Great Chair Exercises for Wheelchair Confined People
If you were a disabled person who is confined to a wheelchair, exercising and losing weight would always be an issue for you. Pain and the limitations brought by the confinement usually make it very difficult to do even a simple exercise and maintain good health. Fortunately, there are chair exercises that can be performed even while seated and are appropriate for the disabled. The wheelchair workouts can be adapted to suit the particular condition of each person.
Consult your Doctor
Before beginning your wheelchair exercise, or any exercise for that matter, it is essential that you discuss it with your doctor first. A medical practitioner would be in the best position to tell you what kind of diet or exercise is most suited for your condition and what kind of activities you should avoid.
It has also been suggested by the Arthritis Foundation to discuss an exercise for disabled people with a physical therapist. A therapist would know the proper techniques and he can teach you how to perform the exercises properly in order to avoid injury to yourself.
Starting your Regimen
In starting your chair exercises, begin simply so that your body will have a chance to get use to the activity. There are several exercises that were designed to be performed by disabled people without the need to use special equipment’s. A good example would be play boxing. It is a good starting exercise for the disabled but be careful when snapping your elbow as you could easily injure yourself.
Other simple but effective starting chair exercises include leg kicks, seated jumping jacks and arm circles. Choose the workouts that you like and do each of them in sets with 20 repetitions each. At present, a new trend that is quickly being adopted by many disabled people is chair yoga. It is a variation of traditional yoga that allows disabled people to perform many of the simple exercises of yoga minus the strain.
Use Free Weights
To be able to improve the tone of your muscles, consider using free weights. There are various sizes that can be found on the market that range from one pound and above. For those that have difficulty holding heavy weights, there are equipments that come with a strap for the wrist and ankles. With the weight firmly attached to your arm or legs, you could do chair exercises with weights much easily.
Consider Exercise Bands
An exercise band is composed of an elastic band that has handles attached on both ends. The user can hold each handle firmly and pull against the resistance offered by the elastic band. With just an exercise band alone, a disabled person can perform different exercises. The band can be looped around the back of a chair and the handles pulled forward with the arms. The band can also be anchored by the fit while seated and pulled upwards.
Performed properly and regularly, chair exercises can improve the health of disabled people substantially over time. Being confined to a metal chair with oversized wheels can be annoying and discomforting. Without a regular activity to exercise the body, it is very easy not only to have poor health but also to lose all interests in life. Thus, it is important to maintain a regular exercise regimen together with the proper diet in order to keep the tone of the body and the sharpness of the mind.
Try to have a positive attitude. Have your physical therapist or doctor monitor your progress regularly so that you can be sure that the chair exercises you are performing will remain relevant over time.
More topics regarding disabled:
- What and how of wheelchair exercises
- 3 kinds of paraplegic exercises
- 4 ways weight loss
- Easy wheelchair workouts to keep you healthy and trim
- Getting the best from exercise for disabled people
- Great chair exercises for wheelchair confined people
- Great upper body exercises for disabled people
- Weight loss help for the disabled
- Weight management for people with disability