Exercises for Multiple Sclerosis
AquaFit
Many benefits are associated with water aquafit exercise. The buoyancy and resistance of water allows less-used muscles in your body to get a workout, which helps improve overall muscle tone. Aquafit classes also improve cardiovascular fitness, flexibility and coordination, and muscular strength and endurance. I try to go twice a week, classes are 45 minutes and I do the deep water class which is quite a workout, you are required to wear a life jacket belt which makes you float.
Reflexology/Physiotherapy
Effectiveness of Reflexology in MS
There have been a couple of small studies conducted on the use of reflexology to alleviate symptoms of MS. For example, one study was a randomized control trial involving 53 participants with MS. It showed significant improvement in sensory symptoms, urinary symptoms, and spasticity.
Physical therapy (PT) plays an important role in rehabilitation and conservation of functional abilities for a person with MS. Since MS affects individuals very differently, with disability progressing over time(Maybe? Left untreated, not suppressing symptoms like most Neurologists do, your not fooling anyone) the physical therapist is challenged to tailor a unique treatment plan for each person and adjust that plan as needed over the long term. Additionally, since MS affects various aspects of a person’s life and requires a unified team approach for successful management, the PT must be comfortable working with members of the care team, including other rehabilitation specialists as well as the individual patient’s family and friends.
Twin Stim
EMS stands for electronic muscle stimulation. These units are designed to provide relief by stimulating the muscles themselves. Electric Muscle Stimulation is used in therapy to treat swelling and inflammation that can put a strain on both the muscles themselves and their supporting joints.
DDP Yoga
Strengthen your core muscles. All with minimal joint impact! The main benefits are body fat loss, lean muscle growth, increased flexibility and improved cardio levels all without placing undue stress on the joints. Dynamic Resistance is what makes DDP Yoga so powerful and so unique. I guess you could call it my “secret sauce.” You don’t need weights, bands or gadgets; the only resistance equipment you need is your body, because dynamic resistance uses counteracting muscles to continuously resist your movement. In simple terms, it’s like flexing all of your muscles as you move from one position to another. Dynamic resistance increases your heart rate and gets you into your Fat Burning zone. It converts slow moving, easy activity into fat-blasting muscle toning that quickly builds a sexy, slender, strong body.
Sweat, Sweat, Sweat (Hand bike)
Mobility is sometimes an issue for many people with MS and riding a stationary bike is not possible in the beginning of your recovery, so it is wise to get a hand and be able to work up a sweat. Lance Armstrong I'm sure didn't hop on a bike and race in the tour de france, don't be discouraged if you can't go for long distances in the beginning.
An arm bike works your chest, shoulders, back, arms and core muscles without the use of free weights or weight machines. Instead of having to do a separate cardio and strength workout, you can get them both done simultaneously on the arm bike. This saves time at the gym without compromising your results.
Rebounding
Rebounding boosts lymphatic drainage and immune function, helps circulate oxygen throughout the body to increase energy, improves muscle tone and strength, helps improve balance, strengthens the cells of the body, improves cardiovascular function, helps improve the effectiveness of other exercise, builds physical ...
Parallel Walking Bars
Parallel bars are medical devices specifically used in physical and occupational rehabilitation therapy to assist individuals to re-learn to walk and for gait training, as well as to regain balance, strength, range of motion, and mobility.
Very Cost Effective
Foot Rocker
The foot rocker will stretch your calf, hamstrings and lower leg, which can reduce pain in those areas. Important things to remember when using any kind of foot stretcher:
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Only use it for a couple of minutes. Yes, literally 2-3 minutes. ...
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Never force anything. ...
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Use it at the end of your day, never before class. ...
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Always strengthen your feet in addition to stretching.
Leg Resistance Bands
Resistance bands are particularly useful for lower body workouts, including the legs and glutes, because they force you to move with better form and produce power from the right muscles.
Knowledge is Power
Knowledge is power “ is a famous proverb which states that a person with knowledge can outwit physical strength of any other person. Most of us lack the instructions as to how to wield the energy in the universe or even understand how it interacts with our environment and other living creatures.
A must. I highly, highly, highly recommend these modalities
Conclusion
I can show you the door, I can't make you walk through it (that's a metaphor) meaning I can tell you what I'm doing for my recovery, it might be a little different for you. Your laughing and well on your way if you work with a functional medicine doctor, I hope no one goes the conventional route when treating their autoimmune condition. The old paradigm of your condition getting worse (MS especially) and only going downhill couldn't be further from the truth, you can get better which will be the hill that I die on trying to explain to people. My one Aquafit instructor said "it must be hard" and I said "no its incredibly hard", I can't promise your journey will be easy but I can promise it will be worth it in the end. It takes time to recover your health, its not an overnight process, every journey begins with a single step, I know its probably a little overwhelming all the information but go at your own pace, it's not a race you know, you don't need to achieve everything right away, Rome wasn't built in a day. neither will you recover in a day. Don't give up, suffering, barely getting by isn't the end of your story. You know your body better than any doctor will be able to, do what you feel is right. Base hits wins you the ball game, not home runs, just keep that in mind, there wasn't one holy grail therapy that I use, all the modalities mentioned above all do their part and are all equally important, you CAN and WILL experience a healthy life but you have to understand what works to improve your health and equally important understand what doesn't so you can stop doing it, it's silly/stupid to keep doing something that makes you feel bad, you wouldn't order something off a menu that you didn't like, it's the same idea with doing something that makes you feel bad, STOP IT.
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You now have all you need for your recovery, I wish you all the best.
