Allegro’s Top Summer Products

Chillow Pillows - How about a pillow that keeps you cool but needs no electricity!?  We even have them for your pets… and your keyboard.  Chill out with two, at night.  Sleep nice and cool with one under the neck and one between the knees.  That’s what I do.  Get both in the Chillow Pak.

 Waterproof Cast Covers – Don’t let a cast, prosthesis, IV/PICC or ostomy spoil your water fun!  Bathe or swim with confidence with these completely waterproof covers.  All sizes.  Very highly rated.

See all Dry Pro Waterproof Products, including PICC or IV Line Protectors, Prosthesis Covers and Ostomy Covers.

Cocoons Sunglasses – The only sunglasses in the world that completely isolate your eyes from the elements.  Patented 360 degrees of advanced UV protection, available in a range of styles that can be worn over your prescription glasses or as conventional sunglasses.  And they look cool too!

Water Fitness - Get a high calorie burn and aerobic conditioning while in the water with these great water exercise products.  Water takes the impact out of exercise – a great benefit for those with knee pain, hip pain or weight problems.

See all Water Exercise Equipment for belts, webbed gloves, water dumbbells, underwater MP3Players, caps, goggles, noodles, aqua workout CDs and more.  We even have an Underwater Treadmill!

Sandals – We have summer sandals to fit any foot.   And they are cute, cute, cute.  The men’s sandals are extremely stylish too.  Do you wear a 14 wide?  Orthotics? Have foot pain? Diabetes?  We have shoes for you!  Drew, Aetrex, Apex.  Popular, well made shoes that are great for everyone’s feet and they are made to last.

See all Shoes and Insoles including athletic shoes, boots, socks, therapeutic shoes, Superfeet insoles, foot pads & heel cups.

Have a great summer!  Let us know if you need help finding something.  If we don’t have it on the site, we’ll see if we can get it.

For me, worry manifests itself in racing thoughts or “mind chatter”.  It happens at night, mostly, when I’m trying to sleep or early morning when I’m having lucid dreams.  It drives me crazy when I’m having a totally irrational dream and I keep having it over and over again.  It usually means I need to face the problem and deal with it.  But what do you do when you just can’t stop thinking about your situation or problem?   Here are a few things that work for me:

1.  Stretch and Breathe.  I know it may sound hokey, but I’m telling you it’s changed my life.  Get yourself a DVD – I have several but the one I started with is AM/PM Yoga for Beginners.   You can get this used (1998 VHS)  for under $2 bucks on Amazon.  You’ll can also get more updated versions as well as DVDs for stretches for bad backs, weight loss, abs, etc.  Do it every day and you’ll start feeling calmer, among other things.  Your mind will be on the exercises and not on your problems.  Many workouts include at least a few minutes of meditation and breathing exercises.  The morning yoga tape only takes 15 minutes and it’s a great way to start your day.  Need some gear?  Get a Yoga Starter Kit (my favorite) or see all of Allegro Medical’s Yoga Equipment.  Need something more concrete?  See 10 Products to Help you Relax.

2.  Get into nature.  Go outside and walk around.  Plant something or dig around in the dirt.  Go to the park and sit in the grass or swing on the swingset.  Get out of the city if you can.  Reconnecting with the earth does wonders for your psyche.

3.  Focus on things you can control.  Most of our worry is wasted on things we can’t control, or things that never come to fruition.  Read Managing Stress: Practical Advice from a Pro.  This article will also help you become a constructive problem solver.   

4.  Find your safe harbor.  I use this type of visualization when I’m having trouble sleeping because of racing thoughts or recurring dreams.  It’s all about having a place to visit, in your mind, whenever you want to relax.  It might be a warm beach, a field of flowers (that’s mine but I’ll share) or a sidewalk cafe in Paris.  Whatever.  Whenever you need to escape you just close your eyes and visualize it. 

5.  Meditate.  Okay, this may actually happen for some people.  You sit down and just be quiet and have a matra or you do breathing exercises, etc.  But unless I have someone making me do it, I don’t.  If this is you, I suggest you go to a class or listen to a tape or something while you’re doing it.  I’m all for it, I just never can get myself to stick with it.  Let me know how it works for you.

6.  Be nice.  Turning your focus to others ALWAYS makes you feel better and stops the mind chatter.  Go a step further and help out with a local charity.  Just find one that you fancy and call them to see if they need any help!  A few hours of doing nice things for other people can completely change the way you look at your situation.  Even simple acts of kindness or random acts of kindness make you feel better.  Start by saying something nice to the next person you see. 

Bonus:  When I can’t get a song out of my head, I break the cycle by singing a foreign tune.  Freres Jacques is a popular one, but anything foreign will do.

Ahhhhh…. Ommmmm….  Hmmmmm….

Reduce the risk of injuries, skip the low-back pain and soreness, increase blood flow, improve balance and relieve tension with some quick pre- and post-gardening stretches. The following routine only takes 2 minutes for the warm up and you can use the same stretches afterwards for your cool-down.

1. Neck. Stretch your neck by slowly moving your head from side to side, laying your head first toward one shoulder and then the other. Repeat a couple of times. Now move it front and back with your chin on your chest and then tipped back. Hold for a few seconds.

2. Back and Shoulders. Bend forward at the waist and let your hands hang toward your toes. Roll your shoulders back and around, as if you are shrugging. This elongates your spine and loosens your back. Stand up slowly and place your palms on the back of your pelvis and lean back from the waist. Drop your head back and hold it for a few seconds.

3. Trunk. Reach one arm across your chest. Twist that same direction. While you’re doing that, reach the other arm behind your back. Do this 3 or 4 times, switching arm positions. This works the trunk and opens the spine.

4. Upper torso. Hold your arms straight out at shoulder height. Make fists. Pull your arms back as if you were trying to touch your elbows in the back. Tighten your fists and then push your hands in front again. Roll your shoulders forward to stretch your upper back. Open your hands with your wrists flexing up and spread your fingers as you push forward. Do this several times.

5. Ankles & Lower Body. Lift your knee as high as you can and point your toes toward the ground as far as you can. Then extend your leg forward, with your leg straigh and flex your ankle up, with your toes facing the sky. This will loosen most of your leg.

6. Knees. I like to add a few deep squats and lunges just to get my knees extra warm. Use a rake or chair for balance. While I’m lunging I stretch and flex my fingers. This helps grip strength.

Continue your warm-up in the garden by starting slow. While you work, be mindful and thoughtful about how your body is positioned. Try not to twist a lot or stay in one position too long. Stand up at least every 10 minutes if you’re bent over or on your knees. Make sure you’re using ergonomic garden tools. Read Gardening Made Easy to see what I mean.

Save the heavy lifting for later – say, a half-hour into it. Make sure you’re good and warmed up before you start moving pots and bags of soil.

Drink plenty of water! Set a kitchen timer if you need to be reminded. Every 20 minutes take 5 big gulps.

A good cool-down is even more important than a good warm up. After gardening, don’t just sit down. Take 10 minutes or so and really stretch to keep that lactic acid from building up and making you sore later. Use the stretches above as a guide, but do them slower and longer.

Do you have a tip or a favorite stretch? Please share it!

I tell ya, these products are worth their weight in gold whether you’re a professional greenthumb or a weekend warrior. They’re especially awesome if you want to keep gardening, but your arthritis or other pain is stopping you.

Gardener’s Easy-Up Kneeler & Seat – My absolute favorite! Use the side handles to ease yourself up and down on the padded cushion and then flip over the whole thing and use it as a seat. Great for indoors too – you can kneel on it while giving the kids a bath or cleaning baseboards. Makes a GREAT gift. Mother’s Day is coming up!

Easi-Grip Add-On Handles- Pack of 2 – Convert your in-line garden tools into an ergonomic grip that will keep your hand and wrist at a natural angle. Reduce twisting, wrist strain, callouses, arm strain and back pain. They can even improve your grip on the rake, hoe, vacuum, golf trolley and other sports equipment. Eureka!

Long Reach Gardening Tools – Stainless steel, high quality. Get all 5 as a discounted set, or order the culitvator, fork, trowel, hoe or arm support cuff separately. The long handles let you reach further to the ground or further into the flower bed without bending. You can even sit down and garden! The ’soft-feel’ ergonomic handle keeps your hand and wrist in a natural position. Lightweight. Non-slip grip. Mighty hip, Skip!

Easi-Grip Gardening Set – These are like the long-handled ones above but they’re short. Same great ’soft feel’ non-slip ergonomic handle and high quality stainless steel. These tools will keep your wrist and hand in a stress-free position to avoid wrist strain and palm callouses. Tools are also sold separately.

Bionic Gardening Gloves – What am I, Jamie Austin? Okay, really, these things are neat and they’re top-grade, machine washable leather. Really, though, what makes them ‘bionic’ is the strategic padding and the fit of the glove. They keep your hands clean AND improve grip strength, reduce hand fatigue, and keep callouses at bay. Oh, and they make you look COOOL! If you want to weed all day, try the Extended Wear Bionic Gardening Gloves. Then you can come to my house and weed some more.

See All Gardening Gear.

So you see, with a little help you can garden at any age, with just about any disability. Get out there! But first, read this – Ready. . . Stretch . . . Garden!