When you live with a chronic illness like rheumatoid arthritis, going to all of your different health care appointments can easily feel like a full time job. And to make the situation even more complicated, everything is usually in a different place. You have to go one place to see your rheumatologist, another place to [...]
When I left physical therapy yesterday afternoon, I was asked to get as much bed rest as possible during the next couple of days.
During most of my life, I’ve had problems (unrelated to RA) with a weak lower back. If you combine this with upper back muscles that were being pulled and stretched apart as [...]
“The best cure for an off day is a day off.”
-Frank Tyger
Once again, I have been asked by my physical therapist to not move any more than is absolutely necessary – my left leg is so inflamed, that the muscles and tendons are pressing against the sciatic nerve, causing an exponential jump in the levels [...]
Rheumatoid Arthritis Guy usually divides his levels of pain into three (broad?) categories: “It hurts”, “It hurts a lot”, and “It hurts a heck of a lot”. (Okay, that’s not what I really call the last category, but I’ll go ahead and keep things G-Rated here on my blog.) Sure, if I really wanted to, [...]
Yesterday morning, Rheumatoid Arthritis Guy once again attended one of his regularly scheduled physical therapy session. I used to go to PT three times a week, but recently have been able to reduce this to two times a week. On Tuesday and Thursday mornings, after I finish my yoga class, I head over to physical [...]
Last night Rheumatoid Arthritis Guy saw the comedy-drama movie Julie & Julia. This film is based on the writings of Julia Powell, an office worker in downtown Manhattan who decided to cook all 524 recipes from Julia Childs’ cookbook in one year – and blog about it.
(Interesting fact: the only “celebrity” death that has ever [...]
Continue reading about “Rheumatoid Arthritis Guy & Superman”
During Rheumatoid Arthritis Guy’s first physical therapy session years ago, he became familiar with TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulator) treatment. The idea is simple: place electrode pads on the area that is hurting, and then deliver an analgesic electrical current in order to provide some temporary pain relief.
When I returned home from this first session [...]
Continue reading about Personal TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulator) Machine
A seesaw (also known as a teeter-totter or teeter board) is a long, narrow board suspended in the middle so that, as one end goes up, the other goes down.
In a playground setting, the board is balanced in the exact center. A person sits on each end and they take turns pushing their feet against [...]
