Too much tension held in the bladder area (stomach) because of a vague suspicion that it may help a sensitive bladder.
A lack of sensation
This is a classic symptom of MS but there are some things that can help. Improving the circulation in the legs by giving up smoking, not sitting with the legs crossed or even too tightly together (and care needs to be taken with wheelchair seating in this case) and putting up your feet whenever you can will all help.
Keeping the hip joints (and they are ball and socket joints so are supposed to rotate) mobile will also help and yoga offers several ways of doing this. To start the process of loosening the hips simply lie or sit with the legs straight out in front of you and slightly apart and slowly move first one foot from side to side like a windscreen wiper and then the other. Do not try to lock the knees out during this movement ? you are using the motion of your feet to rotate into the hip so what your knees are doing is unimportant.
Sensation difficulties also seem to respond well to lying on the floor or a bed with the feet and lower legs supported on a chair or footstool. The legs need to be bent with the knees almost over the hips and then just relax ? this also eases out tension in the lower back and many PwMS report fewer spasms after using this technique (photo to follow). Care needs to be taken when lowering the legs back down ? please do it one at a time as it is much kinder to your back. Ideally, you will ask someone to remove the chair for you and you will take a moment to relax before moving back into your normal routine.
A feeling of dizziness (vertigo) 
Although vertigo is a well known symptom of MS it is important to rule out other possible causes such as incorrect glasses (or the need for glasses), a build up of ear-wax and high or low blood pressure. Too much tension in the upper back, shoulders and neck can also contribute as the tension build up in the muscles can interfere with blood circulation (see below).
There are some drugs that may help if vertigo becomes a real problem and lasts for days rather than hours and it is worth pursuing the subject with your GP and, if he/she proves unhelpful, your neurologist or even an MS Nurse.
Deep relaxation combined with breathing exercises is known to help and there are various audio and video tapes available for practice at home (including mine).
Moving slowly especially when standing and first moving will help to ensure that you do not fall. Take care to stand up, take a moment to steady yourself and then move away from the chair (remember a phone ringing is NOT a reason to suddenly rush).
The technique of lying with the legs on a chair (as described in item 1) may also help but great care needs to be taken not to suddenly sit up ? take a few minutes just relaxing and then start to move gently and slowly.
A foot that droops
Most of us spend a great deal of time sitting (and this starts as we go to secondary school) and many ladies wear built up or high heeled shoes. Over time this allows the tendon in the back of the leg to shorten and the result is a foot that droops increasing the possibility of you tripping over it and, at the other end of the tendon, a tail-bone (coccyx) and pelvis that tilts backwards causing lower back ache.
Some people with MS find that an ankle brace can help (sometimes supplied to be worn just when resting) and there are numerous yoga moves and stretches that can be of great benefit. One such move is described in the section on simple exercises and another simple stretch for this particular area can be done whilst waiting for a kettle to boil by putting your hands onto the kitchen worktop, moving your legs and feet about 2ft back and hip width apart and slowly raising onto the balls of the foot and lowering back down again. Care needs to be taken not to overstretch.
Hips that sag
This problem is not directly caused by MS but rather the effect MS has on the way you use the body. As discussed in item 3, we spend a great deal of time seated and the tendon that runs from the knee up the front of the thigh to the hip is also allowed to shorten quite dramatically. The easiest way to correct this problem (and it also a very effective and quick way) is to lie on the tummy with the head resting comfortably and bend the knee so the foot raises up towards your seat. You will feel the stretch immediately. Slowly lower the leg back down and repeat 3 times and then compare how much flatter that hip feels compared with the other one. Repeat to the other side and if there is any difficulty raising the foot ask someone to place a chair there to support it (see photo of Paul from SE Cheshire Branch in the ?about yoga? section on this site). When you become comfortable with this move you can increase the stretch by gently pushing the hip into the floor as you breath in and releasing the push as you exhale.
Too much tension in the lower back and hips
It is very tempting to hold yourself very stiffly if you are worried about your balance but in reality this stiffness will add to your problems. Your walking will become jerky, there is a tendency to over-extend the knees pushing them too far back and causing pain in both the knees and hips and the rigidity will spread down the legs from the hips right down to the ankles, feet and toes. It will take time to correct this habit and yoga has many ways of helping to relax the lower back and abdomen but time and care need to be taken with this area in order not to cause more problems. A fairly simple move is to lie with the legs bent, apart and relaxed (this also helps to loosen up the hip joints) and to push the back of your waist into the floor or bed as you breath in and release it as you breath out. Each time you do this you will feel your legs relaxing slightly further apart as the tension that has built up in your abdomen slowly starts to release.
Too much tension in the upper back and shoulders
As in the previous exercise, it is tempting to hold yourself stiffly if you are worried about balance and to have your arms stiff and ready to grab something if you are wobbling but this tension will also add to your mobility difficulties. The tension will slowly build up and may lead to pain in the shoulders, headaches and will certainly interfere with the depth of your breathing as your chest muscles become tight. Sometimes this tension even spreads to the neck and jaw and some people even clench their teeth in their attempts to keep their balance. If nothing else, all this tension will badly affect the levels of fatigue The shoulders are another ball and socket joint system and were designed to rotate but we tend to keep our arms neatly in our laps, on desks and computers, on steering wheels and we rarely stretch the arms out sideways or above our heads.
Again, yoga has many ways of helping to correct this tension which becomes a habit if not corrected. A simple start to correcting this problem is to lie with the arms outstretched sideways at shoulder height (or as high as you can), take the right arm up to the ceiling and lower it across the body to try to reach the left arm or shoulder. Simply relax and breathe deeply into your right side for a few moments and then return the arm back to its starting position and compare the shoulder with the left one. You will also notice that you are breathing more deeply into the right side. Now repeat with the left arm. Repeat these moves 3 times on each side if you are up to it.
Too much tension held in the bladder area (stomach)
Multiple sclerosis is notorious for causing the bladder to play nasty little tricks on people. The messages to and from the brain become ?crackly? leading to feelings of urgency, fullness (when there is almost nothing there) or, worse still, no message until it is almost too late. As mentioned Before in these exercises, there is help readily available for this problem but there is still the temptation to hold a lot of tension around the sphincter muscles ?just in case?. This tension interferes with the free movement of your hips and legs and can also lead to backache and does nothing to help any bladder difficulties you may have.
The movement described in item 5 previously with the legs apart and the waist pushed back into the floor can help loosen a build-up of tension in the area and another rather odd movement is to lie on the bed or floor on your tummy and gently push the tummy into the floor as you breath in and relax as you breath out. This will feel slightly risky at first but I promise you that it is safe but it is a very useful move and very beneficial to your sphincter muscles. Squeezing the bladder muscles tight and then TOTALLY relaxing them gently will also help and will help you to learn to recognize when you are holding tension in that area.
