Why do we need “adapted fitness equipment" to train as people with Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) or other Neurological diseases, when most of us in daily life are dependent on a Wheelchair?
To explain that we will start with a counter question:
What Equipment can be used for most people with SCI to train in an ordinary gym which is made for able people?:
- Different Weight stations for arm and core training → in the wheelchair
- Maybe Leg press-Station for leg Training (or Leg movement) → mostly additional Person necessary for transfer
- Adduction/Abduction-Station for leg Training (or Leg movement) → mostly additional Persons necessary for transfer
Unfortunately as you can see there is not a lot around in an ordinary gym to do proper training, specially with the part of your body which is affected by the spinal cord injury and needs to be trained to get better and keep in the best possible shape - Nevertheless even training in an ordinary gym is way better than doing nothing and can be a first step and an additional tool to get in better shape and based on this feel better in general.
In our opinion that’s still far away from sufficient considering the amount and quality of training which would be necessary to have even a shot for any recovery - so what is the training environment we need to have to exercise sufficient at home and away by doing outpatient therapy?
To break it down - we need “Adapted Fitness Equipment”, because we are not able to train exactly the way able people do and we need help from other peoples (non professionals and professionals) to train with those equipment. If we do so we’ll have a better chance for regeneration and for sure a better quality of life in general.
The problem here we experienced since we are facing a disability, everyone in his own way - that there is a very big lack of possibilities to train the way that would be necessary to really get better and this even in “first world” countries as ours. So you can imagine how the situation might be in other parts of the world.
Depending on the country you are living in, one time maybe two times physiotherapy whether paraplegic or quadriplegic, for mostly less than an hour is all you can expect from the system that is not even close being enough for a good body feeling and keeping your body in “good shape” and certainly not for an improvement in functionality and thus regeneration below the paralysis level which would absolutely be possible for almost everybody to a certain degree.
So this is exactly where we come in and try to show you some possibilities - stay tuned!