Neurorehabilitation from the Trenches: January, 2022

 My New Year's resolutions this year include one article per month, so no skipping December 2022. 


Walking

I have further adjusted my personal training, as follows:

  • I start the day with a stretching routine of my legs and feet.
  • Each morning I walk 1 km on the treadmill; that takes ~30 minutes
  • Then, at lunchtime, I do 20 minutes of cane walking
  • At some point during the day, I spend a half hour* with my new weights bench that Claire got me for xmas.
  • I later schedule a daily half hour of freestanding**
  • Finally, after work, Claire and I go somewhere for a half hour of cane walking, outside, weather permitting


*There are currently three different activities, that I interleave. They are: 3 sets (20-20-20) of left-arm curls (5kg); 100 weighted(5 kg) back extensions (40-30-30); 100 (40-30-30) leg raises. I hope to get a 10 kg dumbbell this week, which should see changes to the above.


**I've only started this


All this is inclusive of ~weekly Peloton and Liegerad sessions


My Eyes

I start this year with some hope of improving my walking following March's 'Sehschule'-- which is vision therapy-- and subsequent prism glasses, which ought to have a positive impact on my balance. At the very least, it will mean that I can start rehabilitating with more powerful senses; that third dimension was probably missed by my autonomic nervous system. If you're interested              

Talking

I can feel my talking is becoming less of a chore. My daily virtual German lessons are helping.

Book Recommendation

The book I will recommend today is The Precipice, by Professor Noam Chomsky. It's not really by Noam Chomsky, rather it is a transcription of various interviews; mostly it includes questions asked and answered by political scientist/political economist, C.J. Polychroniou and Noam Chomsky, respectively. If you like that sort of thing, I can't recommend this book highly enough. Among other things, It details the two existential crises facing humans today. Namely, the real threat of a nuclear attack and, more importantly, the threat posed by humans tinkering with the climate. All this through the prism of Trump's presidency, who, according to Chomsky, is “the worst criminal in human history”.


I may have missed a month but I didn't stop incrementing my distance record. I have started experimenting with the speed; I should be up to 2K in time for my birthday, in April.


Treadmill




Peloton: Melbourne at Night

I didn't break my record, perhaps a change of scenery is required; so expect a new location next month. 


Peloton: Best Class



Strava


A bit of a dip in form, but you can expect a vast improvement in February



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