My Physiotherapy session the other day went well. We focused a lot on my ankles, my hips and my legs. I came away with some new stretches to focus on. One is something that I’ll be able to build pretty easily into my normal daily routine. It basically involves sitting in ways that will stretch my adductors, the muscles around your inner thigh that you use to bring your knees together. This I should be able to do while I’m on the computer, watching TV or reading, so that it shouldn’t be too hard. The other stretch will lengthen the gastrocnemius muscles in my ankles and lower legs, (these are the ones that help you run and things like that), which have been feeling pretty tight lately. I have to remember to stretch three times a day. The gastrocnemius stretch will be the one that I’ll find hard to do at first I think, partly because I don’t find the stretch itself all that easy to do, and secondly because I’ll have to try and remember to build it into my day at intervals that work well for me. I know this sounds like it should be easy, but believe me, it’s also easy to let it pass me by when I’m doing other things. Maybe I should do it before my meals or something? Hmmm…
We also discussed the Botox injections that I’ll be having in my legs in the next few weeks. These should help to relax the muscles so they won’t be quite as tight as they have been. When I have these done I’ll have to do lots of intensive physio to get the best results out of the treatment. This appointment was made months ago, and I’ve been looking forward to it ever since. It’s something that’s worked well for me in the past, and I’m hoping that it will again. As always, time will tell and I’ll keep you all updated
I also managed to pick my night splints back up the other day and they now have walking grips on the bottom so I won’t have to take them off if I need to get up in the middle of the night. I’ll let you know how that works out.
viewfromawalkingframe 
Productive weekend!!! Hope the botox works 🙂
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Thanks. Having it in a couple of weeks. Fingers crossed. 🙂
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Sounds like a productive session! I really struggled with stretching my adductors where they are really, really tight, then a friend who’s younger brother has cp, told me about a peanut ball that they us with him to get a good stretch on his adductors. It’s like an exercise ball that is shaped like a peanut in it’s shell, that I sit on as if I’m sitting on a horse. I get a good stretch in my adductors, and I can also use it to work on my core muscles around my back. I find it really useful especially as I can stretch while doing other things, like reading or watching tv.
There are loads of different ways I have found to stretch my gastocs, some a lot easier than others, I wear my afos and leg gaiters together to give a nice long stretch on them also just my leg gaiters when standing gives them a good stretch.
good luck with the new exercises and the botox!!
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I’ve never heard of a peanut ball before. I used to ride horses but that was back before my surgery. I keep toying with the idea of going back to it though. I tend to do mine in sitting mostly so it doesn’t feel too much like doing phsyio cause I can do it while I’m doing other stuff.
I’ve just been given my night splints back and they have walking grips on the bottom so hopefully I’ll be able to wear them for longer at night now once I’ve built it up. I still can’t get them on myself but I can take them off okay.
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peanut ball is really good, it’s physio without too much effort!!!
I used to horse ride and am looking to get back into it, I was lucky enough to grow up around horses, and it was a brilliant form of physio. A relative used to be a riding instructor so we were put on a horse from a very early age.
I’m still waiting for a new night splint, never heard of putiing grips on them before, that a really good idea if you struggle to get them on yourself
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I used to love riding too. I don’t think I started until I was maybe 11 or 12 though, then stopped when I had surgery at 16. I hope you get back into it soon.
Good luck with the night splint. I used to have a different pair of night splints when I was younger and they had grips on the bottom too. They were different to the ones i have now but I’m not sure what the technical term for them was. Having the grips on the bottom of my current pair has made a big difference already. I’ll upload some pics when I do my update post about how I’m finding them.
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We use a peanut ball too, and horse-riding is great and fun. Another one we found useful especially if sitting watching tv is the NADA chair which is a thing were a loop goes on pne foot then a strap goes around your lower back and then another loop on the other foot. you sit straight and legs wide and you can tighten it so it can do calves and hammys at same time……..I think you could google it or have a look on our blog…..might be a pic???
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I’ve not heard of those either but I’ll have a look. Thanks 🙂
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