–   APRIL 2021   –

So why is this happening? We understand that you might be feeling concerned that this deterioration indicates that your condition is worsening. If your condition is not degenerative and the decline in your health is unexpected, it is probable that it could be the result of lockdown inactivity.

When lockdown required all non-essential venues and services to close for such an extensive period of time, this brought with it multiple problems that we are only seeing the real impact of now. This includes the following: 

1.    Medical appointments that were previously part of normal routine ceased altogether, resulting in an absence of regular touchpoints with medical professionals. If your pre-lockdown condition was stable and you were working on maintaining your level of physical ability each week, removing these regular in-person appointments means you might now need to go back to basics to build back up to your maintenance level. 
2. To attend medical appointments, therapy sessions, or recreational activities in the local community before the COVID closures, this would have required you to be moving around a lot more. Perhaps you would take a bus to these meetups? Getting a bus would involve you stepping up onto the bus, stepping down off the bus, and quite possibly walking a little way to get to the bus stop too. Once at a medical centre or recreational venue, you’d be in a different environment using bathroom facilities where the toilet is maybe at a different height to yours at home, requiring you to manoeuvre your body slightly differently and further condition it, positively. All of these differences to your home environment would have given you additional exercise; additional exercise means your body would feel stronger. 
3. It would be understandable to feel more withdrawn and maybe even depressed after being cut off from social contact with loved ones. Research tells us that there is often a correlation between mental wellbeing and physical disability; if someone is experiencing anxiety and depression, their pain level can increase. A spike in pain level will result in not wanting to be very active because every movement would induce further pain. Being less active means your physical conditioning will deteriorate (and possibly cause further pain), and so this cycle continues. 
4. The longer you have had to remain indoors, the more daunting going outside can seem. Your neurological condition might make you more susceptible to COVID, so you will have been advised by your trusted medical team to stay at home to protect yourself. Consequently, the thought of reintegrating into society now that the lockdown measures have been lifted, could be something that feels scary. By staying in the confines of your own home, you will not have been covering the same distance naturally exercising as you would have if you were venturing beyond your immediate family home. 

Do any of these scenarios relate to your experience? If so and you’re worried about the best next steps to take to ensure you are doing everything you can to prevent any further deterioration, and reverse (where possible) the current physical limitations you are dealing with, please contact the Active Edge Physio team today. We’ll be able to connect you with the right neuro physio support and advise you on what needs to be implemented to get you back on track to restore and retain your pre-lockdown range of movement.  

Please book a free 15-minute consultation with our team here at Active Edge Physio. Alternatively, complete the referral form online and we’ll be in touch within 24 hours (on week days) to explore the best way forward.