Caregivers Get Fitget connected. be encouraged. improve your care.Caregivers n. a person who cares for someone who is sick or disabled. OK, Webster (or more accurately, dictionary.com) aside. You are reading this likely because you caregive in some capacity. We all give of ourselves in some form or another sooner or later. YOU are here, though, because life has tossed you suddenly or gradually into the role of decision making in someone's life. Likely your aging parents but often, and no less important, taking care of a disabled child or spouse. Whether suddenly or gradually, your new role can be exhausting and draining to your emotional and physical health. Care giving becomes a part of most everyone's life at some point in time. It's not a matter of if but when. As a home health care physical therapist for 15 years, I've walked into 100's of homes and seen 100's of caregivers breaking under the daunting task laid before them. My first concern is your health. It's more important than your disabled loved one or clients health. Why? Your successful role will last only as long as your health does. The stresses involved with care giving are backbreaking and heart wrenching. The emotional tax that rests so heavy on your heart will rob you of sleep, nutrition and ultimately your own health! Learning more about this difficult task and coping with caregiver stress and guilt will make this important role more possible.
caregiver beware!Care-giving can be exhausting. Care-receiving can be depressing.We will be adding Exercise programs to our online fitness training site over the next few months so caregivers and patients can become stronger, healthier and more independent in their roles. New Exercise programs will focus on Caregivers and Patients and what you need to do for strength and health! For example: Bed to Wheelchair Transfers
Stay tuned as we soon roll these programs out. You will find:
Care giving gives 24/7. Or at least until health breaks down and the few penny's left in the savings account are used to hire a replacement to provide some relief. However, even a few minutes at night may not bring sleep, robbing vital health. Without a regular, quality visit to the repair factory (a good night's rest!) you will be one with the reality of losing your own health. Let's take inventory of your own personal lifestyle before this all began. Take a few moments to jot down your weekly routine. Did it include:
remember...Health maintenance requires healthy living...now. Not when your health breaks down, before it breaks down. It's more than just physical health. Important as it is, the issues are much deeper. We are all broken people struggling on this battlefield called Earth. You live a stressful role now. Stress often overwhelms the system to the point of not being able to take even one moment to yourself. Let's
get fit now.
caregiver inventoryAs caregivers, it might be time to take inventory of a few things. You often feel you are spinning your wheels, the days fly by (or drag by!) and you have no time to sip a cup of tea...Take a close look at the tips below and find small ways that you can begin to change your situation around.
Tip #1 Is your help necessary? Rehabilitative recipients can be overwhelmed, depressed and humiliated over their inability to complete a simple task. Habilitative recipients can become angry or violent when asked to complete a task they are unable to. This can injure the patient or the caregiver and care must be taken to avoid this. A relatively simple command of going to bed will be better managed by breaking this down into simpler steps: Stand up. Walk down the hall. Turn into your room. Walk to your bed/chair. Turn. Sit. And then further break down these steps as you assist a habilitative patient in getting their night clothes on. This same command would also need to be broken down for a rehabilitative patient as great effort, thought and energy will go into each step and s/he will likely need assistance until strength, coordination and range of motion return.
The caregiver needs to encourage or help the patient do activities that put the major muscle groups through a full range of motion. Rule of thumb to remember is this. Sometimes joints can be so tight that the muscles aren't strong enough to move them through any range of motion. Move a limb through a range of motion but also ask your loved one/patient to help you. This allows them to work on strengthening the weak muscles through a full range of motion. Over time, little bits of consistent strengthening will add up to increased independence. The sweat of exercise no matter how difficult is far more worth the efforts than consequences of immobility. These include skin break down, pneumonia, constipation, swelling, weaker muscles, urinary problems, osteoporosis and blood clots. Any of these over time can cause death.
Over caring must be resisted as it is easier to go ahead and perform the task instead of allowing the recipient to struggle along, learning and getting stronger in the process. Dignity is gold during these times. Control has been lost and most patients will do anything to get any sense of control back. Strive for patience in the learning process of the care recipient.
Mobility aids like walkers, wheelchairs, canes and crutches are designed to assist in patients ability to get from point A to point B. Sensory aids include vision and hearing aids as well as dentures. Various other aids assist patients in bringing back their previous enjoyment of hobbies like gardening, painting, reading etc. Physical and Occupational Therapists are trained health care professionals able to teach caregivers and patients about these devices and how to use them
Consider these pointers to enhance dignity:
Walk the sensitive line of encouraging independence yet stepping in to help when patient's attempts are not adequate.
Frequent position changes are crucial. Bedsores can develop if redness develops on bony parts and is not relieved. These can be very painful, impair mobility even more and take a long time to heal.
Natural Home Remedies
is the best investment to know how to take care of these health issues without the side effects of medication.
A registered Speech Therapist can help you decide which foods to puree and which ones to thicken to help swallowing and prevent chocking. The elderly typically eat smaller meals making it necessary to fix 6 smaller meals instead of 3 larger ones. Your physician will be able to help you decide if a nutritional supplement will be helpful. For additional insights on nutrition,
Try to pull together as a family in times of need. However, do only what you can. Discussion of a short stay at a rehab facility or skilled nursing facility may be necessary to maintain your health as a caregiver. Be leery of making "I'll never..." promises to each other while young and invincible. I've seen too many spouses agonize over promises broken because a patient needed more care than the spouse could give. Talk early in life about later in life options for giving and receiving care... this will save a lot of heart ache later in life!
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Caregivers Fitness Tips
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