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Tuesday, April 06, 2004

New activities

Yesterday and today we have been picking up a few new activities. Yesterday our PT brought out one of those large rubber exercise balls. The activity was relatively simple, Linda had to sit on it. It's not as easy as it sounds. First, Linda's reflexes are impaired, so her balance correction isn't as fast as it used to be. Second, the PT is continually situating her to positions of imbalance so she has to work hard and correct herself. All together that spells a pretty difficult workout (probably even for regular people with good reflexes).


Today our OT introduced a couple of new things and an old thing. The old thing was laying with weight on her elbows. The people from Yoga will recognize the activity as a variation on "plank". To karate students it looks a bit like a front break fall. Many people watch television in this position. We rolled Linda onto her stomache and from there lifted her head and shoulders off the mat, and tucked her elbows under her. That's it. She just had to hold that for about 10 seconds.

The first time we did this exercise, it was so bad that Linda just cried. Today she did it three or four times for 10 seconds each. That's not to say she enjoyed it, but it's still improvement.


Our OT also took us to two new machines. The first is called a "hand bike", and it is like a bicycle pedal set on the table. You hold the pedals with your hands and run them round and round. Linda had a bit of trouble holding her right grip, but there are a pair of gloves to support that. Even on the minimum resistance it was difficult, but Linda was able to slowly rotate the gear. Her goal was 10 revolutions repeated several times. She did well enough that next time we'll probably just put some time on the clock and let her go.

The second machine was a tricep press, i.e. weight lifting. In this case it is really weight "pressing". You wheel the wheelchair between two handles that have a counterweight on the back. Then your press down over and over to exercise your arms. I didn't tell Linda, but I only had 3 pounds on it for her (although I don't know what the machine itself weighs). When she gets a bit stronger, I'll be able to let her know how far she has come.