The good news is exercise can help stroke survivors regain control of their body. I have done exercises for 17 years after my stroke. Pain motivates me to exercise. When I fell I broke a forearm bone (ulna) near my hemiplegic elbow which caused arthritis. This produces a sharp pain if I do not stretch. Before I get out of bed, I repeatedly bend and straighten this elbow and rotate this forearm. I also have a bad back that creates agony if I do not stretch every day. I get up in the morning to go to the bathroom and go back to bed to stretch my back while my muscles are still warm. Skipping 2 days makes me stiff and skipping 3 days produces pain.
Preventing fatigue also motivates me to exercise. A stroke can create crushing fatigue that I cannot push through. After 2 days of walking indoors I feel tired when I walk in the community. So at the end of each day I write that day's aerobic activity on a monthly calendar I keep on my kitchen table. At breakfast I can see if I sat at home the day before and plan the current day's aerobic activity. Examples include Fitbit data when I walk in my neighborhood and shopping that requires me to push a cart and repeatedly lift objects.
The bad news is I can no longer be trusted to do exercises that maintain strength. 1st, gradually losing strength does not raise red flags that compel me to act. 2nd, I have a life so I no longer want to organize my day around home exercises. However, I repeatedly do a few reps that do not disrupt the activity I am doing. It is hard to find an excuse for not doing these brief exercises.
Yep, incorporating exercises into things I already do (or have to do) is the only way I keep doing them long enough to become a habit.
ReplyDeleteI find a schedule works well for me. In the mornings, after a bathroom trip, I do my morning prayers and exercise, and at night, I do my exercises, say my nightly prayers and then go to bed. Every day starts and ends the same except when in the hospital.
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