Living in a wheelchair doesn’t have to be an impediment to exercise.
Regardless of the wheelchair you have, be it a light, electric, reclining wheelchair, among others, it is possible to strengthen the muscles with some specific exercises.
Doing sports daily generates multiple benefits for health in the short and long term, both mentally and physically.
Precisely wheelchair users are more likely to develop certain diseases related to sedentary lifestyle. This is why it is essential to find a way to exercise.
So we will tell you some exercises that can be done in a wheelchair , and thus be able to take care of your health to the fullest.
Tips for a good wheelchair training
Before explaining how to perform some exercises in a wheelchair, it is important to take into account the following characteristics:
Warm up and stretching
Like any other athlete, it is important to warm up before starting the exercises to tone the muscles and avoid injuries. Depending on the mobility of the person, you can warm up and stretch the arms or legs or even both.
Practicing stretching exercises helps reduce accumulated stress, pain, and muscle pressure.
Sport in the pool
Swimming is one of the most complete exercises , since all the muscles of the body are worked, cardiorespiratory capacity is improved in addition to flexibility.
Exercising in the pool has always been a sport option for mental and physical rehabilitation, due to the absence of gravity in the water.
Motivation and discipline
It is common that when we propose to start exercising, we start with great enthusiasm the first days, but these can decrease over time.
Therefore, it is important to maintain some guidelines so that those desire does not go away , such as, for example, thinking about the multiple benefits that are obtained with exercise, doing the exercises in company, or starting the practice with exercises that we like.
However, even if we are clear about the benefits, we will not always want to play sports. On days when we lack motivation, we will have to resort to discipline, which is easier to implement if a routine is maintained.
The good news is that many times, even though we are not motivated to play sports, while we are practicing it, motivation appears. And at the end of it, you will feel so good that you will appreciate having had that discipline to do it.
Once we are prepared and have these notions learned, we can start with the exercises that we are going to explain below.
Types of wheelchair exercises
Lateral push-ups
This exercise is very simple and short. Sitting with your back straight and your hips firm on the chair, extend your right arm toward the ceiling and bend your back to the left so that the arm touches your right ear.
This exercise will make your spine form a C shape. Repeat the same process with your left arm until it touches your left ear. Each side will be repeated between 5 and 10 times and the position will be held for about 10 seconds.
Arms stretch
As we have already mentioned, stretching is very important to reduce pain and muscle pressure. In addition, people who are seated in wheelchairs need to stretch their arms frequently, since most of the time they are the ones who push their own chair with their hands and arms.
To do a proper stretch, you must hold your left elbow with your right hand. Gently pull the elbow behind the head until an easy stretch is felt in the shoulder or the back of the arm. We will repeat this exercise for the other arm.
Knee raise
In the case of being able to do exercises with the legs, it is possible to do this type of exercise. Sit upright in the chair, contracting your abs and keeping your feet on the floor. Slowly lift one leg and bend your knee. Raise your leg as high as you can before putting your foot back on the ground.
Repeat this exercise with the other leg. Keep your leg up for 2 to 10 seconds and do 5 to 10 repetitions on each leg.
Strength exercises
These types of exercises help improve muscle tone , and there are multiple ways to practice them. For example, lifting weights with your arms. If you don’t have weights, you can use small water bottles, food jars, etc. even a good option would be a medicine ball.
But to improve muscle tone you can also do push-ups by placing your arms on the armrests and raising your body from the seat a few centimeters.
There are many exercises that can be done, you just have to have motivation and discipline, to be able to enjoy all the benefits that sport brings us.
