tips on keeping healthy with DDD? — Scope | Disability forum
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tips on keeping healthy with DDD?

seasideMark
seasideMark Community member Posts: 9 Listener
Has anyone got any tips on keeping healthy with DDD, ive always been active and used to excersise regularly, but now with so much pain and limited mobility, im struggling to keep my weight down.
My doctor says my weight will affect my back pain and i should excersise, i think this is where GPs dont fully understand how debilitating DDD is and their advise may work for other patients but certainly isn't going to help me.
Any help or advice would be appreciated 

Mark

Comments

  • Sam_Alumni
    Sam_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 7,671 Disability Gamechanger
    Hi @seasideMark
    Can you explain a bit more what DDD is?
    Scope
    Senior online community officer
  • Jean_OT
    Jean_OT Community member Posts: 513 Pioneering
    Hi Mark

    Degenerative Disc Disease can impact on each  person in a way that is specific to them as an individual. If your GP is unable to support you in managing your condition you are probably going to need referrals to specialists, in most instances this will lead to physiotherapy and sometimes surgery.

    Obviously the more weight you are carrying the more stress there is on your spine. If your GP feels that you need to reduce your weight and this isn't possible for you to achieve through increased exercise perhaps you will need a referral to an NHS Dietitian so you can be supported to loss weight through changes to your diet.  

    Best Wishes

    Jean

    Jean Merrilees BSc MRCOT

    You can read more of my posts at: https://community.scope.org.uk/categories/ask-an-occupational-therapist

  • Sam_Alumni
    Sam_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 7,671 Disability Gamechanger
    Thanks @Jean_Scope :)
    Scope
    Senior online community officer
  • seasideMark
    seasideMark Community member Posts: 9 Listener
    Thanks for your reply Jean, as I was diagnosed over 10 years ago, I've been through every specialist available and "pain management" through medication is the only option I have, i was just hoping that someone going through the same thing might have had dietary information to help. Its very difficult going from fit and sporty to barely walk and chronic pain
  • Pippa_Alumni
    Pippa_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 5,793 Disability Gamechanger
    I'm sorry to hear this @seasideMark

    I wonder if @hortigirl, who also recently joined the community and has discussed DDD, can help?
  • Drbutch3r
    Drbutch3r Community member Posts: 3 Listener
    Hi I also have DDD and been living with it for 14 years now. I will be having a go at hot yoga so I'll let you know how it goes. As I can't walk any more exercise is pretty much  redundant now and this seems to be the only thing that will help keep me healthy and lose weight I guess other than managing what I eat which is pretty much everything.
  • julian65
    julian65 Community member Posts: 5 Listener
    One broad area of exercise you might want to consider and research are the various practices developed over the last couple of thousand years in China. They're normally referred to as chi gung, qi gong, nei gung and so on. These are huge umbrella terms that cover everything from fairly demanding active movements through very slow and gentle movements to exercise that involves sitting or standing apparently still.

    To anticipate some objections: Firstly as a long time student of traditional Chinese healing arts, I absolutely loathe everything about the authoritarian state that is modern communist China. From their totally ruthless suppression of free speech to their appalling abuse of other human rights, their invasion of Tibet and the horrific environmental impact of their unregulated industry - it's a very long and desperately sad list of abuses that's cost millions of innocent lives over the last 70 odd years.

    However, the Taoist healing arts have absolutely nothing to do with communism - indeed immediately after 1949 the communists attempted to stamp out all forms of traditional healing, including self-healing practices and of course any form of self-empowerment. Then they realised they didn't have anything like the budget to take care of the health of their huge population with Western pharmaceuticals and had to back pedal fast.

    Then they killed off the vast majority of their physician-scholars (along with lots of other people who could read and write) and burned millions of ancient texts over the following two or three decades. By the 80's and 90's the only people who had been fully trained in these techniques and practices before 1949 had either managed to get out of China to Taiwan or Hong Kong, or had been forced to become very adept at being effectively invisible, or were dead. Of course these same techniques are now also practiced throughout South-East Asia, in part due to their slow spread over the previous centuries and in part due to people fleeing communist suppression.

    Secondly, it is a mistake to assume that only obviously calorie burning 'cardio' type exercises have any value. We live in a world obsessed with obvious activity, superficial appearances and easy measurements (such as weight) used to categorise and pigeon hole people. It is remarkable just how much can be done through focused attention on extremely small movements: to the outside observer the person practicing these exercises appears to be standing or sitting still. Only the practitioner knows just how demanding and challenging the practice is - the process is profoundly internal and experiential.

    Then there are a whole range of breath co-ordinated exercise movements that can be done laying down and sitting, if standing causes too much pain. The key to all these forms of exercises is realising that very few of us breath naturally with our diaphragms - so just learning how to breath is exercising a large muscle that is for the most part ignored by western healthcare. This large muscle, as it contracts and relaxes, influences the movement of blood and fluids through every single major organ in the body. It's not mystic eastern woo-woo - it's just how every single mammal on the planet breathes when they're not running or fighting for their lives.

    You Tube has countless videos teaching these practices so I recommend checking some out on an 'if the shoe fits' basis. You don't like how it's being presented, taught etc. - trust your gut and move on.

    Lastly be very wary of anyone describing themselves up as any sort of 'guru' or 'master', or mystifying the process or charging money for this information or gatekeeping 'secrets'. It's all out there, completely free, at least at beginner levels and is essentially pragmatic.

    It's absolutely not about believing in anything or having faith, but simply about doing your own research on what helps you experientially - which is likely to be at least somewhat different to what's helped someone else. Pick a technique and practice it - nothing but nothing happens without practice - then after a few weeks of daily practice re-evaluate. Has it helped? How has it helped? How has it not helped?

    Most people in pain, including myself, understandably want what you might call an 'XYZ' result from 'ABC' skills being applied, so you have to stick with the process for long enough to get beyond the absolute basics and this can be very challenging. Learning anything when we're in pain is an order of magnitude (at least) more difficult, however none of us are born wise and most of us only decide to learn something new or do something different when making changes feels less scary than things staying the same.

    Hope this helps someone. It's helped me. Had I not grasped the basics of some of these skills before I got sick I honestly doubt I'd still be here.


  • chiarieds
    chiarieds Community member Posts: 16,007 Disability Gamechanger
    I couldn't agree with you more @julian65 - if you check this resource, there's Tai Chi & Qi Gong, as well as yoga. Also included is diaphragmatic breathing (link says 'deep breathing'), which I'm always recommending on this forum. Please see: https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/102784/resources-and-tips-for-those-living-with-chronic-pain

  • Drbutch3r
    Drbutch3r Community member Posts: 3 Listener
    Hi I did the hot yoga was a bit to much for me. But I can see how the weight would come off doing yoga in that blow up tent a 40 degrees..🥵
  • DanielCz
    DanielCz Community member Posts: 1 Listener
    Hi Mark,

    I've had DDD for about 15 years now and I've tried about everything! From medication to several different injections into my spine to help with the pain and now my GP is cutting down my medication while I'm on the waiting list for another injection. I think that it's a little backwards if you ask me but what do I know. The best way is to try and get swimming if you can. Tai-Chi is another good way or even using a electric belt a bit like a TENS machine can help a little. Strengthening your core muscles are the main thing that helps DDD. I'm struggling to deal with the pain of everyday life at the moment as the doctors are not listening to me and cutting down my medication and giving me paracetamol for the pain. I've been in and out of hospital and I've given up with that so the GP has said that I've got to live with it and suffer in silence. I wish you the best of luck Mark! A good herbal gel that I've come across which helps a little is called "Devils Claw" which you might find helpful 

    All the best 

    Dan

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