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Danielle Peers was about 10 years old when she begged her oldest brother to teach her to play basketball. He used sidewalk chalk to trace diagrams of  where her feet should go. They played for hours, until he got bored and went home.
"I just kept going at it, and it was dinner time and my mom said, 'Where's Danielle?' and he said, 'I think she's still at the neighbour's, playing hoops,'" Peers recalls.
Peers wasn't only hooked, she was good. by the Time she was 12 she was an elite athlete, competing all over North America on all-star teams with and against girls up to two years older. As a student at Grant MacEwan College, she was an Academic All-Canadian and captain of the 1998 team, which was ranked number one nationally.
All the while she suffered muscle problems, but doctors attributed it to her level of activity. Four years ago, she was finally diagnosed with muscular dystrophy, a degenerative illness. Since then, her muscles have gotten significantly weaker. She now spends one-third of her time in a wheelchair and one-third waling with crutches. The remaining third she walks unassisted.
But far from slowing down, Peers has become more active. She is, literally, a poster girl for staying fit: on a wall in the aerobic workout room at the Steadward Centre for Personal and Physical Achievement at the University of Alberta, there's a giant colour photo of her dressed in uniform for the Canadian Paralympics basketball team, which she led to the world title in 2006. In the last three years, she's won gold medals at the Canadian Women's Nationals, the USA Men's Division II Nationals, and the American Women's Nationals. More recently, she was named Canada Basketball's Outstanding Athlete of 2007 - an award for which she was up against able-bodied players.
Her diagnosis has inspired her to stay active, she says. She's not talking just bout competing at an elite level, either. Last year, she made it her mission to find a variety of recreational activities to keep her busy and moving.
She began cross-country skiing, using a "sit ski." She bought a hand-cycle, which allows her to use her arms to pedal as she bikes across town. And she discovered a new favourite sport: kayaking.
"You're on a completely even playing field with everyone else, aside from portage (carrying the kayak over land), which people are usually willing to do for you," she says. "You're moving through water. If anything, you're a bit stronger because you're a bit more used to using your arms for things, but it's a beautiful sport to do with disabled and able-bodied people."
Healthcare professionals have long touted the physical and psychological benefits of keeping fit: it's good for the heart and for weight control, lowers cholesterol, and can help combat depression and improve self-esteem. Those factors are just as important for people with disabilities. But finding the time and place to exercise is a whole lot more challenging when it's a struggle just getting out of bed and tending to the basics of daily living.
"It's hard enough for people who aren't disabled to exercise," says Dr. Nigel Ashworth, chief of the Division of physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital. "It's probably twice as bad or even worse if you've had a stroke or are disabled. You're already weak - if it takes you an hour or two to get ready, to get dressed in the morning, instead of 15 minutes, you have even less time."
That's certainly the case for Sam Halabi, who fell 22 feet out of a tree in a bow hunting accident, 12 years ago. The first thought that crossed his mind was, "Oh boy, I've really done it this time." A park ranger and avid bow hunter, Halabi knew not to move when he hit the ground head-first and heard a loud popping sound in his neck. Now a quadriplegic, he is determined to stay fit in spite of his disability. Thanks to Capital Health's home care program, someone comes to his house every morning and night to stretch him to ensure that his joints don't stiffen. He also has people who help him with everything from getting to the bathroom to preparing his meals.
For the past three years, since purchasing a specially outfitted van, the provincial operations officer with Alberta Tourism, Parks, Recreation and Culture has driven himself to and from work. At the office he types by using a dowel tucked into a wrist splint. Because he can only type 10 to 12 words a minute, he also uses voice-recognition software.
"The last thing I feel like doing after a long day sitting in a chair and working is going home and pedalling on a bike, but I don't see an alternative," Halabi says. He works out daily using an arm ergometer, also known as an arm bike, which allows him to use his arms to pedal. He gets an aerobic workout and strengthens his upper body.
"I've lost friends who have been in a wheelchair and they're usually in their early 50s, 60s, at most," he says. "I'm realistic that could be my future if I don't look after what I have."
Spinal cord injured patients have a shorter life expectancy, anywhere from 10 to 30 years less than able-bodied people, depending on the severity and the age at which they were injured. Those whose injuries affect their ability to breathe are more susceptible to respiratory infections such as pneumonia. Because their ability to move is severely compromised, they're more likely to develop pulmonary embolism and pressure sores, the latter of which are exacerbated because the numbness means they can't feel the sores developing. Although improvements in catheterization have meant a significant decrease in the number of deaths from kidney infections, people with spinal cord injuries are still more susceptible to kidney problems and urinary tract infections.
Exercising doesn't necessarily prevent any of those conditions but it helps with weight control and contributes to overall health. The less weight you carry and the more physical reserves you have, the greater your ability to fight infections, says Dr. Dhiren Naidu, a specialist in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation an assistant professor at the University of Alberta.
"We would not see half the chronic problems we see, or the pain cycles we get, if people would do aerobic exercises," he says. Aerobic exercise produces endorphins, which are potent pain relievers. Although no studies have been conducted to show that more exercise equals less pain, Dr. Naidu has observed enough athletes ignoring obvious pain at the height of aerobic exercise to believe that there is truth to the theory.
A team doctor for both the Edmonton Eskimos and Edmonton Oilers, he recalls watching hockey player get slammed into the boards, assuring everyone that they feel fine, and continuing to play. The next day, these players discover a serious injury, such as a broken bone. Dr. Naidu has also seen triathletes and marathon runners who, when they can't train because of an injury, feel more aches and pains simple because they're not active.
Dr. Naidu and Dr. Ashworth make it clear that people with disabilities don't need to train like elite athletes to benefit from exercising. Even something as simple as stretching can make a huge difference, particularly for someone who can't move on his own.
Consider a high-level quadriplegic, like Halabi. If he didn't get stretched every day, he'd risk permanently bent knees, because he spends the bulk of his day with his knees bent in a wheelchair. Think of the last time you took a long car ride or overseas plane trip. After sitting in the same position for 11 hours, when you finally do stand up, moving is difficult and painful. "When we're sitting, we feel tight and move our backs around to decrease our discomfort," Dr. Naidu says. "People who are paralyzed can't do that."
Stretching is also good for your skin. "If you have a really clenched fist (because of a neurological condition), sometimes you can get a skin breakdown," Dr. Naidu explains. "By stretching, you can relax some muscle groups that are quite spastic. It's amazing what the basic things can do to help you function."
Because it requires no special equipment and can be done anywhere, stretching is the most accessible form of exercise for the majority of people with a physical disability. Regional strengthening, focusing on the muscles in a particular part of your body, is also relatively accessible, depending on how much strength and movement a person has, says Dr. Ashworth. It can be done in a wheelchair, with weights.
More challenging is aerobic exercise, which burns calories and strengthens the heart. If you don't have the use of your legs, you depend on your arms to burn calories. Depending on the nature of your disability, such activity may do more harm than good. For example, people with neurological conditions such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (sometimes called ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease), multiple sclerosis, or muscular dystrophy need to conserve their  muscular and energy reserves or they won't be able tot end to their basic needs.
Peers would seem to fall into that category, but even with her muscle function decreasing, she's determined to stay active. "It makes a huge difference in becoming normal again," she says. "It's refreshing to come into a community (where having a disability) is old hat. You realize this isn't so special or different. I think a lot of people learn their independence through sport. You're in a place where people won't protect you."
Not only that, she adds, but playing wheelchair ps orts allows you to learn from others with similar disabilities, whether it's how to set up and manoeuvre your chair, or how to transfer from one seat to another.
"Wheelchair athletes will often mentor new people - giving them hints about things to make their lives easier," she says. "You learn things that you don't learn at the hospital, things an able-bodied occupational therapist isn't necessarily going to be able to help you with."
One of the biggest and most unexpected benefits for Peers has been the effect on her perspective. Her health has worsened and will continue to deteriorate, but because of the years she's spent playing basketball with and against people with a variety of disabilities, she says, "my reaction to my diagnosis is a lot different than it would have been otherwise. I have a sense that things are going to have to change: I can't live in a house with a lot of stairs. But I'm not thinking, I'll never have a relationship and I won't be able to have kids, or a lot of those things that cross people's minds."
Halabi maintains a similarly optimistic perspective. Even a month after the accident, when doctors informed him that he was now a high level quadriplegic, he refused to submit to a life of inertia.
"In my mind I've always be a Type A personality and stubborn as the day is long, and competitive and sports-oriented," he says. "I reached down inside and said, 'I'm going to beat this. I'm going to get back on my feet in some way, at least prove that I can still do many things and be independent.' It was just a challenge to me.
"I see it a little differently now," he adds. "I haven't given up hope that one day I'll return to my feet but the realty is you can bang your head against the wall and the wall doesn't really move a lot and your head gets hurt after a while. You do things differently. You don't give up hope. You do the best you can with what you have."
Points of Contact
There are a number or organizations in the area that promote recreational sport and activity for those with disabilities. Here are a few:
To learn about other sporting activities for people with disabilities, visit the To Do Canada website: http://www.td.ca
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Moving Beyond Barriers