I know you can do this one: Stretch?

It goes to show you that no matter how fit we think we are, there are those times when we can still find unused muscles.  The day of fall cleaning has left me with some very sore muscles and one very inflamed back  OUCH!  What does that tell me?  I think it’s time to do some much needed physical therapy to the old back and neck. 

So, today I am doing some modified Yoga.  I am not running, walking, dancing, or cleaning.  One of my colleagues, who has been trying to get me to join her in Yoga, bought me a Yoga mat and a beginner’s Yoga CD.  She swears that doing Yoga is the best thing in the world for people with arthritis and back problems.  So, yesterday, I picked a spot in front of my fireplace and the mat will go there, along with three long candles for relaxation, and a very old time music maker to play some very Yoga like music.  She said watch the cd thing and do two of the moves.  Well, I will watch it, do two moves, but I am going to use the mat to sit and do some very easy stretches.  And, what I decided to do is take maybe two days a week to just pay attention to my muscles and stretch and bend and make sure that I work on range of motion—especially to my neck. 

For those of you who cannot walk very far, or run, or do heavy types of exercises, I know you can sit in a chair and do range of motion exercises to your neck, your arms, and your legs.  Today, I want you guys to start a stretching exercise program.  Start with the head: sit in a straight kitchen chair and align your head by gently pushing your chin back , then look to the left and back to the front and then to the right and back to the front.  After the first two, try and increase the range that you can move your head.  Do about six or so and touch your chin to your chest and back up.  There are tons of neck exercises that you can do and for those of you who are like me and sit at a desk and work on a computer, these can really help keep the neck muscles free from being so stiff.  I’ve been doing these for years: I know they are safe because my neurologists ordered those for me to do for the rest of my life: I had a broken vertebrae in my neck and they had to put these metal things in so that I would still have neck function.  Anyway, I do these with my shoulders too but very cautiously.