I do a lot of things to keep myself physically fit. I lift light weights; I do crunches, planks,
and modified pushups; I walk; I ride a stationary bike. But most of all I swim. I’m lucky that my small community has a
large, well-equipped YMCA with a nice pool with three lanes always reserved for
lap swimming. I try to swim at least
three days a week, and I attribute much of my physical recovery to swimming.
There was a therapeutic pool at my inpatient rehab facility, but my therapists never suggested I use it. I attributed that to the fact that it would be more difficult, and time-consuming, for the therapists to have to get in and out of the water with their patients. It’s my personal belief, though, without any research to back it up, that exercising in water would greatly benefit all stroke survivors.
In my opinion we don’t respect water nearly enough. It’s where we came from, and mostly what we
are. When I swim I feel its resistance
that strengthens me, and its support that assists me. For sure, it can be dangerous, even deadly,
but if you don’t fight it, and instead respect it, it will respect you.
Near Lexington there is a rehab facility for injured
thoroughbred horses where, by use of a crane, sling and harness apparatus,
horses can swim in a circular pool.
Something like that would be greatly beneficial to stroke survivors, I
believe, but race horses are valuable in our society, while stroke survivors
seem much less so.
Ahhh Jim such lucky horses.
ReplyDeleteI actually was fortunate that my outpatient therapy had me going in the hospital pool with a qualified aquatic therapist as well as my PT. I too believe that the water has made all the difference in my recovery.
Great distance with your swimming!
Actually, looking back on it, I think I'm glad that my therapists didn't get me in the pool. I was in such bad shape that I think it probably would have scared me to death. By the time I was finished with inpatient and outpatient therapy I was ready to get in our pool by myself, even though it was slowly and carefully. Do you still do aquatic therapy? My wife does water Zumba, not for therapy, just for exercise.
ReplyDeleteInitially my therapists recommended aquatic therapy, but the only "nearby" facility the could recommend was almost an hour away, which was not practical to get to, even once a week. The place I found is very close by (15 minutes), and I heard about it from a woman I barely knew, but met at a party. 6 months after recommending my PT, the woman sent me the PT's business card and encouraged me to go.
ReplyDeletePreviously I had tried going in the Y pool with a friend, but always unsuccessfully: no one could figure out the right combo of flotation devices to keep my head above water. And walking in the shallow end didn't work because of my ankle rolling. So I stopped going.
The new PT, though, knew just what to do: she put a 2-pound weight on my ankle and I could suddenly control my leg. Once she added arm floats (everyone else had tried the waist floats, dumbbells and noodles) I could go in over my head. And it's helped me ever since.
Lately I've been doing a modified elementary backstroke for 1/8 mile, continuously and without flotation or the ankle weight. My max treading water float-less is 2 minutes; unfortunately, that hurts my "good" knee.
Sounds like you're doing great. I know that I'm luckier than the vast majority of survivors, because I have the ability to swim. Being able to engage in such a normal-feeling activity adds so much to my quality of life. I hope you can continue to make progress with it.
ReplyDelete