Wheelchair Exercises

Engaging in regular exercise is essential for maintaining health and well-being, even while using a wheelchair. The video I have provided below offers a comprehensive seated workout designed specifically for wheelchair users, focusing on building muscle, burning calories, and enhancing overall fitness.

Key Exercises Highlighted in My Video:

1. Arm Raises: Strengthen your shoulders and arms by lifting your arms straight overhead and lowering them back down. This movement can be enhanced by holding light weights or resistance bands.
2. Side Twists: Improve core flexibility and strength by sitting upright and gently twisting your torso to the left and right, holding each position briefly.
3. Seated Marches: Enhance lower body circulation and coordination by lifting each knee towards your chest alternately, simulating a marching motion.
4. Chest Stretch: Open up the chest muscles by extending your arms out to the sides and gently pushing them back, feeling a stretch across your chest.
5. Shoulder Shrugs: Relieve tension in the upper back and neck by lifting your shoulders towards your ears and then releasing them back down.

Incorporating these exercises into your routine can lead to improved strength, flexibility, and overall health. Always ensure you perform movements within your comfort zone and consult with a healthcare professional before starting any new exercise regimen.

For a visual demonstration and to follow along with the workout, you can watch the video below:

Why Should I Exercise?

Real Life Story

In 2018, Nikki Walsh’s life took a sudden turn when she woke up in a hospital bed, paralyzed from the chest down from a car accident. Despite her challenges, a new purpose emerged from her limited mobility.

Walsh, a 33-year-old certified personal trainer with a degree in kinesiology and exercise science from Penn State University, helps people in the wheelchair community, including herself, harness the power of fitness. 

A year after that near-deadly accident, Walsh decided to shift her focus from trying to walk again to rebuilding her overall strength, focusing on the muscles she uses most: her upper body and core. 

Nikki Walsh

She felt nervous about going to the gym solo, a barrier faced by many wheelchair users, she says, so she asked a friend and fellow personal trainer for support. Since then, “exercise has been my saving grace,” Walsh says. “I feel like myself again.” 

Stronger muscles can help you transfer in and out of your wheelchair. But exercising around people gives Walsh a sense of community and an outlet to ease stress and anxiety.  “When you’re just sitting around alone thinking about your disability, you’re way more likely to be in a down mood,” she says. 

Source; WebMD.com

Wheelchair Exercises by other authors.

Exercise books by people who are in a wheelchair have sadly been under appreciated, but here are a few you may want to look at.

“The Best Wheelchair Exercises for Total Fitness.“

“Zero Assistance resistance Training“

” Wheelchair Yoga“

These are all on Amazon and less than $15.00, so I hope they are affordable for you.

If I can help in any way in your fitness goals, please let me know,

I am upset there are so few available and would love to know more that are available. So, if you can provide any help in where people in wheelchairs can source more information, I would be very appreciative.

My Thoughts

I am not in a wheelchair, but I do have my own challenges after several operations and bowel cancer.

I would like us all to realize that we are all the same inside and want what is best. Both for us and others.

For some it is a lot more difficult and those that help have a special gift.

So please provide support to all of us who have some “extra needs” and we will love you all the more for that.

Other Posts

You may also want to look at my post on “Breathing for better health” that can help you on your health path.

Steve

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