Another year, another lockdown. Whilst none of us want to live under the conditions the pandemic has placed us under, there’s no avoiding the fact that the situation won’t be going away imminently. For the millions of people who are spending months at home, this presents a major problem for physical health.
Physiotherapists can continue working through this third English lockdown but for many, this will mean, in part, advising patients on how to many any issues from their own homes. Anyone seeing a dramatic reduction in exercise and movement, whether young or old, may be seeing new health problems; those who haven’t previously seen a physiotherapist may find themselves seeking out advice.
The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy has published a great video with key exercise regarding how to stay active at home:
These exercises are excellent for those with limited equipment at home, but resistance bands can offer another, deeper levels of activity.
Why resistance bands are so good for home workouts
Resistance bands are one of the most useful items of home workout equipment for a multitude of reasons. Firstly, they’re very affordable and don’t take up any space, unlike a considerable amount of equipment. This allows the vast majority of people to acquire resistance bands, no matter their financial position.
Secondly, resistance bands offer a solution for a huge variety of issues. From easing joint pain and rehabilitating muscles to strengthening and improving flexibility, these bands can help. This is in part to the ability to focus on specific muscles and other parts of the body.
Thirdly, there’s little risk with resistance band use, compared with free weights. This is particularly important for older users, who may not want to lift something that hurts if dropped. Resistance bands are far more forgiving and our Spobands even eliminate the risk of the band snapping or causing friction burns by having a touch construction and a softer outer layer.
Barriers to successful resistance band use
While resistance bands offer users plenty of options for exercises and an unrivalled range of movements for just one piece of equipment, they do come with one problem. A problem that might be hard for professionals to see at first; what exercises should you even do?
For someone who has never used resistance bands before, knowing how to make the most of theirs seems overwhelming. When a piece of equipment has so much flexibility, it can be hard to know where to start.
This is the reason why it’s crucial to outline a set of resistance band exercises to each patient who uses them. For specific injuries, this is, of course, a given. But if someone just wants a recommendation for how to stay active at home, it’s easy to forget they’ll actually need more guidance than, ‘buy a resistance band.’
Creating infographics and videos is the best way to show patients how to complete exercises with resistance bands as they can check even when they’re at home and have forgotten what you described. As each person may need a different group of exercises, creating a separate graphic and video for each exercise is a good idea. Otherwise, name and number the exercises, and give your patient the names/numbers of those that you recommend.
Try our Spobands
We sell non-latex resistance band rolls for use in clinic when you need to cut off a strip quickly. These strips are perfect when you need to provide a lot of resistance bands and do a lot of demonstrations. We sell latex-free bands so you don’t have to worry about latex allergies.
Our Spobands are a fantastic tool for times when you or your patients need a long-term resistance band. They’re incredibly durable so will never snap and they’re washable too, making it easy to keep them clean and hygienic.
The Spobands come in a variety of resistances and have sewn-in loops, so the user can adjust the resistance and length with ease. Check out our range today and set your patients off on a home-activity habit that will keep them moving without having to go anywhere.
