Personal Fitness Professional - March 2009 - (Page 25) Example: You are working with a client who is experiencing severe osteoarthritis and uses a walker. Your workout should take into consideration your client’s range of motion limitations and provide them with plenty of time to warm up. Allow them to perform resistive exercises, being sure to work within their strength and range of motion capacity. Use the downtime between sets to work on breathing or imagery exercises. Finish up the workout with some light aerobic or range of motion activities. Imagery: Imagery is a technique to bring conscious awareness to an inhibited muscle or region of the body. Several approaches, including e Feldenkrais Method and e Alexander Technique, utilize imagery or mind/body awareness to restore and improve movement patterns. Imagery techniques have been shown to improve gait patterns in individuals with post-stroke hemiparesis. Example: One of the symptoms of MS is decreased sensation in the trunk extensors; therefore, many of these individuals develop a thoracic hyperkyphosis. As a corrective technique, ask your client to visualize a wire connecting them on the back of their head that’s gently lifting them upward through their movement patterns. Teach: Each session should focus on teaching to both increase client awareness and improve movement efficiency. Teach clients proper diaphragmatic breathing. Regardless of the level of disability, establishing optimal respiratory patterns will improve general tissue oxidation and help develop proper stabilization patterns. Teach your client proper stabilization, and progress them through movement patterns based upon their ability. Example: You are working with a client with breast cancer that has metastasized to her bones. Her physician gave her lifting restrictions to a maximum of 10 pounds. Focus on improving her breathing and stabilization to help protect her from further injury. Teach her how to squat and lunge in addition to using cables or thera-tubing to progress her through push and pull patterns. Use visual, verbal and tactile techniques to help your client improve her movement efficiency. By identifying the needs and working together with other health care practitioners, the fitness professional can be instrumental in improving quality of life and functional capacity for these special needs individuals. And making a difference in their lives will certainly be gratifying! Dr. Evan Osar (evan@fitnesseducationseminars.com) received BS and DC degrees from the Palmer College of Chiropractics, a diploma in clinical massage therapy as well as national certifications from ACE, NASM, NSCA and MAT. He has written five manuals and two DVDs on corrective exercise and performance enhancement, and he presents internationally for Perform Better, NSCA and Fitness Education Seminars. ● 3 Principles of Working with the Disabled 1. Identify the client’s current health status 2. Treat each client as an individual 3. Respect each client’s functional capacity MARCH2009 WWW.FIT PRO.COM http://www.fit-pro.com
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