Contents
Therapeutic exercises are intended for patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS or Bechterew’s disease).
Goals and foundations of therapeutic exercises for Bechterew’s disease
Exercise therapy classes effectively resist bone fusion and joint destruction – the main negative consequences of the disease. The use of exercises, if performed regularly, regardless of the degree of pain tolerated, reduces pain. In order not to provoke discomfort, you need to understand the purpose and basic provisions of physiotherapy exercises.
The patient independently determines the number of therapeutic exercises and their duration, analyzing his condition for a certain period of time (year, month, week, day).
Morning exercises
Completion of the morning complex of exercises is strictly necessary! Without hygienic gymnastics, it is impossible to imagine the optimal motor regime during the day. The inflammatory and ankylosing process is most intense during night sleep. The morning set of exercises relieves stiffness of the joints and restores the range of motion.
Daily “five minutes”
During the day, you need to perform mini-sets of exercises 2-4 times. If the patient has to take a forced or uncomfortable position for a long time during work, “five-minute sessions” are held every hour.
The main occupation of physiotherapy exercises
The implementation of the main complex of exercise therapy falls on time intervals of 11-14 hours or 17-20 hours. These are the most sensitive periods of exposure to dosed loads on the body. The purpose of the lesson is to develop endurance, flexibility, strength.
Axial loads on the spinal column are excluded from the complex:
jumping,
weighted squats,
treadmill exercise,
Weighted slopes.
Exercises during which the spine is in a fixed position for a long time (cycling) should not be included in the complex. Performing strength exercises in the gym, during a pause, you need to pay attention to stretching the muscle group that received the power load. Pain is allowed to a minimum degree, although it is better to do without pain. Pain that persists for a long time after exercise is a reason to reduce the load in the future.
Strength and endurance
Rules for the development of muscle strength:
Classes to develop strength and endurance alternate every other day;
At least 3 strength training sessions are held per week, since muscles that have received stress during training need rest to fix the desired result.
Development of flexibility
Exercises for the development of this quality are daily included in the exercise therapy complex.
It is best to include them in classes after weight training:
dynamic gymnastics,
dumbbell exercises,
workouts on the trainers,
Exercises with a rubber band.
Weight training exercises warm up the muscles, ligaments, joint capsules. As a result, subsequent tissue stretching is carried out with better quality, with a better effect.
To develop flexibility, it is useful to attend the following fitness classes:
yoga,
Swimming pool,
Pilates classes,
Gym.
Breath
To preserve the excursion of the chest and increase the vital capacity of the lungs, daily breathing exercises are performed. The optimal breathing technology during therapeutic exercises is to inhale with the upper part of the chest and pull the diaphragm up due to the retraction of the abdomen.
A set of exercises for Bechterew’s disease
Control. 1: I. p. – sitting on a chair, arms bent at the elbows, raised parallel to the floor, clasp the elbow of one hand with the palm of the other. With your chin, “outline” the line of raised and bent arms, reach forward as far as possible. Perform 4 times to the right and to the left.
Control. 2: I. p. – standing, hands down. Rotate your shoulders back and forth, applying maximum effort. Perform 4 times in each direction.
Control. 3: I. p. – standing, arms raised above the head, bent elbows clasped by palms. With maximum amplitude, bend to the right and left, applying a tangible effort. Perform 4 times in each direction.
Control. 4: I. p. – standing, arms bent at the elbows, raised parallel to the floor, elbows clasped by palms. Turns to the stop with the application of a noticeable tensile force. Perform slowly, 4 times in both directions.
Control. 5: I. p. – standing, lower your hands down. While tilting, hug your knees with your hands, stretch your chest towards them. Returning to a standing position, bend your chest, spread your arms up and to the sides. Perform 6-8 repetitions.
Control. 6: I. p. – lying on your back, arms along the body, legs bent at the knees. Alternately, slowly move to the side the shin of each leg bent at the knee, applying a noticeable effort. Perform 4 times with each leg.
Control. 7: I. p. – lying on your back, arms bent at the elbows, forearms in a vertical position. Bend in the chest, leaning on the elbows and the back of the head, return to and. n. Do not tear off the pelvis from the floor, perform movements slowly. A total of 8 repetitions are required.
Control. 8: I. p. – lying on your back, arms along the body. Raise your head, keeping your shoulders pressed to the floor. At the same time, pull your feet towards you. Return to i. p., repeat 6-8 times.
Control. 9: I. p. – lying on his stomach, arms extended forward. Lean on your right hand, raise the other hand parallel to the floor. At the same time, raise the chest, without twisting the torso, return to and. n. Perform 4-6 times with each hand.
Control. 10: I. p. – lying on the stomach, the chin rests on the arms bent at the elbows, the legs – near the vertical support. Raise the left leg up, pull the foot towards you, press the right foot on the support, return to and. n. Perform the exercise 4 times with the right and left foot.
Control. 11: I. p. – lying on his stomach, arms along the body with the edge of the palm up. Raise up the upper half of the body, pressing the chin to the chest. Feet pressed to the floor, return to and. n. Run 6-8 repetitions.
Ex. 12 “Cat”: I. p. – standing on all fours. Make the back round, bringing the pelvis as close to the head as possible, with an effort to pull up the chest. Then bend in the chest and in the lower back, without raising your head, without bending your arms at the elbows. Perform 6-8 repetitions.
Ex. 12 “The cat looks at its tail”: I. p. – the same as in the previous exercise. Turn the body in one direction or the other with a noticeable effort, trying to push the pelvis towards the shoulder as much as possible. 4 repetitions in each direction.
Exercise 14: I. p. – standing on all fours. Pull the right knee towards the left hand, stepping over an imaginary obstacle along the way. At the same time, the knee describes an arc; it cannot be taken to the side. Return to i. p., perform with the other leg. Repeat 4 times.
Control. 15: I. p. – emphasis on the palms and knees. Alternately slowly raise each leg back and up, pull the toe of the foot. The extended leg should be parallel to the floor. Run 4 times with each leg.
To achieve a therapeutic effect, the exercise technique must be observed impeccably. It is best to learn the exercise therapy complex under the guidance of a physiotherapy specialist. You should concentrate your attention on muscle sensations, accuracy of movements, change of posture. It will be possible to fix the positive dynamics only after 2-3 months of regular exercises.
Therapeutic exercise for Bechterew’s disease with low disease activity
The set of exercises No. 1 proposed in the video is intended for patients with low pain syndrome and low AS activity, with peripheral joints not affected by the disease. The author of the complex, a specialist in physical therapy Kuzyakov S.N., in addition to the main part, included warm-up exercises in it.
It is impossible to maintain the range of motion of the joints and spine in Bekhterev’s disease without doing therapeutic exercises, since only physical activity is able to resist ankylosing spondylitis.