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The process of working at bringing the body and mind back to health and fitness after
it has been compromised by illness-
Exercise.
If you have Multiple Sclerosis, or any disease that compromises muscle tone, you
have essentially two problems.
First, you have weak nerves; and second, because the
muscles don't get enough general use, you have weak muscles. The difficulty is that
YOU CANNOT TELL THE DIFFERENCE.
It is worth remembering that, although the nerves
are damaged, there is NOTHING wrong with the muscles. The fact that they do not work
well is only a "side-effect".
By the same logic, if your nerves were miracle-cured
tomorrow, you probably wouldn't notice much difference. You still couldn't stand
up, for example, because the muscles aren't ready for it. Therefore, because the
muscles aren't "damaged", it is important to
find some way of maintaining muscle tone.
With the exciting developments that are going on at the moment, eventually the nerves
will be fixed. It would be a shame if you then had to go on a long, intensive rehab
program because your muscles weren't ready for the liberation.
I have a subscription
to a local gym and although I cannot even use the same weights as a child it does
allow me to give my muscles some exercise. Just the effort of getting out of my wheelchair
and into a weight machine is as valuable as working the machine itself.
On top of
that, it is good to get out of the house and DO something.
A gym is a very good place
to exercise. Everybody there is trying to improve their condition, just as I am,
and as such they are very supportive.
I find that being physically cool makes a quantum
improvement in my gym performance. If I am not cool there is no point in going to
the gym because I can't do anything. To see if cooling would improve your success
with exercise, this effect can be easily tested by drinking an ice cold smoothie
or slushie immediately before working out. Unless you make a conscious effort to
do exercise of some sort, the tendency is to sit around and get weaker. There is
a lot of wisdom in that old adage: Use it or lose it!
Nick
By the same logic, if your nerves were miracle-
find some way of maintaining muscle tone. With the exciting developments that are going on at the moment, eventually the nerves will be fixed. It would be a shame if you then had to go on a long, intensive rehab program because your muscles weren't ready for the liberation.
I have a subscription to a local gym and although I cannot even use the same weights as a child it does allow me to give my muscles some exercise. Just the effort of getting out of my wheelchair and into a weight machine is as valuable as working the machine itself.
On top of that, it is good to get out of the house and DO something.
A gym is a very good place to exercise. Everybody there is trying to improve their condition, just as I am, and as such they are very supportive.
I find that being physically cool makes a quantum improvement in my gym performance. If I am not cool there is no point in going to the gym because I can't do anything. To see if cooling would improve your success with exercise, this effect can be easily tested by drinking an ice cold smoothie or slushie immediately before working out. Unless you make a conscious effort to do exercise of some sort, the tendency is to sit around and get weaker. There is a lot of wisdom in that old adage: Use it or lose it!
Background: Nick was diagnosed with MS in 1988 and has been wheelchair-bound for
approximately 7 years. He started ‘Aimspro’ treatment in November 2006 and improved
enough to resume his gym workouts in June 2007 after a 2-year hiatus.
Kathy.
Rehabilitation
Rehabilitation is a therapy designed to maximise ability that uses physiotherapy and often also occupational therapy. It isn’t a holiday and requires hard work and dedication. Having said that, I have experienced great humour and camaraderie.
At an early stage you will be involved in a goal planning meeting to set out what expectations there will be. Items of equipment used are tailored to your needs. There are so many I can only remember a few, for example, plinth, dumbells, treadmill and standing frame.
I have been in rehab four times, firstly when I had relapsing remitting MS when my legs were strengthened. Latterly, when I progressed to secondary progressive MS I was taught how to propel a wheelchair.
My last session involved a lot of trunk and stomach strengthening and I was able to sit up at the sink and wash my top half. Incidentally this would not of been possible without the treatment I now have.
My advice? Get as much rehab as you can by getting your GP to refer you a rehab unit. I am working on my abilities at home both alone and with the aid of one off the unit’s physio and a private physio. I’m hoping to go into rehab again for another working holiday.
Angie Garrett
The importance of exercise cannot be over emphasised -
- Muscles are the driving force that your body uses to propel itself by converting energy into motion.
- Muscle is incredibly sophisticated. They are long-
lasting, self- healing and grow stronger with use. - Muscle requires stimulation to maintain its tone.
There are three types of muscle in the body :
- Skeletal muscle -
Attaches to the skeleton and works in pairs, one muscle to move the bone in one direction and another to move it back the other way. These muscles usually contract voluntarily , meaning that you have to think about contracting them and your nervous system tells them to do so. They will do either a short, single contraction (twitch) or a long, sustained contraction (tetanus). - Smooth muscle -
Found in your digestive system, blood vessels, bladder, airways etc. Smooth muscle has the ability to stretch and maintain tension for long periods of time. It contracts involuntarily, meaning that you do not have to think about contracting it because your nervous system controls it automatically. For example, the stomach and intestines do their muscular work day and night, and, for the most part you are never aware of it. - Cardiac muscle -
Found only in the heart, its features are endurance and consistency. It will stretch in a limited manner, similar to smooth muscle, and contract with the force of skeletal muscle. It is a twitch muscle only and contracts involuntarily. - Muscles respond to stimulus, without use the muscle slowly become weaker.
Muscle wasting -
- Disuse atrophy -
Occurs from a lack of physical exercise. People with sedentary jobs, or medical conditions that limit movement, those with decreased activity levels can lose muscle tone and develop atrophy. This type of atrophy may be reversible with vigorous exercise, however the longer the period of time without exercise the more difficult it becomes to regain muscle tone.. - A more severe type of muscle atrophy is neurogenic atrophy which occurs when there is injury or disease to a nerve. This type of muscle atrophy usually occurs more suddenly than disuse atrophy.
- Even minor muscle atrophy may result in varied amounts of loss of mobility or power.
Common Causes
Some atrophy occurs normally with aging while disease causes may include:
- Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease)
- Diabetic neuropathy
- Guillain-
Barre syndrome - Multiple Sclerosis
- Muscular dystrophy
- Osteoarthritis
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Peripheral neuropathy
Other Pages
See also Whole Body Vibration Technology
Rehabilitation
