Bed Bound Movement a la Carte
Anyone who has been diagnosed with any chronic condition has heard the guidance to exercise. It's usually the first thing out of a doctor's mouth, which is really obnoxious when you can't get out of bed, much less to the gym. No one tells you how to get from bedbound to working out, they just say do it. This is compounded if your weight flags you into the medical category of "the only things wrong with you is you need to lose 20 lbs", a deeply unhelpful dismissal of legitimate issues due to ingrained and rampant discrimination within the medical community.
I have an active background - I was in the Army during my first diagnosis and it cost me my intended career. Working out meant something really specific to me and I couldn't do it - I could barely walk and used a cane to shuffle to the bathroom.
The truth is that activity does help. For me, it was yoga, but it can be anything. So let's start with the basics - how to move while stuck in bed and fatigued. The goal is not sweat, or heart rate, or strength. The goal is only to move a little without depleteing your limited spoons and crashing yourself. We're trying to give your body some of what it needs without taking away what little you have to work with.
This is designed to be done in bed. You can make this more involved as you either gain strength or have better days, but my goal is to share what I did during the years I spent more time in bed than out of it.
This can take you all day - that's okay! Rest as much as you need. Divide these up over a whole week if you need to. If you can do 1 thing a day, just one, you're getting movement. I tried to do one section each day and then started over, eventually being able to do more.
This of this as an a la carte menu, not a full meal. Pick and choose what you need, what you can do. The goal is consistency, a very small movement every day.
Starting Position
Prop yourself up with pillows until you're relatively upright but can relax. You should be at rest while upright (I slept with one of these behind me always with my soft pillow in front of it). Rest here until your body has adjusted to being upright, however long it takes.
Shoulders and Neck
Drop your ear to your shoulder. Go slow, don't push this past what you can do. Hold it there for a moment. Return to neutral and rest. Do the other side. Rest. Tuck your chin and slowly drop your head down to your chest (you will feel this in your upper back/thorasic spine). Lift up. Rest. Drop your head back (chin in the air). Return to netural. Rest.
Roll your shoulders back and forward. Do them together and seperately. Rest.
Congrats, you've opened up your neck and shoulders, as well as stretched your thorasic spine. HUGE!
Lower Back, Side Body, and Chest
These are huge muscle groups and they suffer from being in bed more than any other. Gently moving them will help keep the sore back and other add-on miseries down to a dull roar.
Place a pillow or two on your lap. Lay forward against it. Use as many pillows as you need to support you comfortably. Try to stay there as long as you can - this opens your lower back. If you can only do one things in the section, do this one - a little forward laying every day will keep your back from compressing. Lay back and rest when done.
Lift one arm into the air. Hold it up if you can. Stretch it up if you can. Reach slightly to the side (to stretch a little of your side body) if you can. Lower it when you need to. Rest. Repeat with the other arm. Rest.
Gently twist to each side. Use your arms to help you twist if you need to. Rest between twists. Don't go further than you need to in order to feel a gentle pull in your lower back. You're not trying to see behind you, you're trying to move your spine a bit. Rest.
Reach your arms in front of you, rounding your shoulders forward. You should feel this around your shoulder blades. Rest. This can be exhausting because those are huge muscles so give yourself lots of recovery from this.
While fully supported against your pillows. lift your chest up. If you can, press your shoulders back into the pillows. Rest.
Big muscles, big energy for this. Do these as you can but don't push it. It may not seem like a lot in your mind but moving these large groups is really taxing so treat it accordingly.
Lower Body
Last bit. When you're not walking a lot, the lower body can get particularly stiff around the joints. This is only to help keep those from getting too tight so when you can walk, it hurts less. You can do all of these lying down so if you have days where the starting position upright is too much, these can be good to do.
Point your toes. If you're not walking much, the tendons and muscles in the front of your leg will be tight so do it gently. Relax. Rest.
Flex your toes by pushing through your heel. This is the reverse of the point and works the back. Relax. Rest.
Roll your ankles. Twist your foot to the left, then the right. Do the other side. Rest. Go slow - if you aren't walking much, the tendons will be really tight so you don't want to rush them. Rest.
Bend your knees. This is harder, take this slowly. Keep them on the bed, just slide your foot closer to your body so your knee bends a little. As your do this more or have better days, you can try to bring your knee towards your body, but even just bending it while resting it on the bed helps the joint. Rest.
Move the hips. This is exactly that - just movement. Wiggle your hips side to side slowly. Tilt your pelvis back and forth. It never needs to leave contact with the bed, just gentle movement to help all those gigantic groups around the glute get a little activity.
