Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group Pain after exercise - please help!

I have a question. I know swimming and walking are great exercises when you have AS. I am pretty well controlled, but I'm noticing some increased pain and stiffness 2 days after swimming. As in, swim Monday night (40 lengths = 1km), feel great Tuesday, sedentary night Tuesday, feel more sore Wednesday when I get up. Is it likely from the swim monday, or not swimming Tuesday? It will last about a day, and then be ok. For example, this is exactly what happened this week, only I skipped my Wed night swim (too busy) but I did a lot of walking around that night instead. Thursday, I feel fine. Last time I had a week like this, I didn't do anything on the Wed night and was still sore Thursday, then it went away, and came back 2d after the next swim.

please help! Should I just be doing something EVERY night, or should I back off my swim distance a bit? (I'm swimming fairly slow-med pace, no flutter kicking (just whipkick and scissor kick).

Thanks!

PMJ,
Hi nice to meet you.
I can not rest, kick back/ veg for even 6 hours, or I get so stoved up and sore that it gets to be a problem. Journal your activity. decide what makes you feel the best. For me every few hours I do something, 4-5ntimes a week I try and have 1/2 hour or more..
Sometimes I can not complete 15 minutes, but I keep trying...

I'm wondering if maybe the sedentary night prior to the pain hitting is a key here. Are you at least stretching on the night after your swim? Perhaps if you do, it will help those muscles and joints of yours.

Hugs,

Sometimes I get more discomfort and stiffness about two days after doing something, such as a hike. I wonder if this is pretty common...? I would suggest that on Tuesdays you do gentle stretching, there is a link around here for AS exercises that is helpful. Also, maybe try and walk or whatever feels right for a short amount of time, such as 10 minutes. See if that helps and let us know! I do much better when I do a little every day, even if it is a very short yoga routine and a very little walk. Best wishes!

I don't know, been asking myself all those questions over and over for many years, and for me the only thing I can say for sure is that there is a link between exercise and pain

But I have so much inconclusive data- sometimes I feel better when exercising, but might feel worse later, sometimes I will feel worse at first, so I might stop, then a little later, feel better, so I'll wish I hadn't stopped, etc, pretty much every possible combination has happened!

In my case, not battling fusing, my enemy is clearly inflammation, inflammation and more inflammation. So it's the state of the soft tissue that is the battlefield for me, and I know that means that many factors are at play, diet, both muscle and mental stress, blood flow, medication, sleep--

So far I've identified the key players, but have yet to figure out the key to get them all to behave, but I DO know that exercise is an important part if it!

Personally, I can't go one day without exercising or I'm in ridiculous pain. I stretch 2x daily as well to keep the aches away. And I swim almost every day, too.

Peace

hope you can figure it out
probably will just have to experiment a bit.

for me, not enough is bad, too much is bad.
for me i have to find the balance.

plus, i finally realized certain motions, like taking stairs, hills, doing the breast stroke kick while swimming were very hard on my SI, that was quite the revelation for me.

so now i've basically stuck to walking, but not too much, and biking, but not too much. and it seems important that i do this almost every day that i can.

My body does not cooperate either. Some days I can do exercise, but then some days, for no reason I can't. I have not found a common factor outside the weather changing that affects me profoundly.

The joys of this disease is that you NEVER know what you can do tomorrow!

Hey there,

Hmmm.. difficult to say. I used to work out a lot, including swimming. Even early on when AS under control with azfuladine. It may be from not exercising... I notice if I go a while without stretching I feel more stiff easily.

You may want to try stretching 15 minutes twice daily and see if helps.

Otherwise, I know when starting back up workouts after not doing so, was soar first day after, but 2nd day was always worse.

Tim

Hi,
I have experienced that if I stay sitting for a lone time say more than one and a half hour without even a short walk say 50 metres, I feel stiff. Doctor also adviced me to get up and walk a bit every one hour hour. In your post you have not indicated about the duration of non-activity. Kindly chck up. Otherwise, I feel you appear to be doing good with swim and walk, in my opinion.
Regards.

JAY