thought this was interesting

[wheeler641]

http://www.associatedcontent.com/ar...calf_muscle_strength_tests.html?page=2&cat=70 thought this was interesing, not sure if the link will work, if I did the first one, I would not have to worry about als anymore because I would fall down the stairs and break my neck:lol: Al feel free to check it out if you think it is appropriate to post this link. The first one is just plain stupid but the link does have a lot of good info.

 

[awieleba]

Thanks, just one more thing all of us can try to perform! LOL....

 

[rose]

It does have good information, and really, if someone wanted to try it a step or two from the bottom of the stairs it would be safe enough unless the person truly had weakness, in which case they'd know better than to even attempt it. I cannot imagine doing this at all, I cannot walk on toes anymore, mainly because of the left.

However, I thought the example of driving was kind of drastic.. There are degrees of weakness. A this point I can drive fine, but am unable to keep my foot for extended times on the accelerator. We thought that using cruise control would be a good fix, but then my arms get tired too, so, no more long drives for me behind the wheel, but around town, no problem.

All in all (other than the top of a staircase example) I think it would help many with twitching that wonder if they have weakness be reassured. I liked that it pointed out that if a person has difficulty performing any of the exercises, it did not mean they had ALS, and gave examples as to what would be a normal person's perception of outcome, versus someone with ALS affecting their calves.

 

[wheeler641]

I am sure if I tried the first one I would fall backwards and break my neck, luckyI live in a ranch style home or I might be tempted to try it:lol: and wind up back in the emergency room. It does also have more info to check your wrists and general info on bfs. Rose I agree the driving thing does sound a little extreme, I was driving most of the day yesterday and my right leg was a little sore at the end of the day, margaret

 

[suzannj]

What a coincidence! My sister just sent me this same series of links yesterday, however I missed the one about the "stairs" test. Holy cow! Stand backwards at the top of a flight of stairs and walk down on the balls of your feet? The next line should be, "If you awake hours later at the bottom of the stairs surrounded by a pool of your own blood, you failed the test!"

Her other articles and strength tests were good, and I have to say other than that one wacky suggestion, she does offer some very good advice.

 

[ktmj]

Everyone with only muscle twitches please do the stairs test and start at the top step.

I assure you your death will not be from ALS.

Is that serious? I would not even let my 15-yr old son do that! And he would probably tell me I'm nuts anyway.:roll:

 

[patricia1]

IT WOULD BE EASIER FOR ME TO FLY.:lol:
ITS A GREAT EXERCISE TO END MY LIFE:roll:
PAT

 

[BethU]

I doubt if many people on this planet routinely walk backwards down stairs, hop across rooms on one foot, or jump rope for a minute. So, these tests do not tell you if YOU are losing strength ... only that you can or can't do some strange exercises you've never tried before. Maybe you're just a twitchy klutz.

For more stubborn non-ALS patients, however, this could be a good way to occupy your time that you would otherwise waste on Googling "twitches." Here's how to tailor these tests to reflect your actual loss of strength.

First, set up a big ol' smoking spread sheet, and do all of these exercises. Write down the time of day, and the time it takes you to complete each test. Preferably, you will do these tests at exactly the same time each day. Do these faithfully every day for six months, recording your times each d ay. At the end of six months, evaluate the results. Are you losing strength or gaining expertise in hopping? If you are losing strength, then clearly you have ALS.

If you are gaining expertise in hopping, however, then continue to do this daily until you actually do lose strength, probably from old age. At that point, you will clearly have ALS.

(I would add another category, for extra credit: hoping backwards down a staircase on one foot while skipping rope and whistling the first movement of Beethoven's Fifth while chewing gum.)

Hope this clarifies things.

 

[rose]

Beth,

You are priceless. And, there are some of us that started out "coordination challenged" before the extra added benefit of spacity and weakness entered the scene. I've never once ran the wrong way up or down an escalator for example, and was always impressed when I'd see people doing it.

In all seriousness, keeping a diary of a reasonable set fitness routine might be helpful for those that are convinced they're getting weaker. If that person finds they truly can't keep up, that they really are losing ground, they would then have specifics to bring to their doctor. Knowing that a certain number of reps that was anywhere within the spectrum of "easy" to "difficult but able", and then progressed to " impossible" over time is something a doctor would want to know, and find useful.

BUT it won't help those that somehow, maybe unconsciously, don't want to be proven fit.

Those people are not going to try any of the experiments listed on that website, but they will continue to measure and compare their legs and arms, left with with the right, and stare at their twitching, and most likely miss out on a lot of good that life has to offer them.

 

[lydia]

I don't know....is it me? I was a little put off by the author's description of her own writing as well-organized and superb...she patted herself on the shoulder so many times I felt irritated. Probably a knee-jerk reaction conditioned by my repeated exposure to mediocre students with self-inflated egos about their capabilities and actual work products (I just love my job).

Plus, she wrote "..the test came back positive for ALS". Uhm...what test would that be?

And all those stats she cited without actually saying where she got them; I felt like getting out the red pen.

OMG, I am literally only 3 days into the semester. Gonna be a long one.

Lydia

 

[rose]

Lydia, who's love of job shines through....

I just skimmed what she read, as she did have kind of a "superior" tone to her voice, didn't' she. But how superior can anyone be that suggests walking down a staircase backward without holding on, right? ~ now I'm going to have to go back and actually read what she said. :?:

I pretty much just looked at the various tests, thought the stairs were ridiculous, but could be modified to be helpful, and the driving was not realistic, it would depend on degree of weakness. Never thought much about the jump rope as I wasn't going to try it either.

However, it is an idea, like Beth said, if those so inclined, that really want to know if they are able to maintain, build. or get weaker, to work out their own routine. It could either serve to calm fears, or, be able to confirm that something is amiss.

I do think that those who are in touch with their body, those that regularly work out, do yoga, whatever, or have a physical job, are going to be able to tell if something is off, before someone with a focus elsewhere.

 

[rose]

for those old enough to remember the game....

I just had another thought, but before sharing it, wanted to say when I just read my last post, realized there is a typo and I meant to say "wrote" instead of "read" (I just skimmed what she read, )

Now that this is cleared up, can you imagine trying to play jacks now? Does anyone even remember jacks? I was thinking about the jump roping example and my mind morphed over to other childhood pastimes 8)

 

[olly]

wow,i thought my pt was a slave driver!
there is no way i can do any of those exercises,no way hosay.
i could not even stand on one leg for more than a few seconds with my pt holding me,so no way without assistance and on the ball of the foot:roll:.
these exercises are totally unrealistic and by her standards most people would have some weakness:?:.

 

[awieleba]

Ok, I will try this later with my stairs and report back to you all. Cant do it now because just me and the baby at home, no one aroung in case I get hurt!

 

[rose]

OK, I just now started to actually read the group of articles. Apparently the author, Jilita Horton, is a personal trainer, and had her own little ALS scare. I haven't gotten to the part where she quotes statistics yet, and don't have anymore time to devote to it right now. Here is a quote from one of the pages:


Muscle twitching may not be a big deal to you, but for many men and women, twitching muscles cause tremendous anxiety and stress. Just one muscle twitch can set off a fear of dying, but only if the person knows that twitching muscles is a symptom of a fatal disease. With any muscle twitching incident, the person fears the worst.

Imagine living in this kind of fear. Muscle twitching brings you to tears. A twitching calf muscle, a twitching shoulder muscle, quadriceps muscle, foot muscle...the muscle twitching may be sporadic or nonstop. Muscle twitching may be all over the body, or just in one hot spot. Twitches may make clothes jump.

So what is it about muscle twitching? Don't we all experience an occasional twitching muscle, especially after weight lifting workouts or intense aerobic exercise? Anxiety about anything can also make muscles twitch. We all experience this.

The problem begins when a man or woman starts getting annoyed at the twitching muscles, and invariably does an Internet search on "twitching muscles." Googling these keywords takes the unsuspecting person to various links about an incurable disease that kills every one of its patients: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The person now thinks he or she has ALS, because muscle twitching is a symptom of ALS.

Fear, fear, fear plays tricks on the mind.

The fear is so overwhelming that these people become obsessed, relentlessly giving themselves muscle strength tests by doing oddball things like trying to get up out of a deep chair on one leg; hopping on one leg; repeatedly lifting something overhead; spending hours studying the suspected area of muscle atrophy in the mirror to see if it looks like the muscle is wasting away; becoming fixated on what appear to be "dents" in the muscle (a sign of atrophy?); studying the way other people walk to see if THEY, too, tend to drag a foot occasionally (sign of the classic ALS foot drop?), and...

Careful, don't examine your tongue in the mirror.


I wonder if she ever wandered onto the forum here, when she was dealing with her own fears? It goes on and talks about how tests coming back negative do not serve to squelch the victim's fears. And yes, she uses the word "victim".

She has some inaccuracies, and some of the strength tests she proposes we've already discussed as to how impractical they are, but anyone who finds themselves fighting fear from twitching would benefit from reading every page. IMHO