Butt Kick Your Pain Away:
10 Secrets to Keeping Your Exercise Resolution
By Dr. Daryl C. Greene

While leading a couples' retreat on wellness, I discovered that four couples out of twenty had maintained a regular exercise program. Why? Because they had dogs! Come rain or shine, they were walking their dogs. They had established what I call a Lifestyle "Butt Kick." For two other participants, encountering a medical crisis was the butt kick they needed to get started and maintain a regular exercise program: one was combating heart disease, the other was a cancer survivor. If you live with a disability and you suffer with chronic pain, this may be the Medical "Butt Kick" you need to adopt a regular exercise program.

Experts in pain management agree that one thing is crystal clear. Not only is exercise extremely important to improving general health, but if you have chronic pain, exercise should be a fact of life. So if you contend with chronic headaches or back pain, if you have arthritis, fibromyalgia, or some disabling neuro- muscular condition involving pain, and you want to feel better, suffer less and have more energy in the coming year, you may want to start your own therapeutic exercise program. Making the right kind of resolution can be the "butt kick" you need to get started!

17 years ago, I received my "butt kick". I had been diagnosed with a rare, progressive neurological condition which had already claimed most of my central vision, made walking difficult and caused painful muscular hypertension. My doctor told me, "Exercise is going to be imperative if you want to stay out of a wheelchair and to manage your pain without drugs." My physical therapist explained, "When you are in pain, your muscles tense and cramp up. Your tendons draw up. If you do not stretch and strengthen your muscles, your limbs will atrophy and may even become permanently twisted. But when you stretch and strengthen your muscles through exercise, you can relieve painful muscular tension, increase circulation, and bring healing into your tissues. "

It was clear to me that if I wanted to feel better I needed to adopt a regular exercise program. I made a New Years' resolution which I have kept. I joined the YMCA and started working out twice a week. With that, I began learning what it was going to take to maintain a life long exercise discipline.

My workouts have changed and expanded over the years, as I worked with physical therapists and personal trainers to combat the progression of my disease. Today, my daily workout takes about an hour and a half. I divide my routine into two 45 minute sessions. I begin my morning with a standing, toe-touching yoga routine. Then I do towel stretches to further release the tension in my hamstrings before doing a yoga style floor routine to loosen my hips, pelvis and back. I then conclude with a traditional calisthenics routine to strengthen my legs, abdomen and arms. In the afternoon I go into my eight station gym and do my aerobic workout and weight training.

Now, at age 47, I must walk with arm crutches; but I am in better physical condition than I was at age 18! Every day I release my pain through exercise. I remain drug free. And I have astonished all medical authorities with how strong and flexible I have become in spite of the progression of my neuropathy.

I would like to share my ten secrets to making and keeping the right kind of resolution. The kind of resolution that will help you to cope with your disability, manage your pain and improve your physical condition for life. It is not always easy to wake up with pain here, there and everywhere and to face the prospect of doing all these exercises. But I do them anyway by keeping my annual New Year's resolution, employing the following principles:

Entertain a Vision
It is not enough to resolve to join a gym at New Years= and to promise yourself that you are going to work out. Making the decision to adopt a life long exercise program requires a change in self image. Stretch your imagination. Imagine that you are going to be an exercise freak! Make up your mind that you are going to surprise yourself, your family, your friends and your doctors with how disciplined you are going to be. Envision that you are going to surprise them all with how flexible, strong and pain free you are going to become.

Bite the Bullet:
Don't think that doing housework or yard work is a substitute for doing your therapeutic workout. Walking around or moving boxes at work does not count either. Commit the time. Do what is necessary. Your exercise program should include stretching and strengthening exercises such as calisthenics and weight training, and aerobics such as walking or biking, which strengthen your heart and your circulatory system. Although you should do your stretching and calisthenics routine every day, it is best to do your aerobics and weight training every other day.

Get Help
In designing your exercise program, don't assume that you should do the kind of exercises you learned to do in high school. Have a physical therapist or a personal trainer show you what exercises to do for your particular health condition. Get instruction in how to do them with the proper form. I have probably lost some physical capacities permanently, because even though I was working out, I was not doing the right exercises to address my particular condition. I have also spent years with periodic trips to see the chiropractor. But my lower back problems went away when a physical trainer suggested that I put my curl bar up on a stack of cinder blocks so that I would not have to bend over and pick the weights up off the floor.

Pace Yourself
Especially when you are getting started, take it slow. The number one reason people do not stick with their exercise program is that they go too fast and push too hard. They get sore, pull tendons, and injure joints. I once showed an out of shape friend how to do towel stretches. For the next two months I watched him hobbling around on his cane, because he went too far, pulled a tendon in his knee and practically dislocated his hip. Unfortunately, you seldom know when you are over doing it, until the next day. If you know that you are committed to a life long exercise program, why be in a hurry?

Adopt the "Before Principle"
If you work out at a health club, do your workout before you go to work, or before lunch, or before you get home. If you work out at home, get into the habit of doing your exercises before eating, taking a nap, or before your spouse comes home from work. I do my morning stretching and calisthenics routine before breakfast. I divide it into two parts. Weather permitting, I do my standing stretch routine on the deck before I shave. Then I turn on the music and do my towel stretches, floor yoga routine and calisthenics before I take my shower. By the time I am dressed and ready for breakfast I am already loosened up, feeling strong, and have a sense of accomplishment. Then, I do my aerobics and weight training in the late afternoon before supper.

Establish lifestyle or social "Butt Kicks"
Get a dog! Come rain or shine, your dog will need a walk twice a day. Get a paper route. Other life-style Butt Kicks include walking or riding your bike to work, to the post office, or to see your grand children. Or, if you are in a wheel chair, joining a wheel chair basketball team. Social Butt Kicks include meeting friends at your health club or talking a friend into being your walking, jogging or workout partner. I knew five middle aged men, each contending with their own physical problems, who met at their gym for more than three years. I also knew three retired women, all suffering from crippling arthritis, who regularly met at the YWCA for water exercise classes.

Create a time-space-sound "Workout Bubble"
If you work out at home, find a time and place to do your workout when you won't be interrupted or observed. In my house, the livingroom floor is the only space big enough for me to do my morning routine. So, in order to create a time-space bubble on weekdays, I do my morning workout after my son has gone to school and my wife has her first massage therapy client. On weekends, I do my morning workout before my wife and son appear for breakfast. To create a sound bubble, turn on the music. Especially when you are doing your weight training, make sure you turn up the volume enough to cover up your grunts and groans and to give you additional energy for your workout. Play the same CD for a month, then change it. I have found that if I am having a "down" day and just cannot get started with my exercises, all I have to do is to put on a CD I used two or three years ago, and my body begins to remember the workouts I did at that time. Suddenly I get a rush and I can hardly sit in my chair!

Give yourself physical rewards

Treat yourself to weekly massages. No matter how complete your exercise program may be, you will not be able to relieve all muscular pain and tension through exercise. If you suffer with chronic pain, you should get regular massage therapy as part of your pain management plan. Besides, if you work out regularly, you will get stiff and sore from time to time. A good massage will undo such kinks. Besides, it feels great! Other physical rewards include relaxing in a sauna, or soaking in a hot tub. Why not treat yourself to a delicious high protein dinner. It will not only build up your body, but will lift your spirit.

Turn on the "Automatic Pilot"
Everyone who struggles with chronic pain has "down" days. You may have very low energy, or you may hear what I call "negative thought tapes:" whiny voices telling you that you are too tired to do your exercises, or that you are never going to be able to overcome your pain. Many people I know battle such "depression" every day. But I have found that if I simply get started, regardless of how I may "feel" I will finish my workout routine. After you have been working out for a while, you will be able to turn on the Automatic Pilot. Your negative thought tapes may keep on talking while you go through your routine, but turning up your favorite music usually blasts them away. By the time you have finished your routine, they will shut up for the rest of the day. You will have a sense of pride and accomplishment.

Every dawn brings a new day
It is impossible to be absolutely perfect in keeping an exercise discipline. Getting the flu, unusual commitments, and going on vacation can all interrupt your regular exercise routine. Don't get compulsive. I have learned not to try to make up for a missed workout by doing it late at night. It is at times like these that I am most likely to injure myself. Don't go around feeling guilty either. The next day will bring new opportunities to go through the motions and improve your physical condition.

If you have chronic pain, give yourself a good Butt Kick. Make your resolution and follow these ten principles. Within 90 days you will become addicted to the pain relief and to the "body high" which you will get from doing your exercises. You will feel better, suffer less and have more energy for the rest of the day. You will also find that becoming an "exercise freak" has great spiritual benefits: You will know that you are a person of will power and that you can rise above your circumstances no matter how difficult they may be.

Dr. Daryl C. Greene is a resident of Richmond, Indiana, where he writes and speaks on coping with disabilities. He is the author of "You Can Feel Better: How To Cope With And Overcome Chronic Pain And Physical Disabilities From A Holistic Christian Perspective." The book is available through Amazon.com or by contacting the publisher's website at http://www.densmorereid.com/.