If you’ve recently been injured, you don’t have to sit in your easy chair nursing a bowl of ice cream or mashed potatoes for comfort. You can stay fit and healthy even if you can’t do your normal workout. It may take some modifications or changing your fitness routine, but it’s possible. Get creative to overcome your limitations while you keep your goal in mind. Always listen to your healthcare professional before starting an exercise program to ensure you won’t exacerbate your condition.
Once you get the green light, identify things you can and can’t do.
If you’re in a complete body cast, finding what you can do is a challenge. Most injuries aren’t that dramatic. Usually, it’s the upper body, lower body, or weakness that leaves you bedridden. Those things don’t affect all muscle groups. If the injury is on the upper body on one side, you can still work the opposite side and your lower body. If you’re bedridden or can’t stand unaided, you can work your arms in many ways. Don’t shy away from exercising the uninjured arm or leg. Studies show that using exercises that elongate the muscle— eccentric exercises—benefits the other side as well. You’ll slow muscle loss on the injured side and maintain muscle mass on the uninjured side.
Are you bedridden?
Stretching exercises can be valuable for several reasons. It keeps your joints lubricated, increases circulation, works the muscles, and prevents muscle aches from laying too long. Besides stretching, you can do arm exercises, work on grip with a rubber ball, lightly flutter your legs, and keep moving. Arm exercises are possible in a wheelchair and bed.
Work on your upper body strength if your lower body is injured.
The reverse is also true. If you have a lower-body injury, it doesn’t prevent you from exercising your upper body. Do a modified leg lift with an uninjured leg from a wheelchair. Nothing stops you from doing bicep curls with an uninjured arm or seated curls with a leg injury. If your upper body is injured, taking walks, squats, and other lower body exercises keeps you toned.
- Swimming or pool exercises are excellent if you have an injury. The water keeps you more buoyant, so it’s low-impact. Use a cast cover or cast designed for use in the water.
- Focus on staying active and maintaining your fitness level. Don’t try to push yourself to the point it’s dangerous. Always do warm-up and cool-down exercises before you begin, even if the exercise is mild.
- Isometric exercises—contracting the muscles and holding—can be done without putting weight on an injured area. Some exercises aren’t safe for certain injuries. Choose your isometrics wisely.
- If you have a physical therapist, ask for help creating a workout plan to maintain your fitness level or tell them your workout strategy to see if there’s any way it can harm you. Always protect the injured area, but work the rest of your body.
For more information, contact us today at VIP Fitness Center