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Strengthening Exercises While Being Bedridden




If you are frequently bedridden due to illnesses like chronic pain, chances are that you will tend to lose muscle mass. Less muscle strength can lead to increase pain thus causing a vicious cycle of chronic pain. It is important therefore to find a way to exercise and strengthen the muscle despite being bedridden.

Over the years, I have found myself frequently to be in this situation due to fibromyalgia.  There are several videos about exercises for the bedridden patients(for example, this). However, the exercises in these are more to improve mobility rather than increase muscle strength. Ultimately, I spent quite a bit of time compiling a list of exercises from YouTube that exercise and strengthen every major muscle group.  The list is provided below along with the major muscle groups that they exercise.As I have suffered from injuries because of using weights incorrectly, I recommend trying only with the resistance bands initially and that is what I have included in the list.
(The usual disclaimers apply-please consult your healthcare provider before doing any of these. Also, the exercises do not cover each and every muscle. But they do  exercise the major muscle groups). 


Which of the exercises below you found the most beneficial? What is your workout routine when you have to spend extended time in bed? Do share in the comments below.
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Exercises for the Neck



 Exercises for the Shoulder






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 Exercise for the Upper Back



 Chest exercises






Arm Exercises






Lower Back Exercises


Abdominal Exercises
Hip Exercises
Leg Exercises

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Comments

  1. A Chronic Voice27 October 2017 at 22:40

    This article was a readers' fav on my Twitter for the week and I've listed it here:
    https://www.achronicvoice.com/2017/10/28/issue-81-top-health-tweets/

    Keep it up!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unknown28 October 2017 at 10:43

      Thank you for your kind comments. I do all of these exercises regularly with the exception of the abdominal ones because that badly flares me up. However, depending on where I am having the pain, I have to modify the exercises also. It will be useful to know if other people are also trying these out that what modifications to the make. It's very difficult for a physiotherapist to determine the finer points of every exercise for a patient so it is best that we kind of brainstorm about it ourselves. Thank you for tweeting it out.

      Delete

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