Testing the Waters- Dip into tasks

How do we know when we can go back to an activity?

So you want to go back to hobbies or exercise after a break. If you know what your body can tolerate, you can start to gain back the lost activity. Based on any of your identified aggravators/hurdles i.e. ‘I can walk for half an hour, anything more and I’m in agony for the rest of the day’, try walking for less than half an hour at a time first, go by what you can do (up to 30 minutes walking), you can then continue to dip into activities, see a progression and build up your tolerance and confidence.

‘I can’t take time off’ Essential activity

Ideally, we all have sufficient time to recover. But some tasks still have to be done whilst recovering/injured. If for example, the thing that makes it worse is your job, that’s tricky to manage, but not impossible.

More of us than ever before have the opportunity to dictate our own workspaces and negotiate a better quality of life. (have standing desks, go for a walk at lunchtime) It doesn’t have to be going on leave, it might just be little changes to the work environment that help.

Ways to amend a Task/ Test your tolerance for activities (DIP into tasks)

• Duration - Reduce the time doing an aggravating task, i.e. driving shorter distances, sitting at the computer -get up and make a cup of tea, water the plants, go for a short brisk walk.

• Intervals - This is similar to duration, but more to do with your body’s tolerance/capacity for a task. If you love gardening or just have to get the hoovering done, try deliberately stopping after around 20 minutes, doing something else, and then going back to it. There is often a tendency to want to get it all done in one go, get it over with, job done.

  If you don’t yet have the capacity to do an entire day, or the whole house all at once, this is a way of building up tolerance, still getting things done and not paying for it the next day.

  If you have tolerance for 30 minutes of walking, but used to walk for an hour, how does it feel to have two shorter walks instead of one long walk?

• Position - Ask yourself, ‘Is there anything I can do to improve my posture/body position to make this easier?’ ‘Am I in an awkward position?”

Simple changes include; Holding the hoover with both hands, advancing with your feet, bending your knees rather than twisting to pick things up.