Exercising
Submitted by My Garden Spot Blog
A few months ago, I found a couple of manual wheelchairs on Craig’s List. I needed something I could carry in my car, and the rheumatologist wanted me to take it easy on my knee after he’d given me some shots. Then, after he drained the left knee (shattering my composure completely, ’cause y’all, that HURT), he wanted me to be OFF that knee for a couple of days. Nooooo argument from me.
At the same time, my other doctors wanted (still want) me to be more physically active. While staying off my knee.
No, right now, I don’t belong to a gym. It’s something we’re thinking about, but some other bills have to be paid first. And then, there’s the whole: will we actually USE the gym thingie….
So, lately, rather than use my cart, I’ve been pulling out the wheelchair. It probably looks funny for me to be doing that, as it looks harder to load and unload than it really is. Most of heavy lifting is finesse anyway. No reason to use brute force when one can use pivot points and several small lifts, rather than one big one.
So, my upper body’s been getting a little workout. It’s been enough of a workout that I get tired (who’d a thunk feeling tired would feel so good?), and only a little sore. How many calories I’ve burned, or how much “cardio” I”ve accomplished is hard to calculate. They don’t make Polar watches that track what you do in a manual wheelchair.
I’ve noticed a few things about being in a wheelchair that are very different from being in a scooter. I’ve not quite digested them, but I’m working on how to write those differences up. It’s kinda interesting.
