building muscle in recovery

Over doing it, get's me in trouble all the time. After a long week of set backs, you wake up and feel fine. Then you start "feeling your oats" and do too much. However I am sure that I can do more than last year at this time. Glad you're seeing improvement Sam.

Yes, sam, you have some things “going for you” that others of us don’t. For me, standing up (even for a few minutes and with braces) would be something I would dream about afterwards.

His pain and discomfort levels vary a lot sam,.
Peter gets PIP which is a UK allowance for people with profound disability to help with associated costs - this mostly covers a couple of therapy sessions so he is lucky enough to get a physio and a hydro session most weeks. This is probably his best help with the pain associated with the stiffness from an incomplete cervical injury. He has a series of exercises which he does every day too and this also helps a lot. Currently he's getting hip pain associated with his arthritic hip (aggravated by his uneven gait) and is working hard on building up the muscles that support his hip - slow work but is helping. 
He also takes 40 mg of baclofen daily which helps (he lowers this when he can but finding getting lower than 40 hard!) He gets nerve pain too so takes pregabalin which he would prefer not to but has decided that for him it is a necessary evil.
The only other thing that often works for him sometimes is microwave pads in the winter or ice packs in the summer.
To summarise - stretching and medication mostly. Nothing unusual or clever I know. He isn't pain free but it is manageable mostly. We are always on the look out for new ideas to help him and this is one of the reasons I joined the forum. Peter isn't a big fan of online stuff - partly because he gets frustrated by poor hand co ordination which makes him very slow when typing. Partly because he just hates it (he declared email a work of the devil back when it started). So I pass on anything relevant to him.

Sorry not to be more helpful. We are continually experimenting with new ideas we read about - and some help in a small way and some really don't.  

And for me, sam, I look forward to the three hours of reduced pain that kratom gives. That’s when I find out how most people get to feel as just a normal part of their day.

its so weird because I have no idea why I wake every morning at 4am, since I go to bed at 10pm I always get at least 5 hrs but it still isn't enough. easy to fall asleep, just difficult to sleep past 4 am and stay asleep. ive never been a bunch of pillows type of guy, but ill try it.