Two years ago a lady named Tracey won our 6 Week New Years giveaway challenge. Tracy, like many of our regulars here at Inner Strength had begun a new life challenge as she recently made the transition back into her parents house to become a full time caregiver for her aging mother.
Tracey applied for the giveaway because she had noticed she was starting to let her own health decline as she had put all her attention to taking care of not only her mother, but the house, the cooking, the yard...Everything a caregiver does...not much out of the ordinary.
However only 2 weeks into her giveaway, unfortunately Tracey’s mother fell at home. Tracey (admittedly) was more than 60 lbs overweight, has not exercised, save the two weeks of her giveaway and immediately ran to her mothers aid to lift her from the floor.
At that moment what didn’t seem like an issue prior to her signing up for this free giveaway because a major issue. When Tracey attempted to lift her mother up, she blew out her knee (which as you might imagine caused a chain reaction (of much greater issues than the bathroom not getting cleaned regularly) as she could no longer care for her aging mother herself.
Not only would she now have to care for her elderly mother on one leg for the next 12 months, but she’d have to hire additional help (which she had applied for the giveaway because she didn’t have the money to pay for personal training,) but she also had to live with the fear of her mother falling again, and her not being able to help her.
See that’s the thing most people don’t realize about strength training, it’s not supposed to be about “getting immediate results” (it doesn’t anyway BTW.) It’s about building the strength you don’t need right this very moment, so that you have it when you DO need it.
Tracey needed to have the strength in that moment. She (very admirably) had put off her personal needs for her aging mothers. What wasn’t admirable however, was the way in which she (again admittedly) neglected the needs of her own body, to be able to be the best caregiver she could be.
2 years ago I wished I could have done more to help Tracey. In fact it was one of the major reasons I made a big push to find the best Physical Therapist in Pittsburgh to become part of my team.
...Today on Healthy, Fit and Pain Free Pittsburgh, the guys are telling Tracey’s story (unfortunately) as a cautionary tale of how neglecting your requisite strength for being an effective caregiver can backfire in a flash. They break down the 4 most common caregiving movements that result in injury, where they most commonly occur, and provide examples of how you can strengthen your body, without weights, without machines, without a trainer so when your body requires you to be strong for those you love, you can tap into the strength you’ve proactively built.
This episode is accommodate by a post in the “Healthy, Fit and Pain Free Pittsburgh Facebook Group with Video Examples of how to perform the exercises the guys are talking about, and describe in the episode)