Rubber legs?

Using exercise and physical therapy for recovery from the effects of MS, and for maintaining physical function.
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SEQUIN1998
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Joined: Tue Oct 04, 2016 4:33 pm

Rubber legs?

Post by SEQUIN1998 »

Hello,

I spent about an hour walking in the pool today. (First time in ages)
I also have hip dysplasia, so any high impact is out.
My legs felt fine in the pool, yet when I got out, they felt like rubber, and I had zero balance.
Is it possible I spent too long in the pool? I feel fine now, so what gives?
Any ideas?
SEQUIN1998
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Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Oct 04, 2016 4:33 pm

Re: Rubber legs?

Post by SEQUIN1998 »

ugh...nvm.
I have not 'walked' that much since my onset of OA. Not using those muscles, and a bout of overuse....
ElliotB
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Re: Rubber legs?

Post by ElliotB »

When someone has not exercised in a while, it is usually best to take it slow to start and work up to longer exercise times and increased intensity over a reasonable period of time.
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jimmylegs
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Re: Rubber legs?

Post by jimmylegs »

i don't get in the pool enough but my subjective analysis is this. you get in and your body needs to adjust in terms of proprioception, balance etc. personally i'm used to using sight for much of my position sense impairment. when i get out of the water and gravity hits, it can be a bit of a learning curve to figure out what goes where again. esp if you've been doing laps or whatever so your core temp could be on the higher side.
i've been in the pool enough over the years, that it's not terrible these days BUT the other night i was at an outdoor spa with all these different hot and cold pools and various saunas etc. they were using salts in all of them to some degree i think, but there was one hypersaline pool. i'm not sure how hypersaline, but you could tell the buoyancy was different. i didn't go in the one pool that cost more and was billed as a kind of 'dead sea' xp with 12% epsom salts. so we can assume the hypersaline pool wasn't quite to 12%. but that one that i did try caught me off guard coming out. i hadn't been doing laps just treading water and such but still it took a few seconds to readjust to gravity and how to properly correct for balance. reminds me a little of being a kid when you come off the trampoline. maybe to some extent you experienced something similar.
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danielashell
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Joined: Thu Nov 03, 2016 7:02 am

Re: Rubber legs?

Post by danielashell »

SEQUIN1998 wrote:Hello,

I spent about an hour walking in the pool today. (First time in ages)
I also have hip dysplasia, so any high impact is out.
My legs felt fine in the pool, yet when I got out, they felt like rubber, and I had zero balance.
Is it possible I spent too long in the pool? I feel fine now, so what gives?
Any ideas?
Hello!
Would u mind telling me more about your hip dysplasia?
Did that come before or after your MS diagnosis....if u don't mind me asking.
KyrieTimo
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Re: Rubber legs?

Post by KyrieTimo »

Hi there.

I'm a physical therapy practitioner who has worked in aquatic therapy for years, so I am all too familiar with the sensation you're referring to.

Regardless of MS, when one exits a pool they are re-loading 40-60% of their bodyweight back on (depending on how deep the water was), which after a workout, can definitely deliver that rubber legs feeling.

Also, the center of mass shifts closer to the legs as we exit the pool, affecting not just the sheer poundage that is borne as mentioned above, but the distribution of this returned weight, which is of course downwards.

Hope that helps. If you find yourself in need of crutches or a walker in the interim, I have found http://www.straightgaitsupply.com/walker-guide/ to be especially helpful in this regard.

Hope you got your land legs back,

-Tim
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