Hi all,
I'm happy to find this forum. I broke my neck in a diving accident at a young age. At 40 I still feel young. Years pass and life goes on. I use a power chair to give my life some independence. I was never supposed to be able to walk, at first I was completely paralyzed. But I slowly got movement back, but always dependent on a wheelchair. But I asked my therapists to stand me up, and from there I started struggling to take steps. Always mainly for therapy and when my practice was over back into the chair. Life goes on and years pass by. I've never stopped trying and never stopped believing. It's not easy to train / exercise from a wheelchair but I do as best I can even when I feel like quitting.
I strongly believe (know more than believe) that I still have the potential to be so much better if only I knew exactly the most effective exercises to train and strengthen each area of my body. For example, shoulders, arms, trunk, back, legs, hips. If I could just grasp the understanding of a few key strengthening exercises and movements for each area and their movements and do these key things properly and effectively every day or every other day, my progress would explode.
My obstacles are I struggle with understanding the basics and keys to anatomy and movements. And the things I do understand it is a great challenge to train from a wheelchair. I believe for core strengthening that I could improve greatly by being able to get on the floor and just try rolling side to side and trying to sit up and getting on my stomach. But, I can't get on or off the floor without assistance. I'm contemplating getting an electric winch put in my ceiling to help me start getting on the floor regularly.
Right now I do as much as I can trying not to neglect things but truthfully I don't know what I'm doing, just that doing something is better than nothing. But if things could just be simplified for me and I just knew the keys to training each area and movements, my training would be so much less burdensome. When I think about all that has to be done I get so overwhelmed, but if all I had to focus on were keys like okay if you want your shoulders / arms to move the way they were made to then these are the key handful of exercises that you need to perform at least this many times a week. And the same for all other areas.
For me it's not all about walking or getting rid of the wheelchair, but if that is possible why wouldn't I want to fight for that? But it's about using my potential and being as good as I can be. And I'm nowhere close to that.
Hopefully there's someone who understands what I'm saying even though I can not put it fully into words.
I thank you for listening and perhaps with your help and knowledge you will be a part of something great.
Sincerely,
Ian