I have just begun some fairly intense stretching exercises. No bad reactions, so far. Should I anticipate trouble? Or should I just proceed and see what happens?
You'll no doubt get many more informed responses but from what I've read here from some very experienced people is yes - proceed with some caution. Apparently small muscle tears do not always repair as well when you have PMR and important not to really overdo anything and pace yourself. I do some stretching but try not to be too extreme especially when pred can make you feel that now 'anything is possible' - so it probably really depends what you mean by 'ambitious' !
Best wishes
I would continue I never changed my Normal activities lots of walking and exercise as I found the more movement the better it's when inactive that my joints got real bad some mornings could hardly get dressed was a real chore but still did my morning walks everyday.
stretching is good as long as your muscles are wormed up before. If you try to stretch cold muscle, it may cause damage and as you know pred does slow down any repair/recovery.
Beware the word, "intense." What we have leaned...many of us on this site...is that exercise is good and intense exercise is not. I am the poster child for what not to do. Again, like many, tried to maintain a full competitive athletic schedule. Ultimately brought me down. PMR is stronger than we are.
This PMR journey is a very personal one and what suits one person doesn't suit another! For what it's worth, I found even from the start, once I got going in the morning, pain eased a little and gentle movement helped me. Conversely, prolonged immobility was not good.
I have always loved exercising and PMR hit hard as I clearly wasn't able to do what I used to do - there were frequent tears! A year on with the PMR well under control with a low dose of Pred (and following the DSNS approach to tapering), I have managed to resume some level of exercise again attending Body Balance cases regularly (a combination of Tai Chi, Yoga and Pilates with no side effects) and I have recently started some more lively classes but taking it slowly.............if there are no side effects, Inwould suggest, keep going......just listen to your body, you will soon know if a line has been crossed!