Exercise to keep you up - Revised April 20,2008 - Personal - http://maxpages.com/happymspage/Exercise_to_keep_you

The revision Sept 17,2007 The necesity for exercise is to keep
the rest of your body healthy.
April 20,2008 Being able to walk 25 or 50 feet is the usual measure for deciding you will have your wheelchair paid for by insurance ,particularly Medicare.
Actually most times with MS affected persons they will issue you a wheelchair even if you can make 100 to 200 feet with crutches.Its more on total massive exaustion we get that merits the issue of a wheelchair.I got an insurance issued scooter back 23+ years ago
and I could walk with crutches around the block,About 600 feet.

The person even in a wheelchair must think of body preservation.
Frequently the shock of slipping into a wheelchair because of
progression which none of us ever planned for is a trama!!
Don't let the trama shorten your life.It can easily.
A long time friend who has had polio and has needed a
wheelchair now over 41 years talks about wearing out so
many wheelchair as she can hardly remember how many she has owned.

But she is still wheeling and rolling.That is why they call them
survivers of polio!! She can be seen out daily in her chair,
Doing many things .Her smile is a true measure of her health.
To know her is to be put in wonder how she does all she can do.
She really gives all that know her a lift in their lives as to
how well the human spirit can fly.
There is exercises no matter what your degree of progression.
The experts are finding out we must keep the body at its best
shape no matter what the difficulties may be with it.

I have another web address where I get into exercise and a variety
of other MS problems see it at
http://forums.delphiforums.com/assistivedevices/start
The best exercise program I got at a place our local hospital calls
the "Wellness Center." Probably 80% of the people I saw there were
recovering from really severe disturbances or deformities.
When I first started there my walking had gotten so poor I couldn't
do more that just around the small home we lived in with crutches
and braces.
They met me ar the door as I was then in a wheelchair and very
dejected. They treated me psychologically, physically and with definate
kindness an dwith a interest level I was quickly impressed and know
something would happen here.The psychology part is where the therapist
said we probably will get you walking sooner that you expect.By walking
they ment more than just around the house.
In the end when I fished there as far as the insurance would pay I paid
for a secondary level of membership to come daily if I wanted and
continue the exercises they had started me off in their pool.
While I eventually got to the physical level that the wheelchair become
what I would call just about half the time and walking with better braces
become the other half.REt 4/20/2008

At the
end is a address of Catherine MacRae's
"GentleFittness" Be sure to see it .These
exercises are especially good for the SPMS
or PPMS persons without a swimming pool.

Revision April 15,2000 ---RET
Had you any doubts about the value of exercise for
yourself as a person affected with MS and you have
chosen the easy way out and are what is so offen a
"couch potato"
GET OFF THAT COUCH AND EXERCISE!!!!!! While
I had a set back in Sept.99 and an even worse one
in 95-6 Both of which it was predicted I would spend
The rest of my days in a wheelchair.Once again
I think that day has come(Sept-2000)While I'm not sad
about being back in the wheelchair It does have both
advantages and disadvantages. I will discuss these
further on an other page. But for exercise my doctor
insisted I get a new light weight wheelchair and
do some "wheeling" outdoors every day. I have strong
arms and he didn't want me having too much to do with
my scooter.So I'm out everyday doing the "wheeling"
for about an hour. I estimate the distances are now over
a mile.I have to admit I feel real good after I return home.
RET 12-14-2000

You can too.
I'm not the only one to pull these reverses of any more.
Although I still spend a few days just in a wheelchair
because I just can't seem to get out.
I still make it down to the pool where my magic takes
place.
Then like Popeye and his famous spinich revival my body
comes alive in the water.
I may have to crawl back into my wheelchair or scooter
when i get out of the pool but eventually after a few times
at the pool with my exercises I finally got back to crutches
and maybe a few times with a cane.
Persistance with exercise and the right image of myself
allowed me to succeed in converting my body to what I wanted.
Don'tyou remember the old ads of Charles Atlas and the 98
pound weakling?

Now I see the possibility of eventually not depending
on any assistive devices except for longer walking sessions.

Most people don't realize that the right kind of
exercise,done over a long enough time will do miracles.
Remember not all your nervesare damaged.
Therefore different muscles or should I say muscle fibers
are controled by nerves that can work for you.
These are the ones to train.
No you don't need a trainer,experiment with yourself and
find out what works
best. With "gentle Fitness" by Catherine MacRae

I'm aware that having MS
makes having
purposeful and meanful exercise as a
regular program is difficult to say the
least. Some might even think of exercise
as tandamout to punishing the body.
Americans in general, including the
able bodied folks talk a great physical
fitness program. Much expensive equiptment
is sold. But when we look at the statistics
and comments from foreign visitors we get
a different picture. The statistics are
saying most of us have gained too much
weight.The frequent foreign visitors say
that
there is more fat noticeable than they
remember from before in previous visits.
Why is this happening? The fattening
of Americans.The answer to me seems very
simple.
1. If we have a meeting, we always expect
refreshments
2.The TV is loaded with suggestions for
something to eat.Right now.
3.There are too many special occasions
where we eat more than we need.
4.There are too few occasions where we try
to cut back. We only eat"softly" when we
aren't feeling good.
We stopped have refreshments at our
local MS support group, and we heard about
it soon.
But getting back to exercise.You can
have too much exercise also, although most
of us never get there.Previously in the
article not on my page any more,the reasons
for exercise, but like a favorite writer I
frequently quote,Maxie Dunnam, in"Let Me Say
That Again" and that is just what I'm going
to do but in a new way.

Think of your body as a very complex
group of machines that are networked to
the total machine.Which really is the case.
Now think of some of the parts of the body
as not functioning as they used to do before
MS came along.Movement becomes difficult,very
difficult for some. If you allow the process
to continue, the break up of your body will
accelerate.In my 25 +years with this MS,
I have watched those younger than me go
down the tubes faster than they should. That
is the truth without proper circulation of
the blood one function after an other will
start to shut down. And you will get colds
and other ailments faster, you will age
faster, and die sooner.
Now I know better that most, that this
is now summer and it is easy to get over
heated out there.Especially in Florida.
But there are indoor things to do where
it is air cooled,or if you walk, get out
to the mall and do it.There are exercise
books
for those in wheelchairs. I've mention
them before.It was exercise more than any
thing that brought me out of full time
wheelchair use in 1996.
the trick is that in a warm climate
we do the exerciseing in the morning or
after the sun gets down, or indoors. But
then we come to my favorite type of
exercise swimming and aqutic exercises. In
the water you never get too hot, it is
the best cheap cooler known,water.The water
will do a great job of helping you to stand
easily and just walk in the water. I go up
to my neck in water and can walk like a
dancer on my toes. It's fun. For those in
wheelchairs,If there is any way to get in
do so, you will be amazed at your ability
in the pool. We have 2 or3 scooter users
that live in the community we live and I
frequently see them in the pool.
To me the exercise I get in the
community pool is about the second best
thing that I have ever decided to do. The
first was becoming a believer in the Lord.
Another good reason for an exercise
program for most of us is to help the kidneys
to function good and filter out all the
medications we must use.
Drink pleanty of water to assist in the
process especially this summer. You are a
wonderfully complex group of machines all
working together even still in spite of the
MS. RET 6-11-98
ps A fellow MSer, Catherine MacRae has a
excellent exercise tape, "Gentle Fitness"
her web site is www.gentlefitness.com/
catherine.html
her phone is 1-715-362-9260
the ordering phone is 1-800-566-7780
they are $19.47 for the video tape until
June20 (plus 4.80 UPS)

April 29,2005
I had a bet with a local woman.She was struggling along holding
on to her husband,and the other hand to her cane.She had accepted a very
limited life style with very little going any where.
I bet her if she wanted to become more independent of her husband ,especially
when he is at work or away for a business trip of a week She really has
downers and gets very depressed.Anti depression pills did little to
improve her out look. I suggested she first get a pair of Navigator
crutches similar to mine from www.Keenmobility.com
I said I would buy the crutches from her if she decided she was
not doing better and going more place on her own ,especially when her
husband was out of town.Had she not had an open mind about using the
special crutches,then I would have had a second pair of the same.She
would see me pass by her apartment in our downtown almost daily with my
"navigators" crutches. It wet her appitite to get out on her own.

Yes you guessed it she liked the crutches and felt more sure of her step
with them.now she is getting a lot more exercise daily without her husband.
Its a good thing too as her husband just recently had to have a 4 way by pass.
She now realizes she needs to get herself just a bit more independent.
I won the "bit after her first three weeks of using them(crutches)
She now does almost every day a slow walk of 1/2 mile or maybe sightly more
she says on very good days. Her weight problem is starting to go away.
what a difference.
RET

Just what the doctor ordered?

UPDATE:Jan.28,2001 Even if you are a total wheelchair user
you need exercise. Since my arms are still very strong my
doctor has extolled me to do wheeling for at least 30 minutes
every day. I do nearly all the time . I really enjoy it.
In the old days before MS I always enjoyed taking a walk.
Wheeling is no different except your feet don't touch the
ground.I measure my pulse rate about once a week.Mainly
to check if i'm doing enough. After I'm satisfied I have had
my work out, I then go down by the river to see if I
can spot any gators on the banks.No danger I'm looking
from on top a walk way some 15 feet above the banks.
Often I spot a couple fishermen along the river, especially
in the winter which is the best fishing season here in Florida.
On occassion I also throw in a line.

It is important with this disease that you get some
exercise, and do something all the time that you enjoy
It will make life a lot more bearable.I feel that my
life even with the restrictions on my mobility, I have a very
happy and enjoyable life style. RET

Naturally before you start any exercise
program , check with your doctor.
Between the two of you something can
be worked out. I found my doctor very
open to talking about the subject.
We both have a fairly good idea this
body can take.
I hope you do know your own limits.
Not all areas of your body have been
invaded by mS. There are muscles that
are unaffected by MS will waste away
if not used. We must keep the blood
flowing to the extremities, heart,
kidneys lungs and the glands .
Most of the difficulties that MS people
have can be traced to the shut down of
organs and glands that have not been
properly serviced with the circulation
of blood.Every cell has to get it's
nutrition.
For the want of a cell the tissue
was lost. For the want of a tissues ,
the organ was lost. For the want of the organ ,
the life was lost. Need I say any more ?
There are areas that become hard to
exercise and sometimes massage and passive
exercise might become necessary. I love

my Amigo scooter but it is not exercise.
Personally I can't take too much exercise
in a single day but I do what I can and
enjoy the Amigo the rest of the time
They have a nice web site at
http:www.myamigo.com
Those of you that can walk ,
even with assistive devices, try to
gently extend the distance. But start
with small goals. Try to get up to
15 minutes at least 3 times a week.
Your doctor or physical therapy person
can tell you what your heart rate target
should be for your age and condition.
Usually it is 50 to 60% of your resting pulse.

HAPPY EXERCISING!

A few vendors of exercise tricycles that move easy

If you are not into some exercise program, you should stop living inthe "Old Days".Get with it!
I have always found swimming my best exercise. having been with this disease now19 years, I'm aware that our capacity to exercise does deminish.I used to peddle to my swimming and then peddle back with my three wheeler. Now I have to do just one or the other not both. I have a " Joyrider three wheeler that has a small drive sprocket wheel up front where I apply the cranking. Then the rear cog that drives the wheels isn't too much smaller. In other words I can't go as fast as the regular three wheelers you might see. But this one designed by Trailmate is just for us that have very little power in the legs.
The maker is Trailmate, 2359 Trailmate Dr. Sarasota Fl.34243 Or their phone is 1-800-777-1034 They have newer models than mine that i have had for about 8 years. I am thinking of getting one of the three gear models.
Another that you might look into is RockNRollfun cycles.
They have a web site http://www.rocknrollcycles.com They have cycles for virtually every specialneed or age.the folks at RockNroll funmachines have a great product . Just the variety of seats is fantastic. There phone is 1-800-654-9664 their po box 1558 Leveland Tx.79336
A third one that you might try is Dennis Langkamp PO box 185 Oakcreek ,WI 53154-0185 or call him at 404-571-9351 sorry no web site that I know about.he builds THE MARIAGE tricycle it is 20 inches from the ground and puts the rider at a stable piont and it folds up .
I has come to my attention that i assume that every one can get out side all year long, but this Flordian assumed wrong. For you folks up North as we say,You need some indoors exercise. Check for exercise videos by Richard Simmons, he make a tape just for the disabled . If you can't find it , just e-mail me andI 'll put you intouch with them.

Some other video tapes and exercise books

The folks at the magazine called
"Accent On Living" carry some books and
video tapes. On by Lisa Erickson, called
" Lisa Erickson's Seated Aerobic Work Out"
for $29.95
Martha Rounds Had a tape of 20 minutes of
work out called"Anybody Can Sit And Be Fit"
for $19.95. The books ar
"Recreation & Sports" For $4.95 It has
photo to give it some idea of the vastness
you can select from. Also a little book that
I like Is Called
"How To Live LongerWith A Disability" for
$11.50 . I can't really be sure that these
are the same prices. I got them out of an
old copy about a year old But their
phone # is 1-800-787-8444. This is an
ordering number and they would be glad
to send you a catalog.

UpDATE 4-23-98 I just got the three
wheeler called Miami SUN . It come with
the gears as an extra, but I couldn't make
the old one go any more on little inclines.
Just another one of those MS things that
happen . Some times wish I had a motor,
but then I wouldn't get the exercise.
Richard

Eileen Lukeman and Richard Tanner

FL.

Eileen(Lobosgirl) and Richard (RET1000) both at aol.com

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Page Updated Wed May 7, 2008 9:45am EDT