Movement is crucial for people who are ill. It does not matter if you are bedbound or not, movement can still be attained.

Here are two great quotes;

“…Insufficient oxygen means insufficient biological energy that can result in anything from mild fatigue to life threatening disease. The link between insufficient oxygen and disease has now been firmly established. The more oxygen we have in our system, the more energy we produce.”
Dr. W. Spencer Way: Journal of the American Association of Physicians

“…The large majority of those infectious microbes that cause us so much illness and pain are ANAEROBIC…a big word that means they live and proliferate best in environments where there is LITTLE OR NO OXYGEN”.
Ed McCabe: Oxygen Therapies: A New Way of Approaching Disease

There are books written about oxygen therapies and the benefits of oxygenating the body. Plain and simple, the body needs to be worked on a regular basis to maintain muscle tone and metabolize properly.

me·tab·o·lism (mĭ-tăb’ə-lĭz’əm) American Heritage Dictionaries at Answer.com

The chemical processes occurring within a living cell or organism that are necessary for the maintenance of life. In metabolism some substances are broken down to yield energy for vital processes while other substances, necessary for life, are synthesized.

The processing of a specific substance within the living body: water metabolism; iodine metabolism.

[From Greek metabole, change, from metaballein, to change : meta-, meta- + ballein, to throw.]

“I read the Exercise section on your website. I think it is very key. I don’t know where S.I. got this information, but he told me that it takes 3 days to regain the muscle tone that was lost in one day of being in bed. I know of parents that had Leukemia kids and they told me that they never did anything and never went out of the house, because of germs. Now that they are long past treatment, they wish they had gone out and done more things. Also, a good friend of mine was very ill (no cancer). She spent 3 days in bed and after the 3rd day took a shower and went to work. She said it was amazing how much better she felt just from getting up and moving. Before she went to work she started to get depressed and feeling worse.” D.I.

Our physical therapist gave us exercises for Kayla that she could do in bed. The difference in her after she had done 5 minutes of exercise was remarkable.

Here are specific exercises for patients who are bedridden. Note: if the patient cannot lift their leg the caregiver can lift the leg for the patient.  This still helps blood flow, prevents bed sores and improves the disposition.

We purchased weight balls at Wall-Mart for a nominal fee. These weighted balls were two pounds and five pounds. Start with the two-pound ball.

Note; if your muscles start to shake, this means they are fatigued and it is time to stop! Do not overdo it. Take your time, keep the motions slow and when you feel tired, stop!

CHEST AND ARMS. Lying down in bed, take the ball in your hands and slowly raise the ball over your head, then bring back up and over to your abdomen. We started with five repetitions and built up from there. If you can sit on the side of your bed, with legs hanging over the side and do the exercise from a sitting position this will provide more exercise. When sitting place the ball in your lap and raise the ball over your head until it is behind your head. This raises the torso and works most of the muscles in the upper body. Throw the ball to the floor. Repeat until the muscles are slightly fatigued.

LEG RAISES. Lay flat in bed. Slowly raise one leg, keeping it straight up so that the toes are towards the ceiling, hold and slowly bring back down. We started with ten repetitions. Do both legs.

NECK STRETCH. Remove pillow from behind your head. From your head resting flat on the bed lift your head and try to touch your chin to your chest. Kayla’s neck got very stiff from being bed ridden and it took some work to get motion back into her neck. Another stretch is to lie flat again, and this time move your head from side to side so that your face is aligned with your shoulder.

STOMACH CRUNCH. Lay flat in the bed and lift your knees so that your butt is on the bed and your feet are on the bed with your knees bent. Raise your arms in the same direction of your needs. Lift your torso towards your knees in small movements back and forth. These work your abdominal muscles.

SHOULDERS. Lie flat, and raise your shoulders towards your ears. You can do one shoulder at a time or both at the same time.

CALVES. Lie flat with legs straight. Flex your foot and point your toes outward as far as you can. Bring the toes back and try to have your toes now point toward your face. Start with ten and increase as you can. Do both feet. Cross your legs with your knees bent. You want one of your feet free in the air. Now make circular motions with your foot. Switch and do the other side.

LOWER BACK STRETCH. Lie in bed with no pillow. Place arms straight out from your body. Take your left leg, with knee bent and bring over to the right side of your body. The goal is to have the knee touch the right side of the bed. Bring the leg back to the original position and switch sides.

Kayla really resisted doing any exercise at first. She had been in bed for weeks and when it came time to move, she absolutely did not want to. It took some effort but when we got her moving, even if it was just for a few minutes, she became brighter, more animated and alive. This became a regular part of our daily routine and she slowly became stronger, until she graduated to the five -pound ball.

When the weather permits Kayla now swims everyday. I was able to put together exercise equipment pretty cheaply by going to a second hand sports store. I found very lightweight ankle weights that attach with Velcro. Because velcro will not work in water, I use shoe string to tie the ankle weights onto her ankles. She also has 2 pound hand weights that can be used in the pool. This was a very cheap solution as the water weights were costly. It worked great and she is regaining her muscle tone.

Exercise helps stop depression and forces the attention of the patient outward. This one action really improved Kayla’s outlook dramatically. Any person that is sick should move their body every day, even if they are bedridden! The benefits are scientifically proven.

Once out of bed, one can still do the exercises listed above and also incorporate walking everyday. Ideally, some resistance training is important due to the use of steroids in many therapies. Steroids are known to cause osteoporosis with long-term use or high doses. Resistance training with weights is scientifically proven to help build bone density.

Survival Story

I met a woman whose son had a very low chance of survival from his cancer.  His survival chances were less than 5%.  This young man was very athletic before diagnosis.  This man decided to exercise every day no matter how bad he felt.  His mother described to me her frail, skeletal, pale son, shuffling into the kitchen like an old man and announcing “I am going to work out.”  No matter how bad this man felt, he would go through his exercise routine as best as he could.  Much to the medical teams surprise, he recovered.  The doctor said it was due to the exercise that he made such a miraculous recovery.

Care Giver

The caregiver, wife, husband, parent, etc., of a patient, must, must, must exercise. Another parent told me that her therapist said, “exercise works better than any anti-depressant on the market!” My workouts help me so much through the daily stress of cancer. My workouts are also my time and I cannot fully put into words how much they have helped me face and handle the many hurdles that cancer brings with it. If you’re a fighter, you will start exercising so that you are physically and emotionally prepared for any skirmish cancer brings your way!

“Lack of activity destroys the good condition of every human being, while
movement and methodical physical exercise save it and preserve it.” Plato

Exercise Websites For ambulatory patients and caregivers:

www.shape.com has a great site with photo’s and details of the stretch.
This is a link to that page http://www.shape.com/workouts/routines/61?page=1

Healthy Exercise World seems to be a pretty comprehensive website.
Here is the link, http://www.healthyexerciseworld.com/index.html

www.amazon.com has many books available on stretching and exercise.

www.about.com has several articles in exercise.