We’ve all been sick at some point and have felt the effects of laying in bed recovering. Typically we bounce back after a few days. What happens when that downtime is longer? A hospital stay of multiple days can drastically change the scenario. Only spending a few days in bed can create significant changes to strength and function. It can take two weeks or more to recover from just three days of bed rest in a hospital. Age and type of illness also have a factor in determining the effects that bed rest can have and can prolong the recovery time. That’s a decent amount of downtime that might require extra help once discharged. For some people, a stay in short term rtrehabilitation might be appropriate. For others, having extra help at home might be the answer. This all affects quality of life and money spent.
Wouldn’t it be nice to reduce that amount of downtime? To bounce back quicker? Consider your current level of physical ability. Is it easy for you to get up and get moving? Are you able to drive, shop, perform household duties without difficulty? Do you have extra energy and attend social events regularly? Or are your movements slower and do you need a cane or walker for extra support when walking? Maybe you need the help of another person to leave the house as your tire quickly and feel winded. Now think if you had a hospital stay for multiple days requiring significant bed rest for any reason. If you started off with a higher functional status to begin with, you wouldn’t have as significant a drop in strength and function after your stay. Yes, there would still be a recovery period, but it would be shorter as your decline wouldn’t be as severe when compared to the individual that started off weaker. Each person has their own particular scenario where they begin and how they would rather be. Everyone has the potential to become stronger in whatever state they are in. Words spoken by Benjamin Franklin, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”, come to mind in this scenario. Building up your “strength bank” now, before any illness scenario, can help you recover quicker when the time does happen.
Focusing on your overall mobility with training to improve your balance and strength now can only help improve your day to day activities. Improvement in your overall leg strength can help keep you walking daily. It can make sure that when you sit down on that chair that is just a bit too low, that you can get back up! Good strength can give you the freedom to do those things you want to do, without relying on other people. Core strength, balance, and overall endurance fitness are also components of mobility that need attention. Your core, the center of you in more ways than one, holds everything together. Without proper strength in that area that centers around your spine and abdomen all other aspects of movement start to fall apart. Working your heart and lungs
with some cardio for endurance is also necessary to prevent decline. You want to be able to meet those oxygen demands when you’re active. Focusing on all these areas of mobility will help increase your “strength bank”. Improve your strength and enjoy the benefits now while working on preventing a huge decline when illness or injury does occur.
If you feel that your “strength bank” is lacking and you’d like to improve your physical status to prevent decline or even to build back up if you recently had an illness or injury we’d love to help you. There’s no time like the present to get started.