Have you ever seen physical disabilities before? Indeed, physical disabilities are not unfamiliar in Hong Kong, even in the world. Among of these disabilities, people with paraplegia are the target group that I wanted to find out how physical fitness can help them to improve their quality of life. Since they need to confined to a wheelchair every day, they may meet many challenges in daily life such as up the ramp, get on the vehicles and go to toilet etc. To across the challenges, good physical fitness is necessary. Although some of paraplegic may have somebody to take care them such as family members, friends and care-giver, they may not need to find some way to meet the challenges immediately. However, they own their life, no one can take care them for a lifetime. Therefore, self-care is an importance task for them.
Paraplegia, which is caused by the damage to the spinal cord due to trauma or disease which results in either temporary or permanent loss of motor, sensory and autonomic functions which resulting in complete paralysis or partial paralysis of the lower half of the body.
Physical fitness is health-related fitness, which include five parts, which are muscle strength, muscle endurance, flexibility, cardiovascular fitness and body composition. Muscle strength is the maximum force that produce by the muscle. Muscle endurance is the ability of muscle to perform a certain of movement without fatigue. Flexibility is include range of motion, ability of soft tissue elongated and availability of joint movement. Cardiovascular fitness is the ability of cardiovascular system on performance a certain activity or gaseous exchange. Body composition is the relative percentage of lean mass to fatty tissue.
There have several advant...
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... of weight while sitting, trunk rotation, upper limb joint mobilization and muscle strengthening.
There are some precautions for paraplegic when doing exercises. First, avoid exercise alone. Your partner can assist you when you needed any help. Besides, wearing comfortable clothing for move freely in exercise. Moreover, do exercise in open area and clear all the obstacles to prevent accidents occur. Also, do warm up and cool down exercises before and after doing exercises respectively to prevent sport injury. Nevertheless, drink plenty of water after the exercises to prevent dehydrated.
In conclusion, people suffering from paraplegia is not the end of life. If they have good physical fitness, they can still push the wheelchair to go everywhere, play sports, do voluntary work and meet the challenges in activities of daily life. They will still have meaningful life.
Downing uses the strength from her competitive athlete days to help her learn to live with paralysis on her own terms. From an early age, the author became involved in sports, competing on the swim team, diving and gymnastics; however, in her early twenties cycling became her beloved sport of choice. During a conversation with her physical therapist, Downing quickly found out the hardest part of her injury is
A severely disabled person may have to deal with much pain in their lives, but
Fatigue, decreased mobility and impaired balance from the rheumatoid and osteoarthritis pain also increases the risk of falls (Stanmore et al., 2013). Age related changes such as sarcopenia causes muscle tone and strength to decrease, especially in the lower limbs and as a result, balance and gait become impaired (Culross, 2008). These factors significantly influence the risk of falls and also affect the ability to carry out daily activities therefore, with a physiotherapists assistance, the nurse could introduce a personalised exercise regime to enhance muscle tone and strength (Culross, 2008). According to Neuberger et al (1997), exercise lessens fatigue and improves muscle tone and balance in older people. Recommending an exercise programme for Mrs Jones that incorporates strength training exercises and aerobics, could potentially improve muscle tone and strength and as a result improve mobility, balance and lessen the risk of falls (Bird, Pittaway, Cuisick, Rattray & Ahuja, 2013). The nurse could also suggest safety precautions such as advising Mrs Jones to use a mobility aid (Gooberman-Hill & Ebrahim,
Treatment for Spinal Muscular Atrophy is currently unavailable to correct this condition. But a person can take other steps to try to help comfort the situation they are in but there is no stopping it. Physical therapy is important because it can help work the muscle to prevent contraction of them. Breathing machines are an important to have because a lot of trouble falls under the breathing when the weakness of these muscles occurs.
The case study for this assignment is scenario based on Lucy, a 20 year old with two years history of chronic lower back pain. Lucy has contributing factors including suffering from the female athlete triad which arose during her time as a gymnast. This assignment will look at the impact of Lucy’s health status using a bio psychosocial model, the coping strategies that she has used to manage her long term condition and ways she can develop effective skills and knowledge as well as other sources to manage her chronic pain.
I began to wonder where and how therapeutic riding originated. In my research I found that therapeutic riding was not taken seriously until Liz Hartel, a Danish rider who had paralysis from poliomyelitis, advanced to competitive riding. Despite the fact that Liz suffered from poliomyelitis, she “went on to win a silver medal in the Grand Prix Dressage competition at the 1952 Helsinki Olympic Games” (Young). After she won this great achievement, an interest around the world in the therapeutic effects of riding emerged; as a result, therapeutic riding programs were established and studies were initiated (Young). I think it is ironic how a person with a disability is so influential in helping other people with disabilities.
Not all people born with spina bifida have the same needs, so treatment will be different for each person. Some people have problems that are more serious than others. Therapeutic recreation services can be used to strengthen the upper body, help increase postural alignment, and prevent obesity. Excersizes like chair aerobics, strength training, swimming, and archery can help develop shoulder and arm strength. Aerobic activities such as swimming to control body weight and activities that require full range of motion (such as tossing a ball) can also be used to help people. Some may need to maintain upper body strength when a wheelchair is the primary method of getting around. Through play, sports and recreation experiences, TRSs encourages friendship development and social relationships. TRSs can assist young people to adapt to their means of mobility and the strength they need to maintain the ability to move on a daily basis. (Carter p. 204
Basically paralysis is a condition where there is either loss or impairment of voluntary muscular movement in our body because of some disturbances in the neuromuscular functions. In simple words, it’s our brain that commands each and every muscle of our body to make a movement or perform different tasks.
People have created a hectic and busy world, that includes careers and daily activities that require physical activity. While attempting to attain the required physical conditioning, people often take chances with their personal health as they try to stretch their physical limits. Sometimes, people can surpass their current limits and form new boundaries; however, other times people are not so fortunate. These unfortunate times often lead to injury, including workplace accidents, sporting incidents, disease afflictions, as well as others; any or all of which could bring about the need of rehabilitation services. Many of these require physical therapy, which includes assisting injured or otherwise impaired patients as they recover to their pre-injury status or to recover as much as is physically possible. The field of physical therapy is a choice career for those who enjoy helping people recover from injury, and the following text will provide reason for choosing this profession.
..., Ducker, T.B., ….. Young, W. (1997). International Standards for Neurological and Functional Classification of Spinal Cord Injury: International Medical Society of Paraplegia, 35, 266 – 274.
Throwing back a few years ago when I first decided to be an observer in a rehabilitation setting, I thought that physical therapy was nothing but magical which could change a disabled person who was unable to walk normally to a healthy walking person after a period of therapy. I used to believe that physical therapy can cure mostly all type of injuries and ailments. However, later on, I realized that it does not work that way. Remembering in a particular case, there is a patient who suffered the hemorrhagic stroke; she had to use the wheelchair all the time, her right hand is completely numb and she is not able to talk normally. After several months of arduous exercises with assisting of 2 physical therapists, she showed just a little of improvement in mobility and functioning. That patient could move in longer range compared to the first month, yet she was not able to bear weight without assistance. That case was significantly influenced my vision in this field. As a physical therapy student, the realistic expectation is critical. That student must be knowledgeable about what they can and can’t do and the limitation of this practice. Furthermore, another aspect of reality is understanding the own strength and weakness in a context of being a PT student. Being so overestimated about own abilities is a major
There are many other instances of disabilities or diseases that can cause disadvantages in life. Goering lists deafness and color-blindness, but I think that paralysis should also be included in thi...
“Where am I? How did I get here?” is what many stroke patients say after recovering from an acute or severe stroke. A stroke is also known as a cerebrovascular accident, a life-threatening event where the brain is deprived of adequate oxygen. A physical therapist’s duty is to provide assistance and education that will help patients rehabilitate and return to a normal routine. As of today, there is a new treatment called treadmill training with partial body weight support that facilitates recovery of a patient’s ability to walk sooner after a surgery. Is the expense for treadmill training with partial body weight support which includes expensive equipment and constant physical therapy supervision worth it if it decrease the amount of time it takes a person to get better? Is it ultimately more efficient than traditional physical therapy? My argument will state that treadmill training with partial body weight support is worth the expense and provides better techniques than traditional physical therapy.
Therapists gave much attention to functional outcomes for normal tasks. Activities of daily living (ADLs) were very important goals for amputee patients so that they could have as much control over their lives and independence as possible (Dillingham, T. R. (2002). . This had a profound effect on their mental healing as well as physical. The Fitzsimons General Hospital even had an unusual therapeutic intervention where the amputee patients would participate in skiing. Using special assistive equipment, over 100 amputee soldiers were able to ski (Dillingham, T. R. (2002) . This opened a door that not only grew the patients’ confidence but encouraged them to continue to push beyond their perceived boundaries and participate in aquatic and other leisure activities. This program dedicated treatment to more than just the physical healing, and focused on patient healing as a whole (Dillingham, T. R.
The first of the six dimensions is physical wellness, which is your body’s overall wellness. This includes the absence of illness and disease and your body’s fitness level. You have to make good, healthy choices to be physically well. Eating healthy, exercising, and seeing a doctor on a regular basis for check-ups are all conducive to physical wellness. Some good examples of people who have achieved physical wellness are; Lance Armstrong and the Venus and Serena Williams.