“How will that look?” You will look like you are alive. If you walk on roads, even if you do it facing the oncoming traffic in the closest lane, you will look like you will be hit by a car. You lack the ability to dive out of the way of a texting teenage driver.
I’m going to make an assumption, that because you are here asking about what you can do, you are open to suggestions because you want to stay alive and have a life of participation not spectation.
I know from experience that I could always find a reason to not exercize, to sit instead of standing, to stay in instead of going out, to order online instead of in a store. Being physically actove on a job when I was working I never needed to go to a gym or “exercize” to stay fit. I dread Chicago winters because we are expected to keep working until snowplows stop moving.
I had to give up driving because of neuropathy; I couldn’t find the pedals. Back pain cut my shipping trips down to 20 minutes on my feet. Within a year of being an active independent person who throught nothing of a solo cross country trip by car or crawling under it mid trip to pull off a wheel and rebuild a stuck caliper, I became a Laz-y-boy cushion +12 hours a day.
Then I heard from my 96 year old mother that she was frustrated beeing cooped up for 10 days of COVID quarantine. She’s had knees replaced and wears a pacemaker. My biggest problem is doctors who keep harping about my having diabetes, my being “old” and how everything is a “risk factor”, but don’t do anything to help me reduce those risks, they just drain my willpower. I was embarrassed.
We could both be described as lacking strength and stamina and concerned about falling. Neuropathy is only a factor in the last one. The thing about exercize is the less we do the less we can do.
Muscles only grow weaker with prolonged rest and stronger with exercize that pushes them to their safe limits. If we quit before reaching them, they will deteriorate. The same is true with balance and getting up from the ground; those are skills. They need practice and refinement.
What can we do? We start over and we don’t give up.
Before thinking about exercize, blood sugar control and nuitrition are critical. Getting good “time in range” is impoortant to safety. (If you aren’t using one yet consider a CGM. )
Enough protein in our diet is as important to building strength as having enough carbohydrates. As we become more active, we will need to start eating more. Not a lot more, but more. Protein from vegetable sources like endame can be added to a BG -control diet with very small impact on BG. (The added fiber is good for improving BMs). Exercizing at the right times can improve BG control, mute meal peaks.
- Find out why we fall - from professionals who are trained to watch and correct. Virtually every insurance plan for seniors cpvers physical therapy because it reduces the cost of medical servoies.
I was assessed by a physical therpist. I learned that because I have autonomic neuropathy, I must stand up slowly so I don’t faint. I need to have enough light to orient myself visually, think about where I want to move and and move deliberately. I need to find a comfortable erect posture where I’m in balance - not stand up straight like a marine in a parade. If the ground is slippery or uncertain like covered with snow, I need to try to avoid it. Because I can’t feel the ground under my feet and things at ankle height, if the ground is slippery or uncertain (like covered with snow), I need to try to avoid it or carefully use a walking stick, cane or walker.
- Learn to be aware of our bodies and how to use them, as they are now. Most of us leaned an inefficient way to move as babies that had all the time they needed, attentive caregivers, and bodies that were padded, flexible and capable of rapid healing. Those became our default movements. We don’t have those conditions or those bodies any more.
Feldenkrais is a low effort method that is great for exploring how to use what we have to use. It has no philosphy besides “good movement can always be reversed”, requires no belief, and it works. On Youtube search for “standing up Feldenkrais with Taro Iwamoto”. He has lessons you can follow to stand safely from any position and to return to those positions with minimum effort and maximum safety.
- Start to exercise daily.
If there are safe places for us to walk, then we should walk. If we lack stamina, then we can walk at home and climb stairs with good handrails until we can walk longer times and distances. Safe public places to walk are the ones my mother uses - enclosed malls, libraries with carpeted floors and big box stores.
If falling is a concern, there are machines like the basic total gym where we can exercize legs and or arms while lying down. Small weights and elastic exercise bands can be used while sitting to build back uo arm strength.
- Do a little more each day. One more rep, one more step or one more minute longer than yesterday.
