Health & Wellness for People with Disabilities
With personal health and wellness gaining more and more attention and popularity among many Americans, United Spinal Association, an organization for persons with spinal cord injuries or disorders (SCI/D), spotlights several members who have developed adaptive fitness routines for people to do while sitting in a wheelchair or chair.
Paul O’Lone of Santa Clara, California, is a former champion bodybuilder who rediscovered physical fitness following diagnosis for MS in 1997. The United Spinal member opened a gym in 2004 called Accessible Fitness that is accessible to people in wheelchairs and he personally designs fitness programs for them. The facility operates on one philosophy: ability, not disability. “When it comes to exercise, no two people are the same,” O’Lone says. “We always make people feel like they can accomplish their exercises by not giving them things that they can’t do. If they can’t do it, I’ll adapt the exercise so that they can.”
Read more about Paul O’Lone and Accessible Fitness.
There you can also find information about Gary Paruszkiewicz of Kankakee, Illinois, another United Spinal member with MS, who has developed a modified form of tai chi for people to do sitting down, making it ideal for people in wheelchairs.
The routine that he created is based on yoga stretches and Qigong breathing exercises. “In typical tai chi, you learn about one hundred and eight movements. But I came up with a nine-movement form, which is plenty for people in wheelchairs, or who have standing issues. It’s done from the hips up, so you can sit in a chair and still get exercise,” Gary relates.
Thanks to his class, some of Gary’s students have enjoyed remarkable physical improvement. “One lady with MS has been in my class for a little over a year, and when she started, she could walk from her house to her mailbox at the end of the drive, without her cane, but she’d have to have it with her to walk back. She said now she can walk almost a mile without her cane. She said she is doing other therapies, as well, but the tai chi really helps.”
Read more about Gary Paruszkiewicz and tai chi.
Celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, United Spinal provides vital educational resources for its members, their families and health care professionals. Among the various benefits of free membership in the organization, United Spinal also distributes publications on issues affecting their members and all people with disabilities. Its most popular publication—Disability Etiquette includes helpful tips such as: speak directly to a person with a disability, not to their companion and don’t push or touch a person’s wheelchair; it is part of their personal space.