Dance pacemaker

I got my pm two weeks ago. I Belly Dance and am concerned about the upper body movements and if it would dislodge the leads. Has anyone done this after placement? My docs say I can go back to exercise (and dance) but I question how many of their patients have belly danced after surgery. Thoughts?

2 Comments

It takes a lot more

by Theknotguy - 2014-10-29 07:10:32

It takes a lot more than a belly dance to dislodge the PM or the leads.

I'm left handed, and was tossing the ball for the dogs before the leads had healed, pulled them. They really hurt so I had to quit tossing the ball for a while. Now, (a year out) I can throw the ball as hard as I want. No problems. So even though I pulled the leads and they hurt, I didn't pull them out.

I regularly move wood, up to and over 50 pounds - no problems. The leads have been fully incorporated by my body so even if I tug on them they don't hurt and they don't come loose.

You've got the 4 to 6 weeks of limited arm movement while the leads are incorporated. Don't lift your elbow above your shoulder on your PM side. Don't worry, you'll forget - it probably won't hurt you. Within that time frame you shouldn't lift anything over 8 to 10 pounds on the PM side. Don't worry, you'll forget - just don't make a habit of it. During the 4 to 6 week time period of limited arm movement you will want to keep your arm moving - just light exercise.

Hope you're able to perfect your dance movements.

it's fine!

by Tracey_E - 2014-10-30 10:10:35

As the others said, once you heal you can move any which way you want. I've taken belly dancing classes. I was very bad at it, but it was fun and great exercise and my pm survived it just fine. I'm a lot harder on the pm since I discovered Crossfit and barbells. Pm is surviving that just fine, too. Full contact sports and anything with a lot of heavy repetitive movements are the only things we need to avoid after the initial few weeks.

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But I think it will make me feel a lot better. My stamina to walk is already better, even right after surgery. They had me walk all around the floor before they would release me. I did so without being exhausted and winded the way I had been.