WHY IT IS IMPORTANT TO REMAIN ACTIVE DURING THE COVID - 19 PANDEMIC: By Vanessa Niemeyer, PT, DPT
Many of us have been greatly impacted by the COVID - 19 Pandemic. If you turn on the radio, scroll through social media, or turn on the television, the first thing that you often see is related to COVID - 19.
All of us have been impacted in one way or another by this “situation.” Many of us have significantly reduced our physical activity levels. This could be due to a change in job status, a change in job environment, an inability to go places that you normally go, or some other reason that is specific to you.
How physical inactivity impacts your health
Physical activity is important for many reasons. The CDC states that physical activity has immediate benefits on brain health (decreasing risk of anxiety and depression; increasing your ability to learn and think). The CDC states long term benefits of physical activity, which include: maintaining weight, losing weight, maintaining weight loss, decreasing risk of cardiovascular disease, reduced risk of type 2 diabetes, improving quality of life and strengthening your bones and muscles1.
Physical activity decreases your risks for chronic diseases, while physical inactivity can actually be the cause of chronic diseases/ illnesses2. Therefore, by decreasing your physical activity levels you are now removing your preventative measure and replacing it with something that can cause what you were preventing in the first place.
Physical inactivity results in losing muscle mass ( muscle strength and size). The amount of time of physical inactivity impacts the total amount of muscle mass lost. The duration of time it takes to recover the muscle mass lost is not equal to the duration of time it took to lose the muscle mass. The amount of time it takes to recover muscle mass is greater than the amount of time it takes to lose muscle mass (due to physical inactivity).
We are also aware of the fact that decreasing physical activity can lead to increased adipose tissue (aka fat). If we are less physically active, we are not burning as many calories. If we do not burn as many calories, and continue to eat the same amount of food, this will result in a weight gain. Weight gain (due to adipose tissue) plays a significant role as to why physical inactivity leads to chronic diseases/ illnesses. Weight gain (due to fat) is also something that most of us just don’t want to experience.
How physical inactivity impacts your rehabilitation
As a physical therapist, I want you to know that this applies to you and your recovery. In physical therapy, your program is guided and geared towards your specific presentation. I would say that 90 - 95% of my patients do some strengthening as part of their recovery program. Your exercises are targeting very specific muscles. Let’s pretend you have been in physical therapy for 1 month before the stay at home order was put into place. This means that your body had time to make strength improvements).
There are many reasons that your physical therapist wants that specific muscle to be stronger. Maybe that muscle is the specific muscle that was injured. Maybe that muscle will assist the injured muscle with providing stability, strength and support to the area involved. Now, let’s pretend that you became completely inactive for 4 weeks. The strength gains that you made would be diminished and your strength would be back to what it was (if not worse). This negatively impacts your recovery time.
If you keep up on your exercises, you can at least maintain your strength and not experience any setbacks. You can always call your physical therapist and discuss the progression of your exercises if they are no longer challenging you. You want your exercises to continue to challenge you so that you continue to make progress.
Creative ways to be active in/ around your home
Complete your home exercise program that has been prescribed to you
Call your physical therapist to discuss options/ explore telehealth for motivation/ progression of current home program
Go for a walk (go wherever you feel comfortable going, even if it is walking around the outside of your home)
Set an alarm for once every hour. Stand up and sit down at least once. (Challenge yourself here and listen to your body).
Do a workout tape/ online class. This could involve yoga, pilates, P90-X, jazzercise, zumba, circuit training, and much more. Many videos talk about adaptations that you can make if something is too easy/ too difficult for you.
Play a game: musical chairs, nerf battles, hide and go seek, scavenger hunt, tag, ball toss, and many more.
Perform a physical movement before being allowed to sit and watch a movie/ play a video game. Such as: stand on your right leg for 30 seconds before watching TV.
Garden/ yard work. Anything to get you up on your feet!
Rearrange your furniture/ Clean/ reorganize
Think outside of the box. Use websites like google and pinterest. Call your friends/ family for ideas. Make obstacle courses. Set a goal! Achieve that goal.
At least 10,000 steps per day
At least 30 - 60 minutes of physical activity per day
Final Notes
Safety is and will always be the number one priority. Please be safe about how you choose to be physically active. Please be safe in all that you do. If you have any questions/ concerns, please call your physical therapist and ask questions. Every individual must adapt their physical activities to meet their own personal needs. This is in no way an exercise prescription. The purpose of this is to get you thinking about your own physical activity levels and encourage you to move. Your health is important to myself and the rest of the staff at Advanced Rehabilitation.
Resources
CDC website: https://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/basics/pa-health/index.htm
Booth F., Roberts C., Laye M. Lack of exercise is a major cause of chronic diseases. Compr Physiol. 2 (2): 1143 - 1211. [PubMed]