Exercise and bone mets

Vikinggirl

Between my bone mets and radiation, I have stress fractures in both femurs along soft tissue damage in my hip...I work full time and am on my feet most of the day and am in pain a great deal. Any ideas for what I can do as a consistent exercise routine that will help build muscle, but not cause more pain/ wear and tear on my bones? Any help would be appreciated!

Moderators

Hi Vikinggirl-

Welcome to BCO! We're so glad you've joined our community. We actually have an exercise forum, which contains links to helpful information on our main site and lots of helpful input from community members that might be of some interest to you: https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/58

We're sure other members will chime in soon, and you're able to find a routine that works for you!

The Mods

wam

hI vikinggirl! There is a great exercise thread on here called Stage V fitness. I would suggest that you try swimming. Be gentle with yourself. Yoga has helped me a lot also. You are amazing! Working is dynamite. Get a fit bit and see how far you walk at your job. You get more exercise than you are giving yourself credit for!

Partyoffive

Hi vikinggirl

I find swimming to be a great exercise and most local ymcas have indoor pools and are not very expensive to join. It is good exercise and does not hurt your joints and I find it helps the pain from my bone mets. It’s realky nice to float around

Vikinggirl

Thanks for the suggestions! I truly appreciate any advice. I always enjoyed swimming, unfortunately, our y is rather far away. I have done some yoga stretches for my hip pain, I guess I should look into it more. Thanks again, you are helping me feel much less alone!

DivineMrsM

Vikinggirl, the stage iv fitness thread link is here:

https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/8/topics/851580?page=55#idx_1630

---

Last year I started a walking routine, even tho the Arimidex medicine I take makes all my joint aches. But I was gaining weight and really needed to get active. Over the course from June to December, I lost 20 lbs. i walked outside, an hour at a time, about 20 days a months. Then weather turned cold and I began walking on the treadmill. Eventually, I got a stress fracture on my foot from the repetitive pounding on the treadmill. I’ve had to take a break from walking for over a month, and am trying all different kinds of things to get the foot to heal.

I miss walking and the physical outlet it provides. I am seriously considering getting a recumbent bike exercise machine. I’ve tried them in the store, they are so much easier on the joints and feet. I think it would be something you could do. Check Dick’s Sporting Goods, Sears or other stores where you live that sell exercise equipment and try out a recumbent bike, see what you think.

Also, plain old walking is just fine exercise. When I was doing my walking routine outside, I really only strolled. No power walking. It was the fact that I did it consistently through the month and did it for an hour at a time is what helped with weight loss. I really wasn’t aiming for any certain amout to lose, I thought maybe a couple pounds woukd be good. Then when I lost three, four, five, it gave me incentive to keep the routine up and see if I could lose a few more pounds. But I didn’t walk faster, or more, I only did it consistently. Best wishes to you!