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Our user asked: "Hi, I have been in a wheelchair for 5 years due to a chronic illness that has finally been diagnosed and treated. I am finally feeling strong enough to start exercising and have been told I will make a full recovery, but I have lost my job - and medical insurance - and have no guidance on how to start regaining the muscle strength I need to walk. I can walk a bit but my gait feels weird and awkward. What kinds of exercises can I do to regain what I've lost? Thanks!"
Ask a PT Response: "Glad to hear you are doing better. A person that has been non ambulatory for 5 years will require a lot of work in order to achieve ambulation again. If I were to see a patient with this situation I would probably have the patient perform exerices in sitting or supine/prone/sidelying first with no weights -> ankle weights: ie. hip flexion, hip abduction, hip adduction, hip extension, short or long arch quads, ham curls, etc. If there are range of motion or flexibility issues, they would need to be addressed as well. I would then progress my patient to strengthening in standing per above muscle groups and also have my patient begin working on the initial parts of gait with support in parallel bars or with support of railing ie. partial lunges, side lunges, partial squats, etc. Then I would put it all together and start having my patient gait train in the parallel bars or with a walker. You can see some samples of these exercises on our exercise videos page: http://www.cyberpt.com/cptvidlist.asp - http://www.cyberpt.com/cptvidlist.asp . I hope this helps."
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