Description of Exercises [For prologue to this section of The Mom & Me Journals dot Net, click here.]
As of 9/04/04:
As of 9/04/04:
- In Side Lift [ISL]: Standing, with weights; Holding arms at sides, weights parallel to floor, lift weights up along sides as high as possible while holding elbows as close to body as possible; lower weights to starting position.
- Kick It [KI]: Sitting, independent alternate leg reps; start with foot flat on floor, kick to touch trainer's hand with toes, return foot flat to floor.
- Lift Up [LU]: Standing, with weights; Holding weights above shoulders, elbows out to sides, weights parallel to floor, extend arms completely above head, return to starting position.
- Knee It [KNI]: Sitting, independent alternate leg reps; start with foot flat on floor, raise knee up to touch trainer's hand, return foot flat to floor.
- Forward Out 1 [FO1]: Standing, with weights; Holding weights to upper chest perpendicular to ground, elbows close to sides, extend arms straight out, return to starting position.
- Separate Demitoe Sitting [SDS]: Sitting, independent alternate leg reps; start with foot flat on floor, raise heel until foot is resting on ball and toes, return to starting position.
- Forward Out 2 [FO2]: Standing, with weights; Holding weights to upper chest parallel to ground, elbows perpendicular to body, extend arms straight out, return to starting position.
- Together Demitoe Sitting [TDS]: Sitting, both feet reps together; start with feet flat on floor, raise heels until feet are resting on balls and toes, return to starting position.
- Forward 2 Side [F2S]: Standing, with weights; Holding weights straight out in front at shoulder height perpendicular to ground, open arms out until they are perpendicular to front of body, return to starting position.
- Side Step Sitting [SSS]: Sitting, independent alternate leg reps; start with foot flat on floor, step smartly to side and back, lifting knee up and down with thigh action.
- Arm Circles [AC]: Sitting, with weights; Holding weights straight out to sides at shoulder height perpendicular to ground, circle arms forward for prescribed reps, then backward.
- Marching In Place [MIP]: Standing, holding on to back of chair with both hands for support; march in place smartly, lifting knees high. On 9/6/04, changed exercise so that she stands between two chair backs facing forward and supports self on either side.
- Forward Curls [FC]: Standing, with weights; Holding weights parallel to ground, arms close to sides, bend arm at elbow and raise weights to shoulders, keeping elbows close to sides.
- Separate Demitoe Standing [SDST]: Standing, holding on to back of chair with both hands for support, independent alternate leg reps; with foot flat on floor lift heel until foot is resting on ball and toes, lower foot flat to floor.
- Independent Arm Circles Right [IACR]: Standing perpendicular to chair back holding onto chair with left hand, without weights; with right arm hanging down at side, circle arm from shoulder and upper arm, forearm hanging loose and elbow slightly bent, around across body and face, up, then out to side and down.
- Together Demitoe Standing [TDST]: Standing, holding on to back of chair with both hands, both feet reps together; start with feet flat on floor, raise heels until feet are resting on balls and toes, return to starting position.
- Independent Arm Circles Left [IACL]: Standing perpendicular to chair back holding onto chair with right hand, without weights; with left arm hanging down at side, circle arm from shoulder and upper arm, forearm hanging loose and elbow slightly bent, around across body and face, up, then out to side and down.
- Side to Side [STS]: Standing, hands on hips, without weights; begin facing forward, twist torso to left, then to right, as far as you can go.
- Side Step Standing [SSST]: Standing, holding on to back of chair with both hands for support, independent alternate leg reps; start with foot flat on floor, step smartly to side and back, lifting knee up and down with thigh action.
- Back Drop [BD]: Standing or sitting, independent alternate arm reps, with weights; Turning arm out so palm faces away from body, grip top of weight between thumb and forefinger, lift a arm straight above head so weight is parallel to ground, keeping upper arm straight, bend elbow and lower weight behind head and neck and lift to starting position.
- Not So Grand Plie [NSGP]: Standing supporting self with arms between two chair backs, toes turned outward, feet about shoulder's length apart, bend just a touch at the knees, keeping back straight and buttocks held in, then rise.
- Standing Up/Sitting Down [SUSD]: That's right, standing up and sitting down, with coaching and support. Not surprisingly, she is currently having difficulty standing up and sitting down, so I decided we should practice this. She scoots to the edge of the chair, readies her muscles, braces herself with her hands on my very steady arms, I coach her to "lean forward from the hips" and she stands up, then sits down, while I coach her to "sit with control, don't plop yourself in the chair."
- Belly Grip [BG]: This is simply tightening the abdominal muscles, holding for a count of five and relaxing for a count of five. Performed standing up. It occurred to me that this might help strengthen her lower back and help her body "remember" how to stand correctly when using her walker so that she stands closer to it and pushes it with the momentum of her legs instead of with her arms.
Saturday, September 04, 2004
I am now Mom's physical therapist.
I've been doing this since she returned from the S(killed) N(ursing) F(acility). At least once almost every day, sometimes twice, she and I go through a series of upper and lower body exercises designed to develop and increase strength and flexibility. Most of the exercises I learned by sitting in on Mom's physical therapy sessions at the SNF. Some I've added or modified to address specific problems and/or address areas for which I think she might be ready.
The description of exercises above is permanent and will appear at the top of the page each time you visit this site. It will be modified as I add and/or modify exercises. The schedule she keeps each day will be posted much as I post her blood glucose and blood pressure readings, what she eats and comments about what I've chosen to give her at Mom's Daily Tests and Meds. This site is primarily for my reference and review, functioning in the review capacity as a chance for me to focus on what and how she's doing each day and what I might need to modify.
You may notice that my descriptions of the exercises clumsy. They certainly aren't professional descriptions. I wrote them on my own in an attempt to describe exactly what I have her do, including every movement and posture I think is important. For instance, regarding the Demitoe exercises, since she has trouble remembering to return her foot flat to the floor after each foot lift, I included this bit of instruction. As well, if you find yourself at all interested in perusing the daily charts and can't remember which exercise is which, click on the exercise name abbreviation and it will take you directly to the appropriate description above (I hope, anyway; there may be a few bugs I need to work out, but I should catch them within the first few reports).
A few description phrasing explanations are in order:
She was very attentive while I explained all this and worked even harder after I'd finished. Our exercise sessions include a lot of explaining. As well, I do all the exercises along with her, without support and standing, except those that require me to have her spot on me, such as kicking her foot up or lifting her knee from a sitting position.
There is one exercise that I added for two days and have already dropped because she isn't quite ready for it: The modified standing knee flex. After only a couple of reps her knees become iffy and she gets scared, so we'll wait on that one. I take the same position with all the exercises. The torso twist, for instance, is a new exercise as of today and has a very low number of reps because she began to sway after a few. If this continues over the next day or so that one may be dropped for awhile.
My intention with this section of my web effort on behalf of my mother and myself is that I will be filling in charts by hand, which I've already devised in a spreadsheet program, as we exercise, with exactly what we do in the order we do it and include comments on her specific difficulties or triumphs that day, which I will transfer over here. Today is the first day that I've filled in such a chart, and, considering the hour, I think I'll wait to transfer the data here until tomorrow. I have a fair amount of catching up to do throughout the site this weekend but hope to get it all done before the long weekend ends and other duties take priority. Thank the gods for holidays, miscellaneous and otherwise!
The description of exercises above is permanent and will appear at the top of the page each time you visit this site. It will be modified as I add and/or modify exercises. The schedule she keeps each day will be posted much as I post her blood glucose and blood pressure readings, what she eats and comments about what I've chosen to give her at Mom's Daily Tests and Meds. This site is primarily for my reference and review, functioning in the review capacity as a chance for me to focus on what and how she's doing each day and what I might need to modify.
You may notice that my descriptions of the exercises clumsy. They certainly aren't professional descriptions. I wrote them on my own in an attempt to describe exactly what I have her do, including every movement and posture I think is important. For instance, regarding the Demitoe exercises, since she has trouble remembering to return her foot flat to the floor after each foot lift, I included this bit of instruction. As well, if you find yourself at all interested in perusing the daily charts and can't remember which exercise is which, click on the exercise name abbreviation and it will take you directly to the appropriate description above (I hope, anyway; there may be a few bugs I need to work out, but I should catch them within the first few reports).
A few description phrasing explanations are in order:
- Independent Alternate Reps:
She does all reps on one side then all reps on the other. When we get to the place where she goes from side to side in the same set, I'll figure out another way to express this. At the moment, going from side to side throughout an exercise confuses her and causes her to lose her balance. - I spent a lot of letters indicating whether weights and body parts are to be perpendicular or parallel to the floor or her body. I may have gotten a few of these wrong. If so, bear with me, they will be corrected as I discover them.
- I will make every attempt to place the exercises in the order we do them in the daily charts; they are, as of this posting, placed in the Description section in the order we did them today.
- In most cases each set of independent reps is followed immediately by the matching, opposite set. There is one exception, though, at this time, the Independent Arm Circles. I have separated those because Mom is currently challenged in attempting to understand how to do this one, so I separate the sides with another exercise so that she isn't overwhelmed. Similarly, the alleviation of confusion and the preservation of physical balance is why I am not, at this time, alternating reps of certain exercises within one set.
- You will notice that I am alternating upper and lower body exercises. This is to work muscle resting periods into the sessions and to keep the movement going in order to develop her aerobic capabilities. The SNF did not do this; they incorporated rests into their sessions between exercises. As well, one of her exercises at the SNF was simply sitting and standing, over and over. She hated this exercise, even though it is necessary. Alternating sitting and standing exercises gets in a sufficient amount of sitting and standing practice without her being defensively aware of it as an exercise. As our therapy program continues, I may change this arrangement; if so, it will be apparent in the daily charts.
- She is, at this time, using oxygen when she exercises, usually 1.5L.
- When we began her sessions the day after she arrived home from the SNF she was doing almost all the upper body exercises sitting down. Throughout the last two weeks I've encouraged her to stand during these exercises in order to allow her to refine her arm movements so that the exercises can do their work. She has had little difficulty cooperating, although I have yet to have her stand during the arm circles performed with weights. This exercise, in particular, really throws her off balance in her chair, so I'm sure she isn't ready to perform this one standing. When we began, though, she tended to do the sitting ones pushed into the back of the chair. On her own she's begun to move herself forward toward the edge of the chair (if she hasn't agreed to stand during performance) and hold her back straight on her own. I am very encouraged by this.
- At this point the session takes an hour, usually exactly. Since her progress is slow but steady, I expect that I will be dropping some exercises as I include others and trying to keep the session to no more than an hour at a time. As she becomes more able to have two sessions a day, I will probably set up, from session to session, a sort of exercise cross training, to keep her from getting bored and to encourage the development of a variety of muscles and physical skills.
- Her concentration and focus is very good and increases daily. I am very encouraged by this. She takes her sessions very seriously and only lags when a particular muscle group or her aerobic capacities are momentarily spent. She has yet to ask to end a session early.
She was very attentive while I explained all this and worked even harder after I'd finished. Our exercise sessions include a lot of explaining. As well, I do all the exercises along with her, without support and standing, except those that require me to have her spot on me, such as kicking her foot up or lifting her knee from a sitting position.
There is one exercise that I added for two days and have already dropped because she isn't quite ready for it: The modified standing knee flex. After only a couple of reps her knees become iffy and she gets scared, so we'll wait on that one. I take the same position with all the exercises. The torso twist, for instance, is a new exercise as of today and has a very low number of reps because she began to sway after a few. If this continues over the next day or so that one may be dropped for awhile.
My intention with this section of my web effort on behalf of my mother and myself is that I will be filling in charts by hand, which I've already devised in a spreadsheet program, as we exercise, with exactly what we do in the order we do it and include comments on her specific difficulties or triumphs that day, which I will transfer over here. Today is the first day that I've filled in such a chart, and, considering the hour, I think I'll wait to transfer the data here until tomorrow. I have a fair amount of catching up to do throughout the site this weekend but hope to get it all done before the long weekend ends and other duties take priority. Thank the gods for holidays, miscellaneous and otherwise!