My Favorite Exercise

The best exercises are the ones that just repeat an action you want to be able to do. The one I think is most useful is getting out of a chair. Nearly any chair that a person usually sits in will do. Have him stand up, get his balance and then sit back down. Repeat. There is no magic number to perform. Just do as many as he is able to do. It should not be painful and he should be able to stay in a standing position. He can only do this unsupervised if getting out of a chair is something he can already do on his own. When he does it 5, 10 or 20 times in a row, then it is an exercise! If he already requires your assistance then have him do it a few times in a row with your assistance. Give him cues to do more of it himself. Like "put your hands on the arms of the chair and help push yourself up." If he has his hands around your neck and you lift him up, you are only getting him more dependent and getting yourself a sore neck! If he has very painful knees then this is not a good exercise. Again, an exercise can safely pinch, pull or stretch, but it should not hurt. This exercise should be done at least 3 times a week and daily is better!

Staying Strong

The best advise I have is stay strong. I mean physically strong. You and the person you are caring for. Many times the only line between being home and moving to a nursing home is being able to get out of a chair. Once a person cannot get out of a chair/toilet/bed or whatever it may be then that person cannot be left alone. They will need 24 help. They become a very high fall risk. I have had several patients over the years that spent a significant amount of time on the toilet just because they could not get off of it. One person even spent the night there. Her legs were completely numb by morning and she had to be hospitalized.

This scenario is not just for those that live alone but is even for those with a full time caregiver. Many caregivers are physically unable to lift a person out of a chair multiple times a day. It might be an elderly spouse who has their own problems but is the best of the pair. It might be a son or daughter who has a bad back. The caregiver may be the one who provides everything from cooked meals to cleaning to socialization. But they cannot provide physical support. Then where do they go? Usually they are moved to an alternate arrangement and it's usually not the first or even second choice.

Stay strong! Simple exercises from a seated position like kicking a leg out or lifting a knee on a regular basis is enough to do the trick! Have the person you are caring for repeat it multiple times. A good way to do it is make a game out of it. If they watch a lot of TV then you can say every time a commercial comes on you have to kick you leg out until its over. When I mean a regular basis, I mean every day. Exercise is like taking vitamins. It doesn't do you much good to take it once in a while. When you do exercises it should feel like you have done something but it shouldn't hurt. My usual rule is it can feel like a pinch, pull or stretch, but it shouldn't hurt and it shouldn't last 5 minutes after doing the exercise.

I Wish Someone Had Told Me That!

This blog is in the development stage. I plan to have it up and running by the end of the year, so come back if you are not sure if this is a place for you!

My new blog " A Caregiver Needs To Know " is going to be about little tidbits of stuff from my experiences as a home physical therapist. As I say in the sidebar, I hear, "I Wish Someone Had Told Me That" all the time. I see myself more as a teacher than as a healer. I help people recover from major and minor illnesses, get back to their normal routine and be stronger than before. But I see that I spend more time teaching the patient and their caregivers than we exercise! Caregivers are provided so little information. Their Mom or Dad may have just had a stroke or a diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease and can no longer live alone. The parent moves in with the child and now the child becomes the parent. This new roll is hard enough. But then you have to deal with doctor appointments, medications, walkers, wheelchairs, catheters. You now have to buy those vanilla and chocolate shakes and disposable underpants. You think it couldn't get any harder, but then there is a fall, a broken hip, surgery, and new responsibilities. It can be too much sometimes. I hope that with this blog, I can give practical tips to make life a little easier. I would love for those that read the blog to share their own tips and to ask questions. I may not know the answer but I might be able to find out. I don't know how often I will post the tips but I will try my best to make it often enough to keep you interested! Please give me feedback so I can make this site helpful to everyone! Thanks!