these days is fun. I don't know why more people aren't doing it. I'd been putting it off for a cough issue but a friend of mine is a GP and she insisted that I stop being a man and get it looked at. I couldn't book an appointment at the weekend (because they don't let you complete the form*) and then on Monday and Tuesday, they turned the booking form off because of 'sickness among their GPs and there being no available locum coverage' (and at the best of times, it's the sort of surgery that depends on locum cover; and I checked with my friend and she's basically, there are no locums any more since we closed the door on foreign doctors).

So about to give up and just do it privately, and they finally let me get a telephone appointment with a GP at the local minor care centre at 5 pm today for an issue that will obviously require a face-to-face unless my gurgly, grating chest becomes audible over the phone.

*the form is actually quite useful since it avoids the 8.30 am call-thing-which-didn't-ought-to-be-a-thing, though it's hosted on a website that looks more than a bit Geocities and requires the completion of several puzzles before you can find the actual form.

[mrcharly-YHT]

Gurgly, grating chests seem to be popular.

Daughter had this last week, and very narrowly avoided an ambulance callout (she rang 111, they said because she couldn't complete a sentence, and reported having trouble breathing, they wanted to send an ambulance). She did end up in A&E, rushed in and put on oxygen for some hours.

I've caught it from her. Uncharacteristically cold and talking is a struggle.