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.