Exercise Therapy for people with Spinal Cord Injury
Enable Exercise is dedicated to helping clients with spinal cord injury rebuild their independence, increase functional capacity, and improve their quality of life. Depending on the mechanism and severity of your injury, you may still have voluntary sensory and motor functions below your level of injury.
Physical therapy can help you maximise your function, maintain your overall health and build your strength and control in your affected and non affected areas.
Reasons why You Should Consider Investing in Exercise Therapy for a Spinal Cord Injury
The spectrum of spinal cord injuries is broad, and the types of physiotherapy that can help vary greatly depending on the severity and location of your injury. Every person who experiences a spinal cord injury has unique personal goals in mind when they begin therapy. For all these reasons, we tailor our goals to our clients.
Here are a few of the different types of exercises and the signs that you can benefit from them.
- Mobility issues after a spinal cord injury can limit the types of physical activities that you can participate in, and with less physical activity in your life, you can gain weight and weaken your heart.
- Specialised equipment can help promote aerobic exercises for people with quadriplegia and paraplegia and can help keep you in shape while strength training can help keep your muscles from shrinking and weakening.
- Spinal cord injuries can result in muscle spasticity, which is when your muscles remain constricted due to your nervous system unable to switch off your muscle. Regular stretching and other exercises can help to expand your range of movement and reduce pain.
- Rebuilding your independence can be vitally important as you live with a spinal cord injury. Our team can help you to review and revise your current limitations with functional goals that you can use in your day-to-day life during your recovery.
Statistics on Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation from Enable Exercise You Should Know
Most people do not give much thought to spinal cord injuries until either they or one of their loved ones experiences one. A few vital statistics about these injuries:
- In Australia, roughly 12,000 people live with a spinal cord injury with around 350 to 400 new injuries occurring each year.
- Of those spinal cord injuries, 35% result in complete quadriplegia or paraplegia while the rest result in incomplete injuries with some nerve functions still in operation.
- Vehicle accidents are the most common cause of spinal cord injuries in Australia.
If you or a loved one has experienced a spinal injury and you are ready to begin rebuilding independence, contact us today.