A spinal cord injury can result in partial or total paralysis and your exercise program can vary widely depending on your condition. With a spinal cord injury, the goal is to help restore as much movement and strength to your affected body parts as possible. Depending on the severity of your condition, your doctor can prescribe a variety of treatments to help your injury. Check with your doctor before starting any exercise program after an injury to your spinal cord.
Respiratory Exercise
Depending on the location of your injury, your doctor is likely to prescribe some form of exercise to help keep your respiratory system healthy. This can include breathing exercises to help restore your respiratory function and increase both your lung function and capacity. Exercising your respiratory system can also help prevent the onset of complications like pneumonia, according to the Spinal Cord Research Center at the University of Alabama. These exercises are often tailored to your condition and can include deep and shallow breathing exercises that are often incorporated with other forms of exercise.
Mobility Exercises
Your therapy after a spinal cord injury is likely to include some form of exercise designed to help restore mobility to your affected limbs. One of the first steps your doctor and therapist will take is assess and improve upon your arm and leg function.
Communication Exercises
Depending on your injury, you might lose the ability to communicate orally, and paralysis can affect your ability to talk and write. Your doctor or therapist will assess your abilities and help choose a therapeutic plan to help restore as much of your ability to communicate as possible. You might be prescribed some assistive devices that can help with your communication ability.
Muscle Strengthening and Endurance
After your initial therapy, your doctor or therapist will probably prescribe exercises tailored to your condition to help improve your muscular strength and endurance. The benefits of these exercises go far beyond just giving you bigger muscles, however. They also help to keep your heart and circulatory system strong, keeping you as healthy as possible after your injury.
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