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Half the reason why I, unlike most of my family, didn't opt for a surgical specialization is because I hate standing for hours. It often involves having to hunch forwards too, so both my back and my legs end up absolutely aching by the time I'm done.
Well, I just started a job as a Simia custodialis, or humble Ward Monkey in an oncology department and my legs are fucking killing me. Standing around being useless while Consultants perform interminable ward rounds is absolutely my least favorite part of the profession.
It's so bad that I've been stealing paracetamol and chlorzoxazone tablets to help with the body ache, or I can't drag myself out of bed in the morning.
Anybody have any suggestions for how to tolerate it better? It's not like this is a new thing, I've always hated standing, and I've had to tolerate similar nonsense for years so it's not a matter of just losing the habit from lazing around for a few months. I semi-seriously conjecture that my body is akin to a chihuahua fed
humancanine growth hormone till it's the size of a St. Bernard, my poor spine can't take it.Miss me with walkable cities, I'm going to surgically remove my legs and put on a motorized rocket powered wheelchair as soon as the Science™ is there.
Many people just acclimate after a few weeks, but if you need help with that all the exercise oriented advice is good. You'll also see tons of discussion on /r/residency and /r/nursing about this topic. Many people benefit from compression socks and excellent shoes (2-3 pairs that you'll cycle through).
In the U.S. most surgery people will use upscale clogs (ex: Danksos and Calzuros) and they work great but you should be able to find some options that are in a regular sneaker form factor, just search on the medical subreddits.
Footwear makes a HUGE difference.
This who I think this is? If so, nice to see you around these parts.
I just started this job after several months of being a couch potato, but past experience suggests that I won't acclimatize, given that I worked for 6 months in similar conditions and still had my legs and back killing me.
I was thinking about compression socks or stockings, should probably get a pair for my dad while I'm at it.
Sigh, that's what I was afraid of, but I thought asking around for easier solutions was worth a shot. At least the paracetamol+cholorxozazone combination works wonders, and as far as I can tell the latter doesn't have any major risk associated with it.
If you stuck with it for awhile and still had problems you should look into the socks and shoes - they can make a huge difference. OR staff, nurses in general, and good podiatrists can all give you tips, otherwise I'd dig around on Reddit as this is a problem that pops up every late June/July.
Personally I swear by my Calzuros but Hokas and Ons are much trendier.
A solid piece of advice I've heard is that it's always worth investing in shit that's between you and the ground.
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I used to have a mild version of this. Weightlifting, or a leg-based cardio machine (stationary bike, rowing machine) will help a lot. It sounds like you might benefit from more comfortable shoes when you're working too.
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Ultimately, being on your feet for hours is not hard, but adjusting from being sedentary to a more normal level of activity will be painful.
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Any hypermobility going on? If there is, lift weights with good form. If not, maybe try something like yoga. Good luck. I hated my surgery rotations too; at least when you're rounding you get to stretch occasionally and walk around instead of standing in the same spot and position for hours.
I haven't noticed anything that could be described as hypermobility, far from it.
Working out and strengthening my back did help when I was regular with the gym, but it's annoying that I would have to do that when the typical person seems to manage just fine without it. I'm feeling very meh on hitting the gym again, I only really bothered when I was single, and I haven't been that for the better part of a decade.
It never helped with the standing at the very least.
Sucks to suck. I have that problem as well due to mild EDS plus a very mild herniated disc. Deadlifting was the best thing I ever did for my back. During the pandemic, I was stuck lifting literal heavy rocks in the woods because the gyms were closed. 95 percent of regular Joes didn't have to fuck around with heavy-ass rocks in the woods just to keep (minor) chronic pain at bay, but them's the breaks. A lot of people have bushleague bullshit like that that they deal with. You're a doctor, I'm a fourth year, not much that we can do here for this kind of thing.
P.S: You've seen incredibly driven Indian doctor types. Did they have not just exceptional work ethic but insane memories? I've seen guys memorize 100-slide powerpoint presentations and tell you what slide something came from, a week after watching the lecture. I've seen undergrads at no-name schools do entire labs from memory, reciting the lab manual word for word. Is that common where you are?
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My completely unhelpful comment is that I also suffer from a dislike of standing, even though I do a ton of running and have excellent leg, spine, and core strength. Going for an 8-mile run is completely chill, but standing still for 15 minutes sucks.
Well, it's better to suffer in company than all alone, so I'm glad to know it's not just me haha.
Time to see if I can find a free wheelchair, it's a hospital, how hard can it be?
Ain't nothing sadder than a healthy man wheeling himself around using his legs ;-)
there's probably some kind of low-grade problem going on here. not sure how much can be done.
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I'm sure you've seen me beating this drum before, but daily yoga my man. Train your awareness of muscles, and things will get much better. I've recovered from debilitating chronic pain to the point where I could barely walk or hold stuff.
It takes time but some sort of awareness-building exercise is the way.
You'd be surprised to know that I did do daily yoga guided by an instructor for years, but I don't recall it doing anything for me!
I think strength training might help with the back ache, if not the legs.
:O damn I stand corrected. Guess experience doesn't always generalize.
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