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~ Philippians 4:13

~ C.C. Scott

It’s easy to do and I’ve included a picture so you know what it looks like. Just be sure and not stretch too far only stretch to the point where it is comfortable and you can feel the stretch. If you overstretch it could pinch and that’s not what you want. Here’s what it looks like:

So you start with standing up tall and then raise one arm over your head while dropping your other shoulder and arm straight down towards the floor. Then you reverse your arms and then the other way.

That’s it! 🙂

So I hope you can give this a try today and get yourself moving and feel little bit better.

May you feel just a little bit better today and always.
Alicia

Image credit: yogalearningcenter.com

A few years back, my oldest daughter broke her wrist. Now there’s nothing funny about a broken wrist but what is funny was her assistant principal’s reaction when she went to school the next day.

I came in to school to bring her some ibuprofen to help with her pain while she was at school and while I was standing in the nurse’s office assistant principal came in. With a very concerned look on her face she said, “Oh my goodness what happened?” We told her it was a roller blading accident and when she replied we were expecting something profound or some words of wisdom but what we got was completely different. She replied with, “You see… That’s why I don’t exercise. It’s dangerous!”

That one caught all of us off guard and I hope it makes you smile little bit today too.

May you find something to make you laugh today and your pain just a little.

Alicia
Image credit: cheezburger.com

For this week’s tip, I want to talk about carrying things using larger joints rather than smaller joints. When smaller joints like your hands are hurting, it sometimes it’s easier and less painful to use your larger joints.

Think about when you carry groceries. When you use your hands it would look something like this:

When your hands hurt, this is excruciating. So when carrying your groceries instead of using your hands I recommend using your larger elbow joints. This helped me immensely with my hands were hurting at their worst with RA.

I hope this little tip helps you to have have less pain today and I hope you are thriving in life despite your chronic pain.

Be well today and always!
Alicia

The skies can still be blue but the achiness starts as soon as the barometric pressure in the environments starts to drop. Why does that happen? Does anyone believe you when you tell them “Bad weather is on its way.” They should listen to you!

I found a great article that helps explain it a bit over at Web MD: http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/features/weather_and_pain – According to the article:

“Barometric pressure often drops before bad weather sets in. This lower air pressure pushes less against the body, allowing tissues to expand — and those expanded tissues can put pressure on the joint.”

I am a firm believer that our bodies tell us everything we need to know – but we have to be willing to listen. Two days ago my hips and knees started hurting and lo and behold today it was sleeting when I was driving the kids to school.

So, what can you do when you are aching worse to help relieve some of your pain?

For me, staying warm helps. My amazing friend bought me a little heating pad called a Cozy Spot:

Image from sunbeam.com

My cozy spot helps ALOT, as does my favorite fuzzy sweatshirt and even my heating blanket at times. Over the years in chronic pain, I have developed quite a set of “warmness” wear.

Another way to keep your pain under control is to keep moving. I have some easy exercises to help with this on the blog filed under Move-It Monday. The exercises I share there are my lifelines when I am hurting.

Advil – advil definitely helps. When I still had RA, I took tramadol because the advil was not strong enough. When barometric-pressure-related pain sets in, make sure you have your prescription filled so you don’t run out.

Lastly, for me when pain is worse near a storm, compression helps. Ace bandages can be a life saver. They serve a double purpose when bad weather pain kicks up. They keep the area that hurts warm AND help to reduce swelling as well – which is going to make your pain worse.

So the next time you are aching and you just KNOW a storm is coming… you are probably right! Grab your “warmness wear”, make sure your pain meds have not run out, pick up a couple of ace bandages, and have some go-to stretches to do to help ease your pain. When you are ready when pain sets in, you can help minimize its impact on your life — so your pain does not run things and you can stay in control.

Be well today and always!

Alicia

Image credit: philadelphia-acupuncture.com

That is the sort of technology day I am having today, so I apologize in advance for the poor quality of this video. I really wanted to have a video to put up because pictures just don’t cover this easy stretch well enough. Also, as you can see from the video — I am definitely not comfortable and at-home in front of the camera. So, I apologize… but I really do hope this stretch will help you in some way. I use it almost every day and it helps me to get moving when my muscles are tight. 🙂

Enjoy the stretch (cause I know you might not enjoy the video. lol)!

Alicia

Happy Friday!

Alicia