Exercises to reduce pain and stiffness associated with PMR

Polymyalgia rheumatica causes pain and stiffness mainly in the neck, shoulders and hips and in this video I'll provide some seated exercises that will help manage these symptoms. Hi everyone and welcome to Exercise for Health and today we will briefly discuss exercising with polymyalgia rheumatica or PMR and then you can follow me on a short routine of gentle exercises that will help manage your symptoms. PMR is an autoimmune disorder that causes inflammation in the joints particularly in the neck, shoulders and hips and is worse first thing in the morning for about up to an hour. It can cause fatigue and even weight loss and is normally experienced by people after the age of 50. Some people with PMR are prescribed medication to manage their symptoms the most common one being the corticosteroid prednisolone but it is recommended that people suffering with PMR stay regularly active to reduce the severity of their pain and stiffness symptoms. However it's also important to strike the right balance because too much exercise is likely to make your symptoms worse and for a while you may only be able to do about half of what you did before diagnosis. So when it comes to managing PMR symptoms think to stretch, move, strengthen, balance and rest. Stretching will help reduce muscle stiffness and this can be in the form of yoga practice. Move means to stay active whether this is around the house, out shopping, going for a walk which is considered one of the best forms of exercise with PMR, potting around in the garden or even cycling on your bike. Strengthening the muscles will help maintain joint health and this can be in the form of swimming or gentle weight training. Balance becomes even more relevant as we age to reduce the risk of falls and this can be developed in a tai chi class or something similar. Finally the most important of these is rest ensuring you get seven to nine hours of quality sleep each night to help your body recover. The exercises that follow will certainly help you stretch on the move and can be done at any time of the day but you may find it more beneficial first thing in the morning to help you get going for the day or if you've been sat down still for a long period of time. Although these exercises are designed to manage the symptoms of PMR they may also help people suffering with other conditions such as MS, fibromyalgia or arthritis. First of all find yourself in a comfortable position which could be just on the edge of your bed if you've just woken up or this could be like I'm doing on a chair or a dining room chair or something like that. So I want you to sit yourself up tall and the first one we're going to do is we're going to do some chin tucks. So the movement from there then is keeping your posture we're just going to think about pulling this chin down towards the chest and at the same time we're going to try and take the head backwards. So we're trying to make like a double chin impression and then relax it to come back to the front. So we're going to pull the chin in and then relax just allowing it to go back to neutral. We're just going to do each one of these exercises about four or five times just so we can start to mobilize the joints in the neck and also start to work the muscles around the neck as well. Let's just do one more of these. Tuck it right in push the head back and release off. Good right the next one we're going to do is we're going to do head turns. So quite simply again make sure you're in good posture all we're going to do from there is just turn the head one way just go around as far as your range of movement allows and then return back through the centre and twist to face the other way. So we're going to do this one five times each way. Make sure you maintain good posture as you're doing these exercises so you're not slouching. Three on each one, two more each way, that's four, one more each way and that's five. Good okay so then bring your head back to neutral. So the next one we're going to do is we're going to go from the neck now down to the shoulders. So we're going to do some shoulder shrugs. So with the shoulders I want you to lift both shoulders up towards your ears, squeeze the shoulder blades back together, let the shoulders drop back down and then allow the shoulders then to roll forwards. So we're going to lift, squeeze back, drop and then bring to the front. Lift, squeeze back, drop, back to the front. Again try and get as much movement as you can as you roll those shoulders up and over. One more time, good. Okay now we're going to work a little bit more directly into the shoulder joint now. Think like you're swimming, we're going to do like a freestyle action with your arms. So if you start your arms out in front of you and then what I want you to do from there is you're going to bring one arm back, lift the elbow up nice and high and then as you begin to reach forwards the other arm will then start coming back. So we're trying to get the high elbow and then really reach that arm out in front as far as you can. So allow the body just to twist a little bit as you do this. Again work to your range of movement in the shoulders because that'll depend on how high you can get the elbow to come up to the side before you reach forwards again. So nice slow movement, imagine like you're swimming. Really get that reach out in front and a nice high elbow when you lift out to the side. Just do one more on each arm, good, excellent. Okay right now we're going to go from the shoulders down to the hips. So the next one we're going to do is we're going to do a knee tuck. So just bring your feet a little bit further forwards in front of you and then you're going to grab hold of one shin just below the knee and I want you to then tuck it like trying to lift it up towards the chest. Get up as high as you can, relax a bit down and then switch to do the same on the other one. So just nice and gently we're just generating some movement into the hip as we flex it, lifting the knee up towards the chest and we'll do five on each side. Depending on your hip mobility will kind of depend on how much movement you get as you're lifting the up. Some of you might be able to get your knee right up close to your chest, good. We'll do one more on each side, last one, good. Okay place the feet back down on the floor. This time take the feet out a little bit wider for the next one. So we're going to do some hip movement again but with the knees out wide. So you're going to feel a little bit of dynamic stretch in the muscles on the groin. So just place your arms down in front of you, think that your belly button's being pulled forwards rather than trying to collapse the spine over. So even though we are going to be reaching down towards the floor it's not a case of bending the spine, it's a case of actually hinging from the hip. So imagine like you've got something pulling you from your belly button forwards rather than from up here. So hands down between the legs and then from there you're just going to start to reach forwards, hinging at the hip, keeping the head and the chest up. Just go as far as you can and then come back up, up nice and tall. So we're going to do this one five times, reach forwards, again just make sure you're hinging from the hip so like you're being pulled from the belly button. So as you go forwards it's like something's pulling you there rather than higher up. That's three, two more, good, last one, reach forwards, keep the knees out wide and back up, good. Okay we've got one more to do, so this one's going to extend the hips on the front. So what we need to do this time is I'm actually going to sit up on the side of my armchair because I need to be up a little bit higher. So you may need to do that as well if you're in a low chair on a low bed, you might need to get yourself a little bit higher up. So I'm going to be sat on the edge but I'm actually going to turn my body to face one way so that I've got one butt cheek effectively on the side of the chair and then this leg, this back leg I'm going to take back behind me so I've got the ball of the foot on the floor and I'm going to try and straighten that back leg out which already is then going to start to initiate a little bit of a stretch here but once I've got myself in the right position I'm then going to rotate the top half of my spine. So I'm going to turn myself away from this leg, so I'm going to look over the opposite shoulder which is creating more of a stretch down here and then come back twisting to the front. So twist away and then slowly return back to the front. Twist away, so most of your weight should be through your bottom but you've got the feet on the floor that allow you for balance. That's four, back to the front, one more on this side, twist away, bring it back to the front. Good, right let's turn around so we can do the same on the opposite side. So again set yourself up so it's like in a lunge position with that back up on the ball of the foot. Think about straightening out that back knee which is going to allow them to start to generate a stretch here on the front and then we're twisting away from that leg first of all. So twist away and then come back to face the front and again twist away back to the front. So as well as actually getting the stretch on the front of the hip it's also a great way to mobilise the spine as well. Let's do two more, make sure that back leg is staying as straight as you can at the knee, don't let the knee bend because that'll just take off that dynamic stretch. One more, twist away and then come back. Good, right bring the feet back in. Hopefully that's helped you with your stiffness symptoms a little bit and you can go on and to enjoy the rest of your day. Well done. I hope the exercises and advice in this video help you manage your PMR symptoms. If so please give it a like by clicking the thumbs up button below and consider subscribing if you haven't already but thank you so much for watching and remember to stay active and keep moving to feel better.