The benefits offered by practicing sport are multiple. Today we are going to talk about exercise focused on treatment for people who have some type of pathology such as diabetes. Therapeutic massages are also usually of great help in these cases.
Benefits of therapeutic exercise
There are many benefits at a general level in health that are known and important. Therapeutic exercise in diabetics improves, for example:
- Functioning of the heart: When we practice a prescribed physical exercise, we improve the quality of the capacity of the muscle fiber to give elasticity and then contract, with which the systolic and diastolic part of the functioning is also influenced to work better.
- Cost-effective lung volume: Helps improve breathing capacity.
- Mood improvement: this always accompanies being able to improve other types of habits, diet, smoking, etc.
- Redistribution of body fat: Improves metabolic level.
- Locomotor system: In a short time, the results are seen in the improvement of general motor skills.
- Bone mineralization: In patients with diabetes, due to a defect that they present when metabolizing carbohydrates and proteins, they are more predisposed to generate some type of waste that affects collagen, for example, elastin, and that all this is compromised.
- Blood glucose levels: In diabetic patients, it is essential to control blood glucose and sports, exercise, in this case therapeutic, accompanies, and treats this problem very well.
Types of therapeutic exercise
We know – albeit roughly – the concept of “aerobic exercise” to improve health and to treat different pathologies.
- Aerobic exercise: Exercise of less intensity and long duration. It is characterized by the way the heart works at a rate of less than 80 percent of maximum capacity. These activities can be walking at a certain pace, riding a bike, jogging, walking on a treadmill, doing ellipticals, swimming, etc., and that it can be maintained for several minutes without suffocating, according to lung capacity, of course. This exercise is very interesting and it is almost always easy to adhere to it.
- Anaerobic exercise: Exercise of greater intensity and short duration. It is more explosive, more strenuous but very interesting. There is no reason to exclude it, but you do have to know how to program it. It implies that the heart rate rises 80 percent concerning the maximum.
- Interval exercise: Combination of aerobic and anaerobic exercise. It can be said that they are quite intense bursts of exercise but they are combined with considerable rest intervals. This is very good for patients as it is a very realistic, very functional way to train the body. It has many benefits, in fact, high-intensity exercise – even when combined with lower intensity aerobic exercise – has the same benefits as aerobic exercise, but takes less time to get results.
Use of technology in treatments
On the other hand, technology is a tool that offers endless resources to health, both for diabetic patients and others:
- Pedometer: Indicates how many steps we take daily.
- Heart rate monitor: This shows the heart rate and is very useful to differentiate between types of exercise.
- Metronome: It is a device that is used in music but that comes in handy to mark the rhythm of movement and gives rise to continuity in that rhythm and to be maintained over time.
- Glucose monitoring: In terms of therapy, we have the option to enjoy, luckily more and more precisely, continuous glucose monitoring that informs people with diabetes what parameters or what blood glucose levels they have as the hours go by.
- Insulin pumps: As a treatment, when insulin is needed, we have insulin pumps that greatly streamlined procedures and that already make it possible to avoid the use of needles and injections.
- Virtual reality: This technology is present in many areas and also has its reach in health. Some studies offer, for example, the possibility of playing with obstacles to train the reaction capacity, balance, to give a little liveliness to the movement and not always be monotonous.
Conclusion
This type of exercise, prescribed by professional therapists, increases insulin sensitivity, promotes the redistribution of insulin, and mainly lowers blood glucose levels, improving the quality of diabetic patients considerably.
This type of therapy also greatly improves the autonomy of people with disabilities, being in this way – physiotherapy – a powerful tool for social inclusion.
Consult with your trusted physiotherapist before doing any of these practices since, being quite a personalized treatment, you will receive the appropriate treatment to improve your way of life. Visit a Physical Therapy Center to get more information.
