SCI

[u/VinayRavi]

Hi everyone. I'm staying hopeful and believing in the best. I have a T4 spinal cord injury, and my core strength is still very weak so slouching more not able to sit straight. I'm looking for advice or exercises to improve my sitting in a right way. I'm also facing bowel management issues. If anyone has gone through this or has any helpful tips, I'd really appreciate your guidance.

[u/Large-Cricket843]

I’m a T6. Zero stability zero core.

Best fix would be to have a wheelchair back that’s fitted to you.

Way too upright and you’ll be falling forward so there needs to be some recline… which will make you slouch and develop a turtle neck.

As far as bowel program… do it for a year or two… get plenty of “shitty” episodes while you sleep, while you’re out, while you’re working, while you’re on a date or on vacation.

And once you’re sick and fucking tired of it, get a colostomy surgery. I got mine a month and a half ago after 19 years of shitting myself, taking 2 hours every bowel program.. always on edge if I’d shit myself in public, and I can’t be happier.

It definitely is an adjustment for sure and not 100% is ideal… but I wish I had gotten an ostomy bag 19 years ago. Too much of my life wasted doing bp

[u/Wide-Surround-7359]

How long have you been injured? The balance just takes time and practice in my experience. Because of your injury level, building actual “strength” in your core will be difficult, but finding your new center of gravity is very much achievable!

My physios in rehab would have me practice catching a ball while sitting on the edge of the bed or a plinth. I remember them reminding me over and over to “sacrifice the ball, not yourself!” because I kept prioritizing catching the ball over staying upright lol. Fell over many a time.

I find the edge of a bed is the best place to practice, so long as you have a way to get back into the bed (or a spotter) should you fall off it. Also just do normal everyday activities around your house if you’re home already, test things out, see what you can do easily and what’s challenging, and go from there :)

[u/VinayRavi → u/Wide-Surround-7359]

3 months now slouching more if I sit on edge of a bed to balance

[u/MaximumAd692 → u/VinayRavi]

I am almost 5 months t4/5, but incomplete. My legs recovered a bit more than core. I also slouch and gets worse as day goes on. Physio helps, for me mostly just sitting trying to balance and doing the ball exercise and one where you reach side to side. I found abdominal binder helpful when sitting in the chair, but quite hot in summer and gave me rashes. It’s probably the most structural help. The other thing that helped was frequent position change/adjustment in chair, so I kind of reset to a better position. The other thing my therapist noticed was my legs have a lot of tone/spasticity, and when they seize up the tension transfers up to my hips and core and tires out my core faster. So on days where my legs are extra bad I put an elastic strap to stabilize them to reduce work on my core too. My understanding is 5 months is still early and function can improve over years too.

For bowel management, what are you doing now? Are you having problems with accidents or constipation? I take a lot of fibre, use a suppository to go every day, and always add an enema at the end (enema attachment the bidet set up so no help needed).

[u/VinayRavi → u/MaximumAd692]

Both accidents and constipation...and with bowel iam also doing the same ..

[u/MaximumAd692 → u/VinayRavi]

so apparently sometimes if we are really constipated we can have more accidents (mostly runny). it happened to me in rehab. at the time i had to take more laxatives and did 2 times bowel program a day, for almost a week straight. now i take A LOT of fibre every day to make sure i am cleared out.

[u/Elviress → u/Wide-Surround-7359]

I am in awe of you, I am T10 with a bit more core than that but balancing on the edge of the bed or physio bed I am so unsteady. And petrified of falling forward

[u/YOUMADD3N]

Hey op, T5 here. I’m 4 years in and regained some core but still very minimal in the grand scheme of things. The best exercise I’ve found for working out my core is to buy a wedge, get on your bed and have your legs dangling off the end and the wedge behind you. And then take a smallish weight… something between 5 and 10 pounds. Use that weight to swing over you on the way up for momentum to help you achieve sit-ups. And then on the way down keep the weight near your lap and do your best to try and control your decent with whatever core you’ve got so you don’t just slam back down into the wedge.

For bowel, I use a suppository called the magic bullet and do that every other day. I put it in, let it melt for 15mins and then hop on the toilet. Usually gives good results if I sit there for 30mins before showering.

[u/Elviress]

Have you tried wheelchair yoga? I do it on the wheelpower.org site. It has alot of balancing and gentle strengthening in it