Braces
When I first came home from the nursing home and my whole left side was had braces on at my I had an afo brace for my ankle that any big area for brace for the ankle that went up past my knee cap on my left leg I also had to wear an afo brace and held my arm left arm in place around my shoulder and an afo brace on my hand I quickly discovered that the the brace on my ankle and and and leg was not helping the movement but but really making the movement rigid and stiff so instead of having flexibility in the foot it would it really wasn't helping the foot it was really making it extremely difficult to move I discussed taking this off with the physical therapist that was coming to my home at the time and he put me through a number of physical activities a hundred bed squats on the bed in a minute lunges 25 lunges with each leg calf raises dorsiflexion exercises and told me to take it off and let's go out and walk and we did I walked around the house felt I felt stable and he agreed for me not to wear it again I did the same thing with the shoulder however they hand because I have limited movement my fingers I still wear the hand brace at night for an hour at least but desperately trying to do as many exercises I can to get regenerate the neuron activity in my left fingers afo braces are a good thing when you first come out because it provides stability but at the same time it can inhibit your motion and flexion of your ankle and your foot for taking instead of taking the proper step you're almost limiting the motion of your leg before you take off anything discuss with your physical therapist your doctor your guardian and then work out a physical therapy regimen to keep you safe and sound inside your house and outside your house
Your bed a good training tool
When I woke up in the trauma center and the rehab Hasbro hospital I could not move in in the bed the nurses had to put the covers on me tuck me in I tried one time in the rehab hospital to roll over on my side but quickly discovered I could not roll back and had to call the nurse spell to come roll me back I'm onto my back physical therapy at home now the bed has a mattress have become a good training tool a great example now is I'm able to roll from my left side to my right side right side to my left side without with ease and effort and I am able to now sit up in bed and sit with good posture and not fall over which I couldn't do for years I've gradually increase this to being able to actually sit on my knees and in bed and and and sit up high and I found this to strengthen my hips and core another great exercise is bed squats standing up at beside your bed squatting down onto the mattress and standing back up and doing it again and again in the morning for morning workout another great exercise is when you wake up you push your legs towards your stomach and you do slides you slide your left leg out all by your right filed by both legs on the sheets back and forth again and again when the legs come up you do a hip rotation where you roll both your legs to your left and to your right again and again when the legs are up in the upright position you do what's called a clam formation where you spread your legs out and to each side and then back together working the groin muscles I do this at least 20 times another exercises to spread your legs straight out and flex your hands and at the same time push your your feet out we are flexing the dorsiflexion of your calf muscles bringing your toes pointing towards a wall and then curling your legs back again and flexing again and again another acts as a said is to move from that from a prone position to sitting choose a high kneeling on your legs and back and forth working your hips from there I'll actually move into a a partial push-up position doing partial push-up push-ups working the upper body and from their move as I noted earlier in the in the blog the foam rollers to the bed with the yoga stick doing full push-ups on the bed the bed is a great tool it's a great spotter you can't get hurt on it I don't recommend standing on it but I do recommend any activities you do you discuss with your physical therapist and your primary efficient position ahead of time
Mattress leg work
Some examples of leg work on the mattress your mattress is as ice noted before bed squats standing in an upright position good posture squatting down onto the mattress coming back up doing it again and again trying to do 20 30 reps two or three sets of good drill is to try to do 100 reps in one minute time another example of like work I like to do is sit on the mattress and do leg extensions with both legs alternating the legs but doing 20 30 reps with the left right and then together one or two sets followed by standing next to the bed and holding if I have to hold onto the desk or hold onto the bed and gently doing leg curls to work the hamstrings other exercises while sitting in bed all through slides I'll slide my feet from my from my torso out towards the
end of the bed one leg at a time and then both legs bringing my legs together I'll work into an open clamshell
we're all spread the legs open back and forth working the groin and then once together will do hip rotations
moving the leg side to side for 20 30 reps once that is done I'll move the leg straight out and do contract if you push that my feet out as far as I can and then bend them back working the calf and dorsiflexion of of the ankle joint another exercise I like to do is just to stand next to the bed and and try to I'll actually hold gently the mattress and do a lunge work with each shot which each leg 20-30 reps please check ahead of time with your physical therapist and your primary physician for all leg exercises
Mattress upper body
As I noted earlier in the block I like to eat work with a yoga stick and a 4 lb 5 lb single handle medicine ball I'll lay on my back and start doing a wide variety of bench presses into tricep extensions into a shoulder exercise shoulder press exercises I will also use the yoga stick for shoulder exercises as if I'm trying to bring both my arms in a shoulder press behind neck exercise this is giving me tremendous flexibility in the left arm which I could not even move when I came back from the rehab hospital after that I as a noted I will put two foam rollers together and then put the yoga stick on the foam rollers and do a wide variety of push ups full range of motion partial it doesn't matter close-grip wide grip single-arm I do a wide variety of push up exercises after that I'll sit up on my knees on the bed and lean over onto the foam roller and actually try to do push-ups bring in my head to the foam roller these are partial movements but they're moving Mike or staying stabilize my hips are getting stronger I'm getting a full range of movement with my upper body before doing any upper body exercises check ahead of time with your physical therapist
Mattress core work
Learning to sit high on the end of the bed and then gradually work your way to the center of the bed cross your legs sit high in on the mattress for for at least 30 seconds and do deep breathing exercises from their move your legs to wear your on your knees and you're kneeling high in your bed and it's it at sit down on your legs and then sit out back up this balance Exercise Works the full core area it's a great balance and stability exercise from there I actually will shift my legs one leg at a time or I'm doing a half kneel on the mattress again working the core stabilizing the whole area around the hips the ABS the obliques grade exercise half meals then I'll lay prone on the bed and start the rolls grab my left right arm grab my left hand and roll roll my weak side to the right side and then my right side the opposite my left hand pulling my right arm and my right hand would coming across my body rolling to the left side doing this 10 times each side great exercise for the core and great exercise for movement mobility and on the bed doing core work in the bed doesn't require the stability work a stability equipment but it does require but it does work and stabilize your whole core area you can sit on the phone rollers or stability pad on your mattress and just sit and do breathing exercises working the core area please check ahead of time with your physical therapist before doing any core work
Mattress stretching work
Stretching is a very important component of your your physical rehabilitation every morning I wake up with the yoga stick and single handle medicine ball and will do active Dynamic stretching exercises for 15-20 minutes work in the whole body upper body lower body core at night I will do static stretching exercises slow and hold stretches offer 15 to 30 seconds a hold per muscle part legs upper body core you need to get in the habit of stretching twice a day every day seven days a week it is very important in terms of physical therapy in terms of creating greater movement and motion with your walking and in preventing a lot of injuries please discuss all stretching regimens with your physical therapist ahead of time
Mattress primitive movements
What I mean by primitive movements is child baby like movements if you watch a young child you play some in a crib a playpen you'll see them try to crawl and then from cross it up and then from sitting up stand into Neil and then into a hot meal and then stand and for now I'm not suggesting that you fall but I am suggesting to you is trying to get on all fours your your two hands your legs in the on the mattress and just hold the position and then hold the position to a high Neil and then move try to move your all upper body and legs and sink it is very hard to do I found it very difficult but at the same time I was trying to create more movement in my hips and my core and my upper body in sink in terms of moving back and forth on the mattress another exercise is to lay on your back and then bring the affected leg towards your good side you're good so you're you're weak left leg towards your good right arm and try to bring them together and do the same thing with your right leg to left your week left arm again and again these are very Advanced movements they're based on primitive movements of studying young children moving in their cribs and playpens when we are suffering injury or stroke we have to regress backwards to go forward so try with the help of a physical therapist these movements on your mattress and they will make a difference in your movement and motion outside and inside check ahead of time before you do anything
I'm not talking about the latest craze in a gym or dance studio what I'm talkin about here is neurologist studying young children in a crib or in a playpen how they crawl how they move from a crawl to a sitting position to a kneeling position to high kneeling position and then from they are stand so it sits in a in a young child to move and unfortunately when we suffer a stroke or movement is curtailed and we have to regress back to when we were children in order to go forward I for example use the mattress I will get on all fours hit two hands to knees and and just sit in a crawl position and move around forward and backwards a woman getting my balance and then from there into a hiney hiney position sit down and then from there move on the bed left right and then lay flat and then from there bring my legs over my head and then from there use my weak side left side left leg to right side good side right arm and then right leg to my weak arm left arm and do this again and again and again now it sounds crazy but it there is there has been progress in my movement and walking so discuss this ahead of time with your physical therapist and give it a try you can also Google on the on the internet and you'll see primitive movements for stroke rehabilitation
