Of bikes and bods: follow-up

[shadesofmauve]

Received an email back from the biomechanics guy in Arizona. He says that there are lots of self-styled fitters/biomechanics who don't know what they're doing (which is true; there's someone claiming to do that at every bike shop and REI), doesn't have any suggestions in the northwest, and says "I could fit you in in June if you fly to Tucson."

o_O

Yeah, no.

That kind of expense makes sense for people who're competitive, and maybe once you've exhausted all other options, but it sure as hell doesn't make sense for me.

I probably just need to stop being such an idiot about my boring leg-lift exercises and make time to do them every day. If I can get my knee somewhere up to snuff then the hip stuff should mellow out and then I can start thinking about ways to improve my bike set-up.

There are no magic bullets.

There are lots of leg lifts, the most boring exercise in existence. westrider, when you're down this weekend? You have my permission and request to harass me about doing my stupid exercises.

Bonus note for readers of aStSHB: Yes, I lifted my own most-neglected exercise whole-cloth and put it straight into the fic. Never accuse me of originality. :P It does fit with Joker's disability -- people with OI often have very loose ligaments, and strengthening the muscles around the knee helps make up for a weak ACL. Or, in my case, no ACL at all.

Comments

[baxaronn.livejournal.com]

Leg lifts are the worst thing. In the world. Ever. (They're also excruciatingly painful for me, which doesn't... really help.) You have my sympathy. D:

...also, we can be completely unoriginal together, since I pretty much shove all my PT experience at Joker and call it good too. :P Though I assume Karin's got any pain he has under proper control, so he's slightly more compliant than I am. Slightly.

(Apparently LJ is posting all my comments as anon even when I'm logged in? So uh. If there's duplicates of this comment posted anon, that's why. IDEK.)

[shadesofmauve]

LOL, I thought that might be you and refreshed to check. :)

I don't have the excuse of pain for not doing mine. I don't have any more excuse for letting them slide than I do for not doing the dishes. I just... lack willpower. I hate it about myself, and hating it doesn't help.

On some level, I think it's that it's a bit dismal to be working your ass off knowing that because of mechanical limitations you'll never realize very much gain, and you'll always have to keep up the extra work just to hit a goal that's still sub par. I realized that was a factor last night, when I convinced myself to do leg lifts by giving myself the 'carrot' of doing arm work, too. The arm work is just as boring, but since there's nothing mechanically wrong with my arms I feel like I'm working on self-improvement instead of playing a hopeless game of catch-up, if that makes any sense.

As for Joker's PT, I do try to pay attention to whether the thing I'm borrowing from my own experience actually makes sense with OI. Luckily (heh), there turns out to be quite a bit of commonality I can draw from. It's almost freaky how much carries over. I correspond with a reader who's boyfriend has OI, and we just discovered that he and I have the same type of nerve damage induced numb spots on our legs, from the same type of surgery!

[baxaronn.livejournal.com]

Willpower is hard. I have the same problem, when pain isn't an issue, and... if you find a magical solution to that, let me know, will you? /: It's hard to work towards getting better when "better" doesn't mean "good", but "slightly less bad but still awful compared to everyone else".

I think I've settled into a place of being able to write Joker without freaking out over getting details wrong; when I throw in medical stuff or PT stuff or pain stuff it's from that common ground, and it's a lot easier than burying myself in research to make everything unique to people with OI. Though I'm sure I'll mess up eventually, especially with more health-focused Joker fic in my immediate future now that I've found that Dr. Michel muse I keep whining about. I just hope someone catches it when I do!

(I think I'm rambling, sorry. I haven't gotten much sleep lately. Tell me if I'm being a pest and I'll shut up.)

[shadesofmauve]

Tell me if I'm being a pest and I'll shut up

Not at all! It's nice to be able to moan about this stuff with people who've experienced it, for sure. And yeah, that magical will power pill... who knows.

That's pretty much the tack I take with medical stuff -- I throw in things that make sense from my experience and gloss over the rest. Since the story isn't just about the OI, that works fine -- enough detail for realism without getting bogged down. The only thing that's difficult is that I've never actually broken a bone (doctors were paid to do it for me) which is a pretty huge OI experience that I'm not about to go looking for. :P

[baxaronn.livejournal.com]

The only thing that's difficult is that I've never actually broken a bone (doctors were paid to do it for me)

I just love that. We didn't have time to break our own bones, we were too important for that. :Db

...though actually, now that I think about it, I'm not sure if I ever had any bones actually broken, or if they just cut me open to shove the joint around without all that pesky skin and fat and muscle in the way. Hell of a scar either way, though.

[westrider.livejournal.com]

If I remember, I will bug you to do exercises.

Also, the thread above is kind of odd to read. Looks like Joker's talking to himself ;)

[shadesofmauve]

LOL! Indeed it does. Kind of a gollum/smeagol thing going on. Not sure which of us is the bad one.

I did exercises tonight, which makes two days in a row. Sadly, for me this is a major accomplishment.

[westrider.livejournal.com]

You gotta take your accomplishments where you can get them!

[stasia]

By 'leg-lifts', do you mean the thing where you lie on your back and lift your legs straight up and then down to an inch or so above the ground and repeat ad nauseam?

I hate those, but they work my lower abs, which nothing else does (no matter how many times people say that doing the stupid "reverse crunch" will work that area), so I do them.

What I want is a magic weight loss pill - I wouldn't mind the exercise if it ever showed any positive effect. *sigh*

Stasia

[shadesofmauve]

Nope, though those couldn't hurt. I have to do three types -- lying on my side, lift slowly up as far as you can go, descend slowly. Lying on belly, bend knee to lift foot all the way up, release. Sitting down, lift foot all the way, release. With ankle weights. They're super ultra boring, but the muscles of my right leg are A) atrophied and B) hard to work for mechanical reasons -- not to mention the very targeted work is necessary to make up for the lack of ACL.

If that's not enough specifics for your nurse-brain, let me know and I'll elaborate. :P

[stasia]

Ah, that's very clear, thank you.

I bought a copy of an exercise video and am trying to make myself do the stupid 20 minutes of exercise every day. I'd been doing pretty well, but then my friend came out for a surprise visit and now I'm back to my lazy ways.

Ugh. It's not even as if the stupid exercises are hard. I'm just lazy.

*whinewhinewhine*

Stasia

[emony42.livejournal.com]

How much concentration is required for you to maintain the proper form? I ask because as I was talking to Clone today, she happened to mention that (for figure skating) she did similar exercises any time she was playing video games or watching TV. I'm wondering if you'd be more likely to do your exercises regularly if you gave yourself permission to do something fun at the same time (a better carrot than arm exercises?). For me, it'd be something akin to "so long as I'm doing my exercises, I can keep reading my book." I'd have to do time-based sets rather than rep-based, but that'd be manageable. Just a thought.