And I think my backache is getting better. But I do make a concerted effort now to do exercise every day. So I try, don’t always succeed. But I try to go for half an hour’s fast walk every morning before breakfast. And walk to places rather than take the car. And if I go to Sainsbury’s I park the car a long way from the entrance so I’ve got that extra bit to walk. And in that way, I hoped I’d be getting more exercise.

I’ve also bought a pedometer. And you mentioned 12,000, 10,000 steps a day I think. So I do most days, I make an effort to do 10,000. And you just see what happens in the future really.

I do the garden, I do the house, I do, I walk, I swim, I…

How, how often do you swim?

That’s a good point. I try and swim once a week, because I walk five times a week and I give myself one day off but by not going everywhere by car, and being more active I go to Pilates and I’m teaching exercises all day, all morning anyway.

Well I do Pilates and I probably do a lot of back extension exercises, and postural exercises and stretching’s. I can’t remember what specific ones I do.

Do you know any type of exercise somebody with osteoporosis shouldn’t do?

Shouldn’t do?

Shouldn’t do?

Heavy lifting, jumping, that type of thing. High impact sport.

So one of the things that you have changed or modified after the diagnosis has been your attitude to using the car?

Yes, it has, and the increase in petrol prices. But that’s recent, yes. Yes, I, I think I now view the car as somewhere if I’m going any distance I will go in it, but if I can possibly walk there I’ll walk there. Regardless of weather [laughs].

I play golf twice a week and then I go out with my friends. We go shopping and wander about here and there. I don’t walk much well, I mean I don’t go for a walk as specifically but I do walk. If you see what I mean. I don’t go off for miles walking.

Would you say that you walk every day?

I guess so, yes.

Okay, and roughly how, how much would you walk a day?

Perhaps not as much as I should. I don’t I don’t know. Quarter of an hour, half an hour maybe if that.

And when you are playing golf?

Oh, it’s about four hours.

Okay, then you are up and.

Yes.

Down the slopes?

And you do lots of walking there, yes [laughs] to hit the ball so it’s, you know.

For how long have, how long have you been playing golf?

Since I was fifty about, no sixty, sorry sixty, when I retired, sixty for about fifteen years.

I used to, hockey, volleyball. Netball at school. I’ve been quite active.

So what I did in the January, I joined a Tai Chi class because my niece, amongst all the leaflets that she’d sent me was this book from the National Osteoporosis Society, which talked about exercise. I had heard that Tai Chi was really good exercise. So I joined this class January 2007 and I go once a week. And I also practice at home very day. And then in the July I joined a Chi Kung Chinese exercise class, which again is very good. it’s all good for the body and the mind. So I’m still attending that one. And I also attend another Tai Chi class, which is a different form. I joined that in January of this year. So I’m doing the three types of Chinese exercise, three times a week, plus I do it every day at home myself.

So I thought that at least will hopefully help. And because obviously exercise is important. We live a mile from the town and whereas I used to take the car now I’ll walk down and walk back.

Yes, so I just feel that the exercise is important. And whereas I thought my life had come to an end, I mean, obviously it hadn’t come to an end at all, I just had to be really careful. So it’s the sort of thing where I wouldn’t take unnecessary risks like roller skating I wouldn’t go ice skating or rock climbing because, yeah, I think you have got to be sensible. And avoid taking unnecessary risks.

And when I was attending, will I still attend tai chi. But where it was, and I’m sorry they’ve moved because that was two miles. So I used to walk the two miles there and the two miles back. As well as doing the tai chi in the middle. But I didn’t feel any ill effects. I felt quite good actually.

So do you do brisk walking?

Yeah. I don’t walk slow. I think, I think, yeah. I can’t walk slowly. If I go out with my husband, he’s trailing behind me [laughs].

And how many times do you that, how many times a week do you walk?

Walk? I wasI say I was doing it because obviously at this time, there’s been a lot going on. Usually I’ll do that three or four times a week.

But I’m also very active. I never sit down, only in the evening. I’m just on the go all day. And when I do sit down to watch something I’ll go to sleep [laughs].

So on average you are walking something like eight miles a week?

Probably.

I’ve started to go swimming a little bit which is good, you know and I find that really benefits me.

Where do you go to?

There’s a place up the road, it’s and it’s called [sport centre], so I’ve been going there when, as and when I can, you know I find, you know I find that really loosens me up. You know I can move a lot more freely in the pool. I mean cos I haven’t been to hydrotherapy for years, you know, there isn’t really that facility open any more

So how often do you go to, is this a private pool or, or public?

No it’s like a public pool, You know it’s not warmed up, it’s just cold and you know but it’s, finding that the water benefits and have been able to get in. I mean because there was a time when like, I mean I don’t really like the water but I find it does benefit my joints and I felt really good after. And the day after I felt really loose.

Do they, do they have the special sessions at the pool?

No. I mean it’s just, like you mean at the public pool where I go? Not as far as I know. No, I just go on a, I mean when I go last time it was like a Sunday evening, so it’s fairly quiet. You know I mean, I mean I wouldn’t go now cos, you know cos all the, it’s the school holidays, I wouldn’t, I wouldn’t risk it, I’d go in the evening probably.

You’re a bit nervous about it?

Yeah, I mean I’m not a good swimmer so I wouldn’t want loads of people in there anyway. And you know I mean you know that goes for any pool, I wouldn’t want it, even if I was going to the hospital you know?

And also that’s another thing, I walk, I walk a lot. Because that is important as far as I’m concerned, as far as osteoporosis is concerned. I try and walk every day, even if it’s like just ten minutes down the village, or I go the long way round so that it gives me that extra walk. And my friend and me, we joined the [name] Walkers and that’s an hour’s, we, you know, there’s so many different walks around that you can do, but that hour’s walk is quite enough at my age and my friend’s age as well. She’s, she hasn’t got osteoporosis but she’s still, you know, we’re still that much older.

How, how often do you have this hour walk?

The hour, once a week.

Once a week?

The hour, on a Tuesday, the hour walk, yes. But, like I say, I walk most days, because to me that is more important. You can read all the time or hear all the time that walking is the best thing. I mean I’d love to garden and that. But I can’t because I can’t get down, you know, to, it, I don’t think it’s so much osteoporosis, I think it’s your age. You know, you can’t put everything on to osteoporosis. When you are getting to my age you, you’ve got to.

You are 76?

9.

79?

Oh, sorry, no, 77. I was thinking of my friend and she’s 7-, she’s 79 this next birthday. No, 77, sorry [laugh]. Gosh, not many people would make themselves older than what they actually are, do they?

No, that’s for sure.

I’m going through a stage of getting confidence back of walking. I will not walk in [city] even with my stick. I really am. it’s so uneven and people sort of almost it seems as though they try to bump into me. No I’m very. I’m. I’ve lost a little confidence again as a result of a fall, just about two months ago.

So you avoid places like high streets with lots of people?

Yes, yes, yes.

Ok.

Yes I drive, I feel so confident in my car. I changed my car because of the knee problems. I have an automatic now and of course I have power steering. But I feel safe in it. I’m not going to fall. I’m a good driver [laugh]. I drive all over the world.

Do you have spots where you go for a walk?

Yes. I have one very good one that I like very much and I have to drive there. it’s an [name] city park called [name] Park and the reason I like it because I’m, I feel not safe very much on bumpy ground, on grass for example. If it’s got bumps and hollows I find that very worrying. I need to have two sticks with me for that. But [name] Park has around the whole perimeter and lots of little zig zags which are hard surface with a sort of a gravel on the top and there are lots of people around and lots of other dog walkers. So I have targets on keeping moving particularly if my knees hurt or my arms. I also joined a swim club for exercise. I swim usually twice a week. There is a Jacuzzi with steps into it and rails and it’s wonderful. So those are my forms of exercise that my little dog and I do. He doesn’t go swimming but he, the walking yes and it’s. I feel safe. There are people there if I do fall.

I try to avoid. The one thing I can’t do and that’s because of so many fractures. I’ve broken several toes and my big toe before, earlier. I can’t remember. In fact I broke a toe only last year. Is I don’t like slopes. I cannot, I cannot walk up a slope or down a slope. Down a slope is impossible. I’m just a. I tried with two sticks as well and a friend nearby. No. No I will not go down a slope but you know, there are other wonderful places to go without… So I’ve. That’s why I like [name] Park [laugh] it’s level [laugh].

And you feel safe?

I feel safe and it’s wonderful, the trees are just fabulous there.

We had four very steep steps to the kitchen door, a turn and four again, steep steps narrow steep steps. So bearing in mind my husband and I are getting older we decided to remove those steps completely. We now have a wider landing outside the kitchen door and we have four shallow, four wider steps but shallower, a bigger turn and eight, sorry we have six, a turn and eight wider this way but shallower steps. That has proved it’s worth. it’s worth every penny we paid for that. I’m now going down the steps and coming back up the steps in confidence, you know. And I can run up and down those steps like nobody’s business now and it’s doing my hips the power of good because I’m several times a day I’m doing fourteen steps umpteen times a day which is good for my hips, my bone density on my hip joints, you know. Because Doctor [name] says that like in inclement weather, and I always advise this when I do talks on osteoporosis, that rather than going out in very slushy rainy weather if you have a normal set of thirteen stairs, an ordinary staircase, if you do that twelve times in a period of twenty four hours you’ve walked two and a half miles. And I keep this in mind when I’m doing the back steps and the normal staircase, you know. I’m doing my hip joints the power of good every single day. And I enjoy doing that. I look upon that as not a chore that I have to do but something that I enjoy doing and it’s working well. it’s doing my hip joints the power of good. You know.

I think I am quite active and I walk I walk as much as I can. But I do more since I’ve been diagnosed. I make myself do more.

Like what, more walking?

More walking, more going to the gym, the more activity. I can remember when I was first diagnosed going for very long boring walks doing absolutely nothing but walking and I thought, Oh, this is so boring Then I went then I thought, No, gardening is just as good So I prefer to do something with a purpose. That’s why I found the gym quite hard. Just going there and walking on those machines and it’s quite boring but anyway. And the other thing of course I believe very strongly in is staying flexible and mobile and I think, you know, as long as we can keep our muscles strong then presumably that keeps the bones protects the bones.

Tell me about the types of exercise you do?

Okay.

When you go to the gym?

I go on the well, the running machine but I walk on it but I walk quite hard and I walk up. I sometimes run for a minute here just to get my heart beat up but I don’t run a lot because I gather that’s not particularly good for bones. I then use there’s about half a dozen machines I use where you sit and you push your legs backwards and forwards on one with a with weights on and the same with the arms. I use that Swiss ball and do sit-ups on that. I do weight with weights I do things above my head. I do that thing of leaning against a ball against a wall and going up and down. I just try and vary it as much as possible.

Who has provided you with advice about the type of exercise you do?

Well, when I first got diagnosed I went to the gym and I said, Is there anybody here who knows anything about osteoporosis And I got this girl who gave me these exercises and then every sort of six months or so I get somebody else just to get some different exercises. I don’t whether many of them know much about it. it’s hard to tell really.

So now I have recently joined since last year, I have joined keep fit, [Fitness Club]. it’s a gym. I only go there and do walking. And do some cross training. And that’s two I can do. I can’t do much more than that. I would like to do some weight training. But the trainers, they, they don’t know themselves sometimes what I can do and what I can’t do. So I try to take some sort of advice from them. Or I ask my doctor, mostly I ask my doctor. And I tell him that I have joined the gym now. And I’m doing this and I’m doing that.

And because last year when I could not even hold even a glass or mug, coffee mug. My hands were so weak I could not even the glass of coffee mug. Since then my daughter told me that I should do some weight training. So I started with like ten grams, twenty grams, those weight training. And I do that even at home. And I, it helps me a lot.

And how often do you those?

Practically every day when I’m sitting and watching television. But when I go to gym I started doing weight training with them, I had to come out of it because I started getting headaches. And those headaches are either from due to the work related as well as weight, I’m not sure. That I’m working on it now to find out whether it’s, what is the reason. Because I had a change of my desk at work and I started weight training. There were two things together. So it is very difficult for me to pinpoint. To find out exactly what is the cause.

If there are some treatments then good, they should tell us. And even if I go to the gym now I’m doing trial and error, I don’t know what to do at the moment. There should be some medically, who can tell us exactly how, what sort of exercise I should do. So that I don’t get headaches. If I do too heavy things then I get problem with the head, these headaches. I don’t know whether headache is because of that or headache is because of the work-related, I have to identify that myself.So somebody should be there to guide me.

And your neck exercise for how long?

I do probably about ten, ten for each one and I do this one twice, bringing this back with a double chin. I’ve also got a tennis ball in a sock which I stand against the wall and rub that up and down. it’s on a sock so I don’t lose the ball [laughs]. And that I rub up and down the spine. I also stand against the wall and bring my hands right up so that I’m flat against the wall. I wasn’t flat to start with but I’m more flat now. I can bring my arms up, it jolly well hurts, but it aches to start with, and I hold that for ten seconds. And they are all the exercises from the physio for people with osteoporosis and neck I’ve also got the book. I have written to the society and I have got the osteoporosis exercise book which is good. And I can let you see that. I think that costs about four pounds. So I actually got that.

So there is a book that people can buy?

There is a book and I’ll show you that. You can have a look at that. And it’s got all the exercises in it, the ones that aren’t good are the bending forward ones because you can hurt your back if you’ve got it quite badly in the spine. I think that’s not good for it.

I dance. I do an awful lot of dancing. Three times a week we dance. So, yes, we dance and that is brilliant, the dancing we do, for osteoporosis.

What are you doing?

Well, we started out as line dancers, American line dancers. We do the couples now and that they say, the pounding of the floor is excellent for it. And we probably do it three times a week. My husband does it so we do couples dancing. But line dancing if you are on your own is excellent. And I think they do advocate that, they mention it in their book how good dancing is.

(Text altered in accordance to Jenny’s wishes.)

So I do Pilates and stuff. And, and so when the teacher goes, Has anyone got any health problems I actually don’t say now, because it’s, they, I know that I know it better than what they do, as I know what I can do and what I can’t do. But I knew, if I knew that I did that every week of my life that I’d get more flexible, which I’m not getting any more flexible, then you know that you could do something that was like long term going to help you.

I can’t usually do much but Pilates is good because it, it’s supposed to increase your core strength. And because I know mine’s very weak, so I work at probably a third of the level or everyone, and I brace with every movement that I do anyhow, generally, but I can’t, like my knees won’t bend any more so I can’t do any positions with a bent knee. I look a bit kind of ridiculous. And then anything to with sit up, which is the, using the whole stomach muscles that have never worked since I had a baby, I know that’s always, there’s a bit in my head that goes, I wonder what’s going to happen with my back And then if I try to forget about it, then it works better. But I predominantly have like a fear, of trust in my body again.

Because I can’t go back to where I was. And I know I will do eventually but I can’t, like I can’t describe the pain and I can’t go back. And so I’m terrified of going back. And so, as, I probably clam up in doctors’ surgeries because if they mention it because I think that, Have you got any idea[laughs] what the pain level is And so I think the whole being relaxed with your body’s finished really. And so although I want to go running round the park I can’t actually go running round the park. And I can visualise myself running around the park and then I, and then I realise who I am and I’ve put on a lot of weight because I’m more sedentary.

And so when, also I’m told by consultants that I have to start to be more active now, I sort of think, How, how do I do that? How do I know what’s good pain and bad pain when whatever I do, if I do any exercise, if I do Pilates, it, usually the day after I can’t even move And so if I’m doing that every week and yet I’m still the same.

And I know a lot of it is mental, but I, if you ask a consultant will I not fracture if I fall down, they can’t say, No, you won’t Because they can’t say that. And I know that I can’t fall down. I can’t go back. And so you’re held in this limbo of trying to maintain the quality of life you’ve got right now. Even though it might be quite, not as good as it was six years ago. But if I push it, do I lose it again? And I’m quite sure if there’s a psychologist in the room and they’ll be going, Oh no, she needs to push it But when you’ve got it weighed up with memory of pain you just think, Oh no, I don’t think so [laughs] So I’m a bit trapped by it really.