Weight Loss Exercises for Wheelchair Patients

Many exercises can be done in a wheelchair. These exercises are not only physically challenging and mentally stimulating, but they can help relieve neck, shoulder and back pain that many wheelchair patients often have.

Strength Training

• Lifting weights using free weights or fitness machines is a great way to build up muscle tone and cardiovascular endurance. Doing fewer repetitions with heavier weights increases strength, while doing more repetitions with lighter weights increases cardiovascular endurance.

  To increase cardiovascular endurance, choose a weight that you can lift comfortably 10 to 25 times. Inhale when lifting the weight, exhale when lowering the weight.

  To increase strength, choose a weight you can lift 7 to 10 times, but make sure it is on the cusp of your ability set; you want to be able to lift the weight with a controlled motion, but you want it to be a challenge.

  A great exercise to complete to improve tricep and trapezius tone:
  1. Hold out your arms to your side, so that your arms are outstretched and parallel to the ground. When you have completed this step, you should look like an airplane, with "wings" outstretched.
  2. Pick up your weights.
  3. Fold your arms at the elbow so your hands are now slightly higher than your head.
  4. Press the weights up in the air, until your weights meet above your head.

Stretching

• Stretching the torso, arms and neck is also a great way to improve dexterity and flexibility. While watching yoga videos and other home exercise tapes and completing the portions for these body parts are a great way to get exercise, there are a few great stretches you can do a few times a day or a week on your own; they only take a few minutes.

  To open your chest and shoulder sockets:
  1. Move hands as far behind you as possible.
  2. Interlock hands behind your back, or, if you cannot do this, grab a rope and move your hands closer to each other behind the rope.

  To open your shoulder blades:
  1. Place arms, bent at elbow, in front of you, so your hands are directly in front of your face.
  2. Move the left arm below the right arm.
  3. Move the left arm's crook of the elbow under the elbow of the right arm.
  4. Wrap the left arm around the right arm.
  5. Grab the palm of the right hand with your left fingers or fingertips.
  This is a very intense exercise that may take a few times to achieve.

Resistance Training

• Using resistance bands can increase strength and flexibility at the same time. Resistance bands can be wrapped around stable, non-movable objects and pulled toward or away from you in a way that makes your muscles work. These bands can be used to work on arm and shoulder strength.

  To work on arm strength:
  1. Secure resistance band to a non-moving and stable object.
  2. Pull the resistance band toward you as many times are you can, breathing regularly.