PT has been mostly the usual stuff, with emphasis on the Wave vibration plate exercises and time in/on the Total Gym - one of my favorite activities has been playing catch [extremely poorly] while on the T-Gym or in long sit position, throwing one of those large kiddie rubber bouncy balls back and forth with my trainer. Catching = easy, throwing = not so much. I play with quite a few children's toys...
The most hilarious (and one of the most difficult) tasks has been, um, "extra strength" wheelchair propulsion? To start benignly, let's push around outside, going a fairly long distance, checking out inclines/declines/ramps/etc. To spice it up, add 1) wrist weights, 2) a trainer trying to pull me backwards via stretchy exercise tubing tied to the back of my chair. That's right, wimpy jlink, armed with wrist weights (pun severely intended), pulling someone around DMC campus in the manuchair. Someone fetch a little red wagon.
There has been one completely new exercise system for me as of last Friday. Recently the CSCIR acquired a Redcord suspension weapon, which is, in short, a bunch of bungee-style stretchy tubing (colored red, of course, or else they need a naming consultant) hanging from the ceiling. The apparatus is used to suspend the participant partially or completely above a standard therapy mat table, facilitating myriad exercises with better manipulation of weight distribution to improve task efficiency. Royally confusing? This might help.
On Friday I did two activities in "modified prone on elbows" position, face down, elbows in contact with the mat, but with the rest of my body suspended. First were scapular protractions, aka shoulder-powered pushups through elbows; in the suspended position, this works not only paraspinals and rhomboids, but also all sorts of traps and "chin tuck" muscles to keep from swinging all over the place (ha ha, sorry, dust off your anatomy book for that sentence). The other was the dynamically stationary army crawl, where I push my body forward and back through my elbows - like taking one crawl-step forward and then one back, such that I wouldn't actually go anywhere. This is waaaay better on the Redcord than our old method of rolling on bolsters! Let's just say the bolster way was rather unpleasant... So, yay, new and cool therapeutic weaponry.
That's about it for phys ther... What else? The alischool year has started here in the 3-1-3, and I've/we've been super mega busy lining up PA help to cater to my toddler needs during the day on weekdays. It's working out extremely well so far. HIPAA says I shouldn't mention anything else.
Speaking of top secrecy, my apologies, I've been writing stuff other than blog posts lately, so updates have been scarce. Lo siento again. I'm reminded that I can't do high school-level math anymore, and that I remember approximately no chemistry whatsoever... Thus, more apologies, I'll still be ravenously busy for a bit longer and probably won't be able to afford much postage. If you're itching for jlink blog amusement - ha, yeah right - feel free to re-browse around last March's musical posts and comment away! Also, I'll gladly throw in a plug for the jarmstro's endlessly entertaining musings. Read, foo!
Ok, that's about it. My vintage electric razor finally bit the dust, so I got a new one and I'm trying to raze on a regular basis - we'll see how long that lasts. It doesn't help that I have three-day stubble after about 20min... Howl, it's the wolfman. Rocket.
Thanks J for the update.
ReplyDeleteThe Redcord picture was a great visual to explain exactly how it works. And you pulling someone, you are working so hard.
Please send my well wishes to your mom,
Awesome to hear more news :) I'm glad to see you're doing well and thanks for making me remember the anatomy that I should technically already know! I hope that things keep going smoothly man and keep up the spirits :)
ReplyDeletenext time i expect a bonus...4 times as long.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I would call them entertaining, or even musings as of late, but, as always thanks for the plug.
ReplyDelete