Mild Exercise Reduces Poor Effects of Hospital Beds

Article available online at: http://www.therapytimes.com/092809Physical
Critical care experts at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore are reporting initial success in boosting recovery and combating muscle wasting among critically ill, mostly bed-bound patients using any one of a trio of mild physical therapy exercises during their stays in the intensive care unit (ICU).

“ICU-related muscle weakness is the number one factor in prolonging a patient’s recovery and delaying their return to a normal life, including work and recreational activities,” says critical care specialist Dale Needham, MD, PhD, the senior researcher involved in producing the report, to be published in the journal Critical Care Medicine online Sept. 21.

“Our ICU patients are telling us that they want to be awake and moving. Gone are the days when we should only think of critically ill patients on complete bed rest,” says Needham, whose 2008 publication in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that a majority of ICU patients experienced prolonged fatigue and delayed recovery after bed rest. For the rest of the article click here.

Click here for a video I made of 3 exercises you might use to help you get back to normal.