Gym gets people with disabilities in shape

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Gym gets people with disabilities in shape

By Darla

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?

AID=/20080410/FEATURES03/804100311

The Louisville lawyer is a regular at a gym that Frazier Rehab

Institute has opened to members of the public who have disabilities.

The Community Fitness and Wellness Facility on the sixth floor of

Frazier in downtown Louisville has become a haven for people like

Fust who refuse to allow their disabilities to keep them from being

physically active.

" Being healthy and strong is not just important for able-bodied

people, it's important for people with disabilities and may even be

more important, " said Fust, 41, of Crescent Hill.

As a person with a spinal cord injury, for example, Fust is

susceptible to various secondary health problems, from cardiovascular

issues to pressure sores, she said.

But " remaining active and exercising ameliorates these problems,

which is good for me, it's good for my family and it's good for the

community, " she said. " It's not good for any of those groups for me

to be unhealthy and hospitalized. "

Fust is among more than 30 members who've joined the gym since it

opened last fall.

" This facility has been a dream of many of ours for a long time, "

supervisor Karey McDowell said.

" It's really hard to find a place like this that meets the needs of

people with disabilities, " said Reynolds, 24, a wheelchair user

who joined the gym about 2½ months ago.

Though it's important for people who are disabled to be as physically

active as possible, some of them become sedentary for various

reasons, including not being able to find a gym that's well-suited to

their needs, McDowell said.

But Frazier's gym, which is open in the evenings, gives people who've

recently left therapy a place to be active in a welcoming

environment, said McDowell, a certified therapeutic recreation

specialist.

It's also open to people who have been " living out in the community,

maybe 20 years post-injury, and have been waiting for the opportunity

to actually be able to utilize a fitness facility where they felt

comfortable and felt like that they could actually utilize the

equipment, " she said.

The benefits include the common reasons why people exercise, such as

weight-control, better muscle tone and general fitness.

" It's critical that you stay active and you keep moving, " McDowell

said. " There's that saying if you don't use it, you lose it, and I

really believe that. "

But there also are special benefits for people with disabilities such

as building on therapy successes and avoiding complications.

Sometimes, " you come to therapy and you make all of these gains and

then you go home and you sit and other things creep up on you, like

skin-care issues or high blood pressure or circulation problems, " if

you're not active, McDowell said.

Extra room and expertise

Sometimes there are just a few pieces of equipment available at a

traditional gym that someone who is disabled can use, or there might

not be staff available to show them the ropes, McDowell said.

But the Frazier gym is staffed by a team of employees, most of whom

have backgrounds in exercise physiology and know how to work with the

disabled.

Last week, Reynolds, who has cerebral palsy, sat in her wheelchair,

working her upper body with a rowing-type machine called an Ergometer.

Reynolds, a former Ms. Wheelchair Kentucky who lives in Louisville,

credits the gym with helping her lose a couple of pounds. Being able

to exercise there also has improved her strength and muscle

endurance, making it easier for her to transfer out of her wheelchair.

When it comes to the equipment, the staff is " more than willing to

help, " she said.

, 25, a wheelchair user who has spina bifida, has been

coming to the gym since early January and said, " I definitely feel

myself getting stronger. "

One of his favorite pieces of equipment is the NuStep, a recumbent

cross-trainer that gives him a good leg workout. Lower-body strength

helps him to hold himself up when he needs to stand.

, who lives in Louisville, said he previously belonged to a

traditional gym but left because it was too much of a hassle. The old

gym was crowded and the equipment was spaced so closely together that

it was difficult to navigate in his wheelchair. Frazier's gym

provides ample space to move.

" Having this available helped me out a lot, " said , a member of

Hill on Wheels, a Lexington-based team that won the National

Wheelchair Division III Basketball Tournament last month in Columbus,

Ohio.

Individual attention

At the gym last week, as lifted free weights while sitting in

his wheelchair, staff members helped Fust use a locomotor treadmill.

Strapped into a harness, Fust stood on the treadmill while two staff

members on either side moved her feet for her. It's stand and step

retraining for Fust, who's been paralyzed since a spinal cord stroke

in January 2006.

Using the special treadmill, which is hooked to a computer, has other

potential benefits, such as improving cardiovascular and pulmonary

functions.

The treadmill is part of the Frazier Rehab Institute/University of

Louisville NeuroRehab Locomotor Training Program funded by the

and Dana Reeve Foundation. And having access to such

sophisticated equipment is part of what drew Fust to the gym.

" It's not only about finding a place that will help me walk again,

it's about finding a place that will help me maintain the

improvements and the function that I do get back and maintain my

health as much as possible, " she said. " Once you've lost everything,

getting a little bit back is very important, even if you're not

walking. "