-
Do You Ever Exercise In Your Wheelchair?
I was wondering if any of you ever do any kind of physical exercise in your wheelchair, or even your bathroom seat. As I’ve talked about numerous times, I definitely prefer aquatic therapy. However, I do sometimes have my caregiver stretch my arms when I’m in my chair or on my bathroom seat. I also like to do my Vest sessions in the bathroom.
What about you all? Are there any particular exercises you like to do?
-
4 Replies
-
The main thing I do is have someone lift my arms above my head. Helps with my shoulder pain.
-
Yeah I do that too. It definitely helps loosen my muscles. Stretching my legs is more difficult on land, but they’re much more flexible when I’m in the pool.
-
-
I exercise every day in my wheelchair, with the exception of my aqua therapy day. Different things on different days, but including some of the following: light dumbbells in a variety of ways, exercise ball against wall and also on table and tall chair for stretching in different directions, kick ball bouncing against wall and squeezes between knees, therabands in a variety of ways, hand exercises with different devices (GripMaster, putty, and something called a Hand Power Pro), and a few other things. Another thing I do for stretching the shoulders is placing a transfer board on my lap and slide and roll my open hand from palm down to palm up as I move out and the opposite when I move in. Use a cane to stretch each arm by holding handle in one hand and the base in the other hand, and lift/push with other hand like I’m swinging a pendulum to different points of the clock. And I also have a shoulder pulley (one of those devices that hangs over a door and alternate arms as high as I can go in different angles.
I definitely understand how fortunate I am to be able to do this much activity and that not everyone can do this. If you have questions or want more details on any of this, let me know if I can help. To me, I’m a 40 or so year patient and have always done as much as possible, even as that has been with less weight over the years. I am interested to see if there will be differences using Spinraza. I haven’t noticed any differences outside of the pool, although I’ve just had my 4th loading dose on June 27th.
-
After I received my second loading dose of Spinraza, I began taking physical therapy with a certified physical therapist. The exercises that we do on a weekly basis are ones that I can do at home with either my caregiver or a friend.
I am a big proponent of physical therapy and physical exercise. Now that the majority of us are on therapy with Spinraza, we are receiving the protein that our body needs to not only sustain muscle, but also, it now has the ability to build muscle as well. The exercises that I do with my physical therapist are ones that I would like everyone to speak with their doctors and physical therapists about doing. DeAnn has a wonderful video where she shows how she goes through her occupational therapy. While my physical therapist and I work on some of the same exercises that DeAnn is doing, we also work out with resistance bands so that I can focus on my core muscles.
Log in to reply.