Exercising with a Disability
Living with a disability or a live long health condition can be challenging in more ways than one affecting parts of life like career or even relationships. Sometimes all we can do is accept our disabilities and live life to the fullest, letting go of aspects we cannot control. For example, how other people react to our disabilities or how unwell we can feel sometimes. But there are aspects well in our control which includes wellbeing and exercise that can help make living with a disability more manageable and can increase our health.
According to Scope there are over 14 million people in the UK living with disabilities – that’s 30% of the UK population. And according to The Mental Health Foundation more than 4 million of these individuals will also suffer mental health problems which in can be further detrimental to people’s health. Furthermore, Sport England’s’ survey shows that a staggering 4 out of 5 disabled individuals do not engage in physical activities. The question here we beg to answer then is how do we help people with disabilities and health conditions back into living an active live around their disabilities and convincing them that these activities will give them that little more vitality and life expectancy than not exercising?
Since the beginning of this millennium steps have been taken by the government to promote wellbeing and exercise in society. ‘Millennials’ are said to be the new generation of tech but also of healthier living. The drive for exercising has been an initiative in the frontline of national efforts since before the millennium. In 1995 Department of Health commissioned the Health Education Authority to drive a health promotion campaign named ‘Active for Life’ over a 3 year period to encourage uptake of moderate intensity exercising techniques suggested in the new policy recommendations. A study of approximately 3200 adults between the ages 16 and 74 was completed by Dr Hillsdon from the Department of Public Health and Policy at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The study which was published in 2001 showed that the participants who had knowledge of the Active for Life campaign had increased significantly their activity following the campaign. Worryingly enough, there was no evidence that the Active for Life campaign had any impact on the rest of the participants. The point of any exercise campaign is to increase knowledge and thus activity of the general population who would not otherwise consider exercise. However, large strides have been taken with increasing success since the beginning of the millennium and could be attributed to that new wave of generations building a future for a better, healthier and happier future. Who can not say that our youth is our future then, huh?
Government research from the DWP in the Work, Health and Disability Green Paper shows that ‘ill health amongst working-age people alone costs the economy around £100 billion a year’. Personally, I am not an advocate for scrimping on costs when it comes to healthcare, and in our household we strongly support the view of being taxpaying citizens who support our role in paying taxes because the benefit of those taxes going to good use in the wider economy to help people in poverty, with education and needing healthcare far outweighs our own personal benefit. However, we cannot ignore the financial pressure our world-renowned NHS system is going through and much of it can be prevented with: more efficient internal management of administrative services which currently is making our NHS run at an extremely groggy rate, and helping our citizens be more physically active and supporting their mental health better to assist and prevent future induction into hospitals due to bad health.
Taking a moment to think about all this and being a person born with a life-long health condition, I can confidently apply my experience of over 30 years within the medical sector as an individual using the NHS services and my own physical and mental well-being to advocate and advise on the matter of ‘better health’ methods. Living with a disability in my experience has meant that I have felt less able to exert myself physically and thus have become more unfit over the span of my life. However, I am not here to tell people with disabilities and lifelong health conditions like myself to be the fittest person able to run a marathon – though I do know some super-heroes who manage to do that with a disability and I am in awe of them!
With these 10 Tips I am here to convince you, as a person with a disability or a health condition, to get some light to moderate exercise into your regime. There are positively proven effects of exercise on our wellbeing. Several studies from the National Institute of health state these benefits and more:
A persistent and regular exercise regime – even at a mild or moderate level - can help improve your mood and reduce levels anxiety and even depression.
Regular physical activity over time assists the body to build muscles and stronger bones, thus preventing osteoporosis in the long run.
Exercise is crucial to supporting a Several people with disabilities tend to recognise a decrease in their metabolism due to existing health conditions. You can promote a faster metabolism through regular exercise and burn more calories per day to maintain weight loss.
Long term fatigue is common in people with disabilities – I can speak for myself about this too. Regular activity can help decrease levels of fatigue even in people with chronic illnesses.
In my experience people on dialysis like me are on it due to diabetes. Exercise can help prevent diseases like high blood pressure or diabetes which can affect your heart and kidneys. Obesity is a serious factor of future acquired illnesses and exercise can help support against this.
These are just a handful of important benefits of regular light or moderate exercise on our health, especially those of us with disabilities. Amongst, these are also factors like reducing pain, increasing memory and brain activity, helping develop better sleeping patterns, even promoting more beautiful skin and a better sex life!
As a result I would urge you take consider my following 10 Tips for exercising with a disability:
Tip 1: Exercising lying down
Sometimes, your disability requires you to lie down or are unable to stand up. I am on dialysis, though I am able to exercise around those days I find that sitting on dialysis for 4 hours, 3 times a week means a lot of wasted hours doing nothing and just sleeping. I would recommend on occasions when you are trying to kill time on treatment, or simply you are unable to move around too much due to your condition, use your bed/chair and do some light exercise! You can use stretch elastics to strengthen your arms and legs doing repetitive exercise and over time can use stronger tension elastics to build up even more muscle health. Dialysis patients are prone to muscle depletion and osteoporosis so come on people get those elastic tension bands out and get cracking. Another option is to buy a portable cycle which you can place at the bottom of your bed or chair and cycle away to your heart’s content. Why not cycle while exercising your arms with elastics?
Tip 2: Exercise at home
On occasions, due to social anxiety or even during lockdown when everyone has been stuck at home, we just find ourselves in a situation we can’t leave the house. Some of the best exercises just require that you have some floor space and YouTube! For those who are able to take on more intensive exercise try giving HIIT exercises a go. This exercise builds up stamina and helps lose weight faster. Another way to go is, rather than bombard yourself with an overwhelming amount of videos and sit there trying to choose one, you can find a local trainer. Some organisations assist for free, for example I have a Tai Chi Instructor who supports us with some classes free and some paid yet affordable classes. I would recommend Tai Chi because it is the lightest form and most meditative style of exercise you can get. If you are anything like me with over 30 years of a body being attacked with illness and operations, sometimes your physical capacity to take on heavy exercise or extreme stretching is not possible. For example, I cannot do Yoga, funnily enough. I would recommend the alternative of Tai Chi and what is best, it’s a wonderful exercise especially for elderly individuals with less abilities to move easily with age. Just join a Zoom meeting with your local trainer and have some enjoyable exercise. Remember there are a plethora of ways online to find classes or exercises free which you can do at home and all you need to do is move the coffee table out of the way.
Tip 3: Walking
Whether you want to do a brisk walk in order to feel that sweat or you just want to do a relaxing walk with a friend, just walk. The wonderful thing about walking is that as soon as you leave your front door, you can walk anywhere. Choose a local park for a greener experience or go exploring around the city because there are literally pavements everywhere. The good thing about walking is that you can distract your mind too with the visuals around you. Whether it’s the beautiful, colourful flowers, or a squirrel climbing a tree, or you go window-shopping and gazing at the local exciting street art – you can make it an enjoyable proactive event for the day with or without a friend or a loved one. I am part of a Facebook group for women on walking created by the wonderful, London-based, walker and author Heather Waring who aims to get ‘1 Million Woman Walking!’. Sometimes the best way to motivate yourself is to be part of a supportive and active online community which gets people together offline.
Tip 4: Breathing and Meditation
Maybe you are feeling low one day and that’s ok. Rather than push yourself out of bed and tell yourself ‘get going, come on, let’s do this!’, you could be kind on yourself and just sit up in bed or near a window where you can see a view or even at the mirror looking at yourself and start a 10 minute breathing exercise. It takes minutes and what is wonderful about these exercises is that you learn to focus on your body, being aware of every part of it from your toes to your fingers and ultimately bring more oxygen to your brain. There are many types of exercise for your body; some are stimulating exercises, some are energising exercises, others can be restorative, or relaxing, and healing exercises. Nobody ever says that exercise has to always be rigorous and constant moving. If you are anything like me where on most days I do not feel like moving a muscle, take some time and close your eyes. Take some deep breaths, empty your mind, think of a beautiful place, feel your body and live in the moment. You will be surprised how much better you will feel in moments. And if you want to meditate, you can find many videos online to help you with your meditative posture, and think about being ‘grateful’ and repeating to yourself what you are grateful for. Consider also stimulating the senses by using aromatherapy. Certain aromas like lavender and ylang ylang in an oil burner or massaged in the skin can really help relax the body and mind while you meditate.
Tip 5: Stretching
Have you ever woken up in the morning and given yourself such a good stretch that you felt your muscles lengthen and your joints crack? It feels so relieving and relaxing. Imagine doing a series of stretching exercises that can really make a difference to your muscles and your joints. Some of these exercises are called ‘warm up’ exercises because before you can do any rigorous exercise you need to warm your muscles so you do not cause yourself an injury. However, with a disability or health condition these stretching exercises are enough to give the body good exercise. There are plenty videos online to follow on stretching exercises or you can make a regime of your own. You can even ask an instructor to give you a regime and do it with a friend or two. Such exercises include stretching your arm to the back of your head, doing gentle neck movements, doing gentle calf exercises. These all warm up the muscles and loosen the joints and you will be surprised how good you will feel in minutes.
Tip 6: Using props
I’m not advocating that you get yourself into urban acrobatics unless you really want to! Though it is an option that you head outside and use some urban or natural surroundings to do your exercises. A short wall is a nice place to do step exercises, or you can do push ups against a fallen tree log. Whichever way you use your surroundings it’s a good place to find props to help you exercise. Even inside your home you can go up and down the stairs for exercise and if you have ever seen any of those cute tik tok videos you can play with your kids and use them as props to lift weights! Whichever way you choose to find props to exercise try to be creative because the world is your oyster. If you want to get into serious gym exercise and don’t mind spending a penny or two, you can buy props like a an exercise ball, dumbbells and kettlebells, a fitness pull up bar, all of which are readily available online for your to buy.
Tip 7: Enjoyable activities
I have talked so much about exercise yet if I am completely honest with myself I don’t enjoy it at all. The way to convince someone who hates exercise and finds it really boring is to give them activities that are enjoyable and involve movement and getting out a sweat. I regularly amp up the music to traditional Greek music because in my culture there are a plethora of dances where you really get the heart pumping. Trying out the zembekiko or hasabiko! I love Nancy Ajram, a Lebanese singer who won a World Music Award. Her music is globally renowned and can be enjoyed by the masses. Every time I put her music on I have a nice jiggle of my hips and just enjoy myself. Always remember you don’t need to be a professional dancer to dance. It’s the best way to break a sweat by just enjoying yourself. And if you have kids you can jump around with them to the music. How about trying some ‘imitation’ exercises with your kids? Children are joyous characters with no inhibitions so give it a go and let your little one move around to music while you copy their moves. It’s plenty of fun for the whole family and you get exercise while connecting and communicating with you loved ones.
Enjoyable activities are everywhere in life, you just need to look for them and be creative. Another idea is gardening, where you get your hands dirty, work with nature and end up having beautiful results you can be proud of from colourful flowers blooming to tasty fruit and veg. I enjoy gardening with my husband and have seen that it’s one of the occasions we don’t have disagreements and enjoy exercise while being with each other. You can even consider joining a local community group that does urban gardening. Not only will you get vital exercise in, you will enjoy yourself and make a difference to your community.
Again, if you have kids there are plenty of outdoor activities you can do which can keep you fit. Children with disabled parents are very aware of their parents’ needs and the activities you choose will be enjoyable for them but can also work around your disability.
If you love sports and want to find an inclusive environment you can join to do sports with others in a more social environment, you can do some research for local places. Basketball England for example support basketball games for people with disabilities. If there isn’t something in your area why not go to you community centre and register to create a group of your own? Community centres are there for a reason so use them to support your needs and you will soon see plenty of people will jump on board to join in.
Tip 8: Play for disabled children
Here we take a moment to consider children who grow up with disabilities because I was born with my disability and was still a very active child even though I was very sick too. It is important for kids that spend plenty of time in hospital to get some activities and play in life when they have some time away. Playing ball or throwing a Frisbee could be some light play with your child. Rolling around in the grass in the park, tickling and laughing is enough to raise the endorphins. Children also enjoy the company of other children, and if you can find an inclusive space for your child to play with other children they can do anything from skipping ropes to football. Places like Thames Valley Adventure Playground offer such a space both for outdoor activities and even indoor arts for the whole family to enjoy. You can search out information on activities for kids which can support your locating the most suitable places for your child to get involved, for example, this advice by Scope charity.
Tip 9: Gaming and Musical Instruments
I’m a gamer and twitch streamer so I would say I am a huge advocate for gaming as a therapy. Sometimes exercise doesn’t need to be constant walking or jumping around. There is proven research showing that gaming is excellent for cerebral palsy in promoting motor skills and muscle development.
Personally, I find that, though gaming requires a lot of sitting down and not much movement, sometimes the brain muscles and our mental health is just as important. Ever since I started gaming I have found myself feeling more involved in society because I have made friends in communities like twitch, my husband is a huge gamer so I have grown closer to him and felt more involved with him too. I also have felt some physical effects too like my hand-eye coordination has developed, stimulation of my brain muscles have developed, and I feel physically less tired and more energised.
I have taken time to speak with other dialysis patients like me and in my experience I have found that those who are inclined towards playing a musical instrument are able to exercise. For example, a fistula in your arm as a dialysis patient is a vital part of your life. Exercising your arm to keep your fistula health and strong is important. I know a lady who plays the piano and the violin, she is a talent in musical instruments and has seen a huge benefit to her vascular, nervous and muscular systems playing an instrument with her hands.
Tip 10: Work around your disability
It’s not possible to cover every disability or health condition in just one article, however, all I can say is that even if this article doesn’t relate to your specific disability or I haven’t covered anything that you can relate to just think of this: whatever activity you decide to do, it will be one that works around your disability. You have a choice to be active in one way or another, whether you exercise your mind or you body, there will always be something out there for you and in this age of tech and digital freedom you can join communities online or do a google search to find all the information you need on what activities might suit your needs. Whatever activity you do, choose one where you are kind to yourself and that works around you.
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Written by Maria Nicolette
Hi! I’m Maria Nicolette, a writer and contributor to The Everyday Magazine.
I’m an ambitious disabled woman. I write about my passions in an authentic voice and absolutely abhor toxic positivity. So, don’t ask me to sugar-coat the truth!
My topics of interest are:
Diversity: disability and female empowerment,
Wellbeing: mental health, gardening, hobbies
Art and culture: street art, contemporary art
Luxury lifestyle: fashion, travel, beauty
Entertainment: movies, music, gaming.
I love writing in all it’s forms. I am an author under the pen name Elaunda Rox, dedicating all my time to my writing.
I have written short stories inspired by my studies at Wellesley University on Creative Writing, I have taken part in NaNoWriMo and NYCmidnight. I also love poetry and young adult fantasy fiction; You can see my work on www.elaundarox.co.uk.
I love MMO and RPG gaming, watching Netflix series – currently love His Dark Materials by fantasy fiction author Philip Pullman – I adore fantasy art my favourite being Anne Stokes whom I met personally. I am besotted by anything dark and gothic; vampyres, goth music, and dragons! My favourite comics are Lady Mechanika and Monstress.
My dreams: to write a graphic novel, to be in a fantasy anthology with other fantasy fiction artists, to be in a female lead goth band, to be an actress in my own fiction novel turned TV series, and to meet Keanu Reeves!