Home Treatment for Repetitive Stress Injury

You don’t have to join a gym, lift weights or start running to be good to your body. The best way to stay healthy is find hobbies that get you moving, help you meet new people, and that are just downright FUN.

Although this blog most often covers medical treatments, therapies and disorders, the best strategy for getting out of the cycle of pain, or even just improving your health, is to find a distraction that simply gets you moving and is something you want to keep doing. To quote Mary Oliver,

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.

Personally, I credit some new hobbies for helping me stay healthy–and they’re not the ones you’d generally associate with therapy or even general exercise. Here’s my recipe:

stretches-while going through arm pain, I started the habit of stretching every morning for a half hour. The routine woke me up, got blood flowing through my system and gave my body some time to warm up before I plunked down at a computer. It felt great. I got my stretches from yoga sessions, PE Class from way back in high school, and a few books geared for computer users.

poi-You won’t find poi spinning in your therapy books, but it’s good exercise for the arms and it’s a performance art. I started with lightweight practice sets made from socks and string, and eventually was spinning heavy poi with a Kevlar wick, which could be set on fire to show off the tricks I learned. Great exercise because it is dynamic and gets arms moving in different ways, including spinning them behind you, up around your head, and so on. (Note: don’t set anything on fire unless you have a trained safety person on hand!)

photography-Another hobby you won’t find in an exercise book, but learning to take pictures forced me out of the house. Photography is a great companion activity for hiking and exploring your neighborhood, which means it often can encourage you to take walks and seek out new places. Also if you post to flickr or another photo sharing site, you can meet new people and share new experiences.

dance-Dancing is both exercise and social activity, so you can meet new people, get your feet, hips and arms moving in new ways, and improve your coordination. Many places -gyms, bars, community centers, and so on–offer weekly dance lessons for low prices. A great skill to know for weddings, parties too. There are so many dances-salsa, swing, hip-hop, tango, belly dance, waltz, folk dance-there is bound to be something to interest you. I promise, it’s addictive.

But don’t copy me–try your own adventures, find something you love and share your ideas in the comments here.

Related posts:

1. Ten Tips for Safe Stretching
2. What to do when you have to lift too many boxes?
3. Health Lessons from My Foster Cat, Lilah
4. Using Chinese Medicine Balls for Therapy
5. Simple Ways to Ease Your Eyestrain And Heal Your Headaches