Neck Decompression Traction Device - Homemade and Portable

Many years ago, my Rehab Doctor said I had Cervical Spondylosis. Nothing was prescribed, not even physical therapy. It was something that my x-ray resuts showed. The rehab doctor suggested the x-ray after a series of physical therapy I had for my shoulder.

Aside from the occasional creaking sound in my neck and some discomfort, there is no real neck or back pain unlike what I read from others in facebook discussion groups for Cervical Spondylosis. The discomfort, however, necessitated some nightly massages on my back from the wife.

Easy and Quick Way to Wear Compression Stockings

Compression stockings work! There's no doubt about it. My wife has been diagnosed with Osteopenia a few years back. This is a condition where you lose bone mass and your bones get weaker. This happens when the inside of your bones become brittle from a loss of calcium. Vitamin and mineral supplementation was advised and because there was pain and swelling in her lower legs, compression stockings were suggested. Walking, as a form of exercise to strengthen both muscles and bone, was encouraged.

Knee Pain Relief with Homemade Physical Therapy Bolster - Part 3

(This is the continuation of Part 2)

In Part 2, the assembly of a knee therapy bolster using a high-density pool noodle was discussed. Masking tape and cling-wrap tape was used to join the three pieces together. In this article, we discuss a cloth pouch to contain the three pieces permanently.

The cloth pouch not only contains the bolster and prevents it from coming apart, it also provide comfort to the user of the bolster. The polyethelene material and the grafting tapes cling to skin. The cloth texture of the pouch breaths and is more comfortable to the skin.

Knee Pain Relief with Homemade Physical Therapy Bolster - Part 2

(This is the continuation from Part 1)

The pool noodle I refer to is made of much denser foam. It is around four inches in diameter and about five feet in length. It is solid, not hollow, and actually looks like a log (a pool log?) rather than a noodle. It isn't soft like ordinary foam found in pool noodles and has a reinforced outer layer which makes the surface smooth.

Knee Pain Relief with Homemade Physical Therapy Bolster

One of the knee exercises I found to be extremely helpful to my knee problems is the lying leg extension with a bolster. I found this knee exercise while I was browsing the internet for some ideas. I saw its demonstration by a physical therapist (at least that's the claim) in youtube.

The knee is one of the remaining body parts so far where I have not undergone physical therapy. I've had physical therapy on my lower back (L4 and L5 lumbosacral area), right hand (de Quervain syndrome), left shoulder (arthroscopic surgery and rehabilitation) and right shoulder.

Physical Therapy Dumbbell Bar - DIY Part 2

(This is the continuation of Part 1)

In the previous article, I discussed my situation as a shoulder rehab patient. I wanted to continue using my set of weight plates but didn't want the dumbbell bars that will be awkward to use. So I fabricated my own physical therapy dumbbell bar using light materials.

Physical Therapy Dumbbell Bar - DIY

It's my third time to undergo shoulder rehabilitation and this time, it's my left, post arthroscopic shoulder surgery. The first time was for left frozen shoulder and the second time was for anterior bicipetal tendinitis on the right shoulder.

In all these 3 physical therapy sessions for the shoulder, I've used various physical therapy equipment like Therabands, physical therapy dumbbells and the finger/shoulder ladder. After being discharged by the rehab doctor, it is usually recommended that I continue the therapy exercises at home.

Williams' Exercises for Low Back Pain Relief and Rehab - Part 2

(This is the continuation of Part 1)

In the preceding article, I briefly discussed my employing the Willams' exercises for lower back pain relief and rehab that led to my successful recovery. A brief history and description of the exercises were also mentioned. The following are illustrations of the lying exercises I performed for my therapy.

Williams' Exercises for Low Back Pain Relief and Rehab

As I'm getting older, it looks like injuries are coming aplenty. Just as I was contemplating on undergoing physical therapy for my left shoulder, I hurt my lower back.

Unfortunately I'm not exactly sure how I hurt it. The only activity I did recently was to cut grass in our backyard lawn.

I do this by sitting on a low stool with a pair of garden grass shears. It's either that or my poor posture at the computer again.

Thankfully, I already know a set of low back exercises called the Williams' Flexion Exercises that alleviates low back pain.

So I performed these exercises twice a day for a week. I was pleasantly surprised that the pain was totally gone after a week.

I'm still amazed how this chart of exercises have benefitted me and so I decided to write about these exercises as a mode for lower back pain treatment.

Home Treatment for my Left Shoulder Rehab

The yearend of 2010 and yearstart of 2011 hasn't been too great for me. The left shoulder has acted up again. I'm not sure how the rotator cuff got reinjured but I'm guessing it was the repeated performance of the pullover exercise.

Doing it the first few times didn't bother the rotator cuff, but the once-a-week exercise aggravated the soreness and the pain just progressed slowly.

Lower Back Injury from the T-Bar Row Exercise

The T-Bar Row exercise is one of the biggest mass builders for the back. It recruits the big muscles of the lats, traps and the rhomboids. It is a pulling exercise that allows you to lift heavy weight.

Although T-Bar row machines do exist, most bodybuilders who train at home simply use a plain straight barbell. One end is loaded with the barbell plates and the other end is simply stuck or jammed to a corner on the floor.

Cushioning the Dumbbell Wrist Roller

In a recent entry, I discussed the Wrist Roller exercise that gave instant relief to my tennis elbow pain. In that entry, I described how a regular spin lock dumbbell bar, some standard weight plates and inexpensive items can easily be assembled as exercise equipment to perform the wrist roller exercise.

Somebody commented that some of the spinlock dumbbell bars have threaded parts that can be too rough or too sharp for the palms. I had this same experience when I changed my old dumbbell with a longer type so I could have a medium distance grip on the bar.

Exercise for Instant Relief from Tennis Elbow Pain

In a recent entry, I've written a couple of wrist and forearm exercises that stretched and strengthened the affected muscles. These are the muscles outside of the forearm near the elbow.

However, I've recently discovered an exercise that more quickly alleviated my tennis elbow problem. The pain relief is easily discernible. I only did this easy-to-do exercise for three consecutive days and the relief from the pain was dramatic.

How to Get Rid of Tennis Elbow

In a past entry, I mentioned my case of Tennis Elbow or Lateral Epicondylitis. That was in October. I've since used some exercises that have helped alleviate the pain.


Wrist and Forearm Strengthening Exercises

Here are a couple of exercises I found that helped regain the strength in the outside of the forearm. You could use a hammer for both exercises. Or a dumbbell bar with detachable weight plates.

The advantage of using the dumbbell is the ability to increase or decrease the weight by changing plates.

For a dumbbell, empty the dumbbell plates on one end so you can use it as a handle.  Load some plates on the other end.  A starting weight of 1.25 pounds is enough.  You may add more weight as you progress.

For the first exercise, hold the dumbbell so the other end is pointing forward as shown as below:

Tennis Elbow or Lateral Epicondylitis

For a whole week I've stopped playing the piano and worked on a home project instead. I've had this nagging pain on my wrist that seemed to radiate from the right elbow and so decided to give the piano playing a rest.

Even the brief finger stretching exercises have not worked. It is a dull pain and feel it on my wrist and forearm when tipping my coffee mug to drink.

Apparently what I do have is a condition called Tennis Elbow. Yeah and I don't even play tennis. :(

Where did I get it then? About a month ago, I worked on a huge garden trellis that required me to repeatedly use pliers and vise grips for an extended amount of time.

Since I'm right-handed, the unbelievable amount of gripping work with the pliers to cut, bend and form steel wire had led to an overuse injury on my right forearm.

Exercise for Anterior Right Shoulder

My last entry on my home therapy was way back in November 2008. I've not had any significant pain or soreness thus far except for some discomfort.

I always noticed the discomfort while at church when standing and holding my arm as shown below. I would apply some tension and pressure to see where the exact pain is. The discomfort is on the front of my right shoulder.

Completed the Right Shoulder Therapy

I’ve not been feeling well lately. It must have been the recent rains. But still I went for my followup consultation with Dr. Mancao today.

She concluded I won’t need anymore therapy sessions. This is after 12 sessions in 2 batches. I’m a bit ambivalent. I’m glad that the sessions are over but not too happy in that I don’t think it’s fully healed.

She did say that at my age I’d need to be careful of jerky unnatural movement of the right shoulder and arm. She’s kinda worried the tendinitis may come back if not too careful. Continuing the stretches and resistance exercises should strengthen it though.

Suffered a Bad Fall

Last Sunday, as we were about to unload our donation boxes to Typhoon Frank victims, I suffered a bad fall at the steps going to the visitor’s lobby. This was on the way down the steps.

2nd Batch of Physical Therapy Sessions

Yesterday I got the doctor’s verdict that my right shoulder isn’t fully healed yet and so suggested another batch of 6 therapy sessions. I agreed, and why not?

Heck if I could make the most of my HMO card I would. My right shoulder just didn’t recover as well as my left shoulder did last year. The rehab doctor suspected torn fibers in the shoulder and suggested more strengthening exercises.

I proceeded to take my first session on the same day.

Right Shoulder Therapy - 3rd Session

Last night I had my third therapy session and the passive stretches were applied. They were followed with the active relaxation stretches. And after that, resistance exercises:

1. Front raise with 1 lb dumbbell
   
2. Side raise (with shoulder transition)
   
3. Internal rotation with a stretch band
   

Now that we're a bit settled in the renthouse while our house is being renovated, it's time to get back on regular exercise.

This morning I resumed my stepper exercises. It’s been quite a while and the feeling with the steps on my soles was strange.

It wasn’t painful or difficult. On the contrary, it was just a weird sensation like that of “riding” on a platform or surfboard (not that I’ve ridden one). And I really enjoyed the Stepper Mix Music CD (Version 2) that I created.

I’ve created remixes of hits of the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, ABBA, Modern Talking, Michael J., Oldies, Latin, and more. Awesome! If you'd like to learn how to create these top-to-tail mixes that DJ's create, email me or leave a comment. It's easy.

And if you don’t have a clue on how the Balance Stepper is used, here’s a video of a similar unit (they look exactly the same, actually) in good old youtube:

I gotta admit that the music helps and a good sense of rhythm and body coordination makes the exercise so easy and enjoyable. What if you don't have good rhythm and body coordination? Well, you could always hit the gym, do weights and walk the treadmill. Or play golf. :)