If you or a loved one are homebound due to age, ailment, or injury, it may be difficult to get in any sort of exercise. Minimal exercise is crucial to your health and keeps your muscles and circulation working well.
If you cannot leave your home, chair yoga is an excellent way to reap vast health benefits while remaining seated. As a leading home health care provider in Dallas, our experienced team of home health aides can help you perform quality mobility exercises from the comfort and safety of your own home.
How Does Chair Yoga Improve Health?
Chair yoga is great for homebound seniors or anyone homebound due to an injury or illness because it allows them to exercise safely and without the risk of falling. It also provides exercise benefits for anyone who isn’t flexible or able to move too much.
Chair yoga improves health by loosening painful muscles, provides stretching that improves circulation, reduces chronic pain, and decreases stress. It also helps prevent muscles from atrophy from remaining in the bed or chair without mobility for long periods.
Chair yoga can also help lower blood pressure, build strength, improve balance, protect joints, and lower anxiety.
Different Chair Yoga Poses to Try
So, we know that chair yoga is great for the mind and body, but how does it work? A vast amount of chair yoga poses will provide exemplary health benefits without the strain that comes with heavy exercise.
The only piece of equipment you need is a sturdy chair that allows for feet to rest comfortably on the floor. You can also use an elastic strap for resistance or a towel to help with stretching.
Whether you are working with your home health aide or physical therapist is assisting in the process, chair yoga can be customized based on movement capability, mindful of specific injury or health condition.
Beneficial chair yoga poses include:
- Neck rolls or neck stretch from side to side
- Shoulder rolls
- Warrior 1 (simply raise your arms above your head and touch your palms together in a prayer position)
- Seated forward bend (hinge forward at the waist and drape over knees)
- Single-leg stretch with extended leg down to the toe
- Seated core stretch by inhaling and raising the chest to the sky
- Reverse arm hold by interlocking hands behind the back to open chest and shoulders
- Simple seated twist from side to side with arms extended
These poses strenthen the mind-body connected provided by yoga that can both energize and relax the body. For the best results, it’s recommended that you practice chair yoga for 30 minutes, two to three times per week.
Who Is Chair Yoga Best For?
Chair yoga is best for older adults with limited mobility, or anyone suffering from an injury or ailment that has decreased movement during the healing process. If you or a home nurse is working with your loved one, it is great to do the routine with them so they can watch your movements.
Older adults will find that over time and with practice, their strength and flexibility will improve from doing chair yoga. Seniors will become more mobile and add additional yoga positions to their routine.
How to Integrate Chair Yoga Into Your Current Home Health Plan
One of the best things about integrating yoga into your home health routine is that it is easily adaptable to your abilities and movement level. Older adults should only do an easy chair yoga routine if they tire easily.
Remember, when integrating chair yoga into home health, movements should never be painful and your loved one should feel comfortable and safe during the yoga routine. It’s always better to move slowly and to do less than risk injury or overexertion.
Experience Total Homebound Care with Angel Home Healthcare Services
Whether you or your loved one needs home health care in Dallas, in-home physical therapy, or a home health aide, you can trust the experts at Angel Home Healthcare Services. We are compassionate, dependable, and affordable. We provide the best possible care, focusing on safety and quality and consistently exceeding our client’s and their loved ones’ expectations.
We serve 15 different counties throughout North Texas and are a Medicare-certified and licensed home health agency. Get in touch with us today to learn more about our expert services and how a home health aide can benefit you or a loved one.