Working as a home health aide requires you to wear many different hats. In a given day, you can find yourself being in charge of giving medication to a patient, preparing health meals, and even being a shoulder to cry on. Another duty that will be part of your daily life is providing physical support to patients, as you'll often need to lift them out of the bathtub, help them into your vehicle, and more. This rigorous work can be physically demanding, so it's important that you take time to strengthen your body to excel in your role and avoid getting injured. In particular, here are some areas that you'll want to strengthen at the gym.
Thighs
Your thighs and, specially, your quadriceps muscles, are highly important during the lifting process. When you bend to provide support to a patient getting off the toilet, for example, you'll be relying on your quad strength as you move from a squatting position to a standing position. Weakness in this area can cause you to rely too heavily on your back, which can increase your risk of an injury. There are a number of ways that you can strengthen your quads to improve the ease with which you lift and support your home care patients. Several different types of squats, in particular, are ideal.
Shoulders
The muscles that make up your shoulders, the anterior, lateral, and posterior deltoids, are also valuable to strengthen when you work as a home care aide. Your deltoids will be engaged during a variety of movements, including reaching out to support a patient who is having trouble staying upright. At the gym, you can rely on a number of exercises to strengthen your delts, including dumbbell presses and lateral raises.
Back
Even though you shouldn't be fully relying on your back to lift patients, there's no doubt that your back muscles will be exerted several times throughout your shift as a home health aide. The erector spinae muscles, which run along the length of your spine, can be strengthened through multiple exercises. When these muscles are stronger, they provide more stability for your back which, in turn, can lessen your risk of a lower back injury that prohibits you from doing your job satisfactorily. While you can strengthen this region with weights, you can also use your own body weight as resistance — in this case, lying back hyper extensions are a valuable strengthening exercise.
Share9 February 2017
When my grandparents were both diagnosed with cancer due to radon in their home, I knew that we were going to be spending a lot of time helping them out. We started focusing on different ways to help them out, but it was really challenging to find the time to care for them. We realized that we needed help, so we started looking for home health care businesses who could come out to help. We found an excellent company who could help, and they were amazing to work with. They made our grandparents feel comfortable and happy each day, and it meant the world to us. Check out this blog for great information on home health care.
