Physiotherapy exercises at home during COVID-19 lock down stay
Worrying about missing Gyms during COVID-19 home stay? Bothered about not having any workout equipment at home? Learn through this article some basic exercises recommended by the physiotherapist that can be performed at home during these lock down days.
Exercises are useful to build the muscle power, provide the strength, increase the muscle mass and reduce the risk of developing deadly diseases. In this article, we are going to learn some basic exercises that anyone can do at home without any equipment/ instruments. Breathing Exercise
Breathing Exercise is one of the most vital exercises that need to be done compulsorily before starting any other exercise regime. It can be done both in sitting and lying positions. While sitting, keep your spine straight with your shoulder in most relaxed manner. Take a deep breath through nose. Try to hold the breath for 5 to 10 counts. Now exhale through mouth, pursing the lips and making a "whoosh" sound. This type of breathing is called "pursed lip breathing". Repeat the same for 5 to 6 times. The same can be done in lying position as well. However, the only difference is that, while lying, you should keep both the legs bent to 90 degree so as to reduce pressure on abdomen. While lying, you should keep one of your hands on your upper chest and the other below your rib cage, so as to feel the movement of your diaphragm.
Benefits:Skipping
One of the easiest ways to start your exercise regime after breathing exercise is by doing skipping. Yes! you have read it right! Don't laugh! Skipping is not just for kids, do you know? It can do wonders in maintaining the shape and structure of your abdominal and calf muscles . When you do ten minutes of skipping, it means this effort is approximately equivalent to running one kilometer for 6 minutes. One of the greatest uses of skipping is that , it is a full body workout. It utilizes all parts of your body including legs, arms, shoulders, abdomen and what not! Another benefits of skipping is that, it is a great strategy in increasing the lower limb muscle tone. You can call skipping rope as a great tool to achieve weight loss, it burns out the calories and shed fat, thus reducing weight. Jumping improves your ankle mobility and strengthens both upper and lower limb muscles as well. The speed and agility of your body is also improved. Recent study assessed on skipping ropes showed a positive influence on pulmonary function by enhancing the lung and vital capacities.
Some tips:
Brisk Walking
Yes! another important and most easy exercise that you can do at home is Brisk Walking. Even though walking speed may differ from one person to another, a normal individual can walk up to 20 minutes per day at the starting phase and gradually increase the count as the days pass on. Studies showed that, the risk of early death can be minimized by as much as 30 percent with a brisk 20-minute walk each day. Walking can help you to build stamina and thereby restoring your energy levels. Even though you are aware of various benefits of brisk walking, I wish to highlight some important advantage that every person should be conscious of.
Brisk walking can-
Some tips: Wall pushups
Start this exercise by standing in front of a wall with 1-2 feet distance away. Now slowly raise your arms and place your palms on the wall. Make sure that your fingertips should point up. Keeping your legs static, bend your elbows, and bring your chest and chin closer to the wall. This is your starting position. Now take a deep breath, exhale, and push the wall until your elbows are slightly bent, and your chest and chin are away from the wall. Now Inhale and go back to the starting position. Do this exercise 5 to 7 times.
Benefits:
Wall Squatting
Squatting strengthens the core muscles of lower body and hip. Since it involves large muscles in the body, calories can be burnt by doing this simple exercise. There is no age limit for squatting. Even if you have Ankylosing Spondylitis , Osteoarthritis of hip and knee joint, Spondylosis of hip and shoulder, your physiotherapist will prescribe this exercise since this strengthens your weak muscles.
Steps to follow while squatting:
Benefits: Hip Bridging
Also called as pelvic bridge exercise, it is a closed chain weight bearing exercise regime where your legs are in constant contact with the ground. This exercise is very much beneficial to low back pain persons as it involves stretching the muscles like Gluteus, Hamstring, internal oblique, external oblique, and erector spinae muscles.
Lie on your back with your arms facing upwards. Bend both knees to 90 degree. Now gently raise your hip and upper back. Make sure your lower half of the body is still in touch with the floor. Stay in this position for about 2 to 4 seconds and slowly return to your starting portion. Repeat this exercise for 10 to 12 counts.
Benefits: Lunging Exercise
A lunge is a position of the human body where one leg is positioned forward with knee bent while the other leg is positioned behind. Let us see how to perform lunging exercise in a simple manner. Step forward with one leg. Be sure to keep your forward knee above your ankle. Your knee should never extend past your ankle. Once you're stable in position, slowly lift your back heel off the floor. Keep lifting until you form a straight line from your back knee to your hip. Slowly tighten your abdominal muscles. This will help keep your back straight as you move into a lunging position.
Benefits:
Hope now you have gained clear idea on how to do simple exercises in home during the lock down periods. If these tips are not clear enough to understand the concept, you may get help from videos which are available in internet. By maintaining constant fitness, one can prevent or fight any disease and stay healthy. Thus fitness plays a major role in health aspect. So follow the above basic fitness exercises and stay safe. Let us fight against the deadly disease circulating all over the world.
The exercises we do should depend on our age and then only they will do good. A young man has to do jogging but a man of 60 years should walk. So you have to decide on the workout keeping your age and general health condition in mind. There is no necessity to worry as we are not able to go to a gym. You can do many exercises in your house without any problem.
Earlier many old people used to go for a walk early in the morning. But because of COVID19, they were forced to stop going out. But they need not stop walking. They can walk in their terrace without any problem. That will make them alright.
Pranayama is one good way to keep your lungs in good conditions. You can do it in your house and need not go out anywhere.
The article is very useful and the author explained various important points to keep our general health in good condition.