Read Life on Wheels Online

Authors: Gary Karp

Tags: #Health & Fitness, #Physical Impairments, #Juvenile Nonfiction, #Health & Daily Living, #Medical, #Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, #Physiology, #Philosophy, #General

Life on Wheels (7 page)

BOOK: Life on Wheels
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We have formal support groups, but I think a lot of the best peer support is the informal stuff that happens at the aquatic classes, or in physical therapy, or in our waiting room! It gets to be a social thing, too. People make their appointments together so they can hang out with their friends while they do it.
One benefit of a specialized rehab center is the chance to share the experience with others who are facing the same challenges and process. This bonding is encouraged by rehab staff, who are often surprised by the deep friendships that develop. Friendships are also a source of some fun in rehab, particularly during an inpatient stay. This quadriplegic man was injured at the age of 14 in 1977:

 

I made some great friends. Most days after training classes, we would get together and party a little. Just off the corner of the rehab property was a place we called “The White House” where we would party in the front yard. A few times, in the fall when it started getting cold, we would build a small fire. During the cold months, we would sneak in some orange juice and rum and party in a friend’s dorm room.
Not all rehab centers allow people freedom to come and go from the property, but people have a way of finding places to meet. Bonnie Sims notes that Craig Hospital has a Friendship House where families, friends, and patients meet, away from the hospital atmosphere.
Physical Therapy

 

Our strength and mobility are the main concerns of physical therapists. The physical therapist will work with you in areas such as:

 

Exercising specific muscles and muscle groups
Stretching and range-of-motion exercises
Developing balance
Wheelchair skills
Transfer training
Bed mobility
Aquatics
Standing programs
For some people, gait training
As a wheelchair user, you will need a certain level of strength for many activities. For people with paraplegia or quadriplegia who have sufficient upper body function, your arms will take on much of the work that you used to do with your legs. Not only will you push a wheelchair, but you will also do “transfers”—lifting your body into and out of the wheelchair.
The strength you have will substantially influence how much you can do on your own, without assistance. A sufficient level of strength will allow you to perform daily functions with less fatigue, handling your body and the wheelchair with less exertion and strain.
Muscles and Stretching

 

Physical therapists know your anatomy and what muscles allow you to move or balance. Based on the nature of your disability and an evaluation, the therapist will know exactly what muscles you have control of, and will design exercises and use equipment to make the most of what you have.
Physical therapy is a precise process. To exercise a certain muscle in your arm, you need to apply resistance to that muscle in a particular direction in order to make it work and become stronger.
Each person and each condition involves some special need. Many wheelchair users will need to develop strength for pushing wheels and for pressure-relief pushups in their chair. Someone with quadriplegia might have control of only some muscles in the upper arm that can be strengthened enough to lift the forearm at the elbow. Someone with a traumatic brain injury and resultant cognitive difficulties needs to have a simply designed program that he can remember. Someone with a lower limb amputation will need a program for the residual limb, so that the muscles do not contract or get weak. (The muscles in the limb are not getting used for walking during the acute and rehab stages; if a prosthetic leg is to be fitted, it cannot happen until later so that healing of the socket can take place and swelling can be reduced.)
In rehab, you will need to do some serious stretching. Your muscles, tendons, and ligaments have a natural tendency to shorten when they are not used. The initial period after a traumatic injury is marked by very limited physical activity during which your tissues tighten up and become weak. You might not have been in great shape before the injury. The physical therapist will do stretching work with you, to soften up these tissues and increase the range of movement of your joints. Stretching is also part of the strength program. Elastic muscles that can travel a greater distance during a contraction are stronger.
Balance

 

Being immobilized for a period of recovery compromises your sense of balance. The physical therapist will help you recover and increase your sense of balance, strengthening the muscles that will help you achieve greater upper body stability. An activity as simple as playing catch with balls of various sizes is a common physical therapy technique for improving balance:

 

I remember how surprising it was to sit up in that bed for the first time in six weeks and find that I had to hold on to something to keep from falling over. My upper body was just dead weight. Sitting up was now foreign to my body. My center of balance was entirely different, given the loss of weight from muscle atrophy below the waist and from the fact that I no longer had the use of my legs to stabilize my upper body.
BOOK: Life on Wheels
8.41Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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