"Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough" (Og Mandino 1923-1996)

 

Although for me dancing is the best way of keeping mind and body fit and healthy, for anyone who has just chosen to make the move from couch to potato active mover, walking is the easiest way to begin.

 

When I was discharged from hospital 3 days after major spinal surgery, I was handed a sheet  on Activity Guidelines following Spinal Surgery. The message regarding exercise that I took away from my reading  was basically that walking, including using stairs, was the only exercise activity permissible until the 6 week follow up appointment ... and that it was really important to walk, a lot.

 

That first day after my son brought me back from the hospital, he let me rest for a while and then said “Mom we are going for a walk.”  We measured the increase in distance each day by counting the number of trees that I passed as I walked slowly along the sea wall. I was tired after 5 minutes. But I set my goal to be able to walk for 30 minutes non-stop by week 3 post surgery, and I achieved that.

The other thing  that concerned me beside rebuilding my endurance. was posture. My body was  scrunched to the right like a distorted Munchkin. I needed to ensure that I was engaging and strengthening core muscles and the muscles of the back. So I turned to the Activator walking poles I was advised to acquired when I left the hospital and checked them out.

 

By week 6 after my post-op check up showed that all was well internally, I attended my first play to review since I had been laid up with sciatica, and also managed to go to a Wine Seminar. By week 16, I was working out with a trainer, doing some Pilates, and was back on the dance floor for my first  lesson in almost 9 months. Looking back I believe that if it had not been for my determination to get back on the dance floor, my rehabilitation would not have gone half as well. The mind is as important as the body... or maybe more so.