Exercising and keeping active in COVID-19

By Tegan Hailey

Exercising and staying active has never been more important until now! For many of us our regular forms of exercise and staying active have either been completely or to some extent impacted by COVID-19! 

We are finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, with the possibility of COVID-19 restrictions easing soon! And as we begin to move forward, it is a great time to reflect on what type of activity is missing or needs improvement in our day to day activities. So ask yourself ... 

1. How were you staying active before? 

2. How or what have you needed to adapt at home? 

3. What type of activity is currently missing to continue to stay fit? 

Whilst everyone has been talking about what you CAN’T do during COVID-19, we thought it would be great to talk about what you CAN do to stay active! 

Whether you have been going for a daily walk, run or cycle, been involved in an online home yoga/pilates or fitness circuit or have recreated a sport such as hockey in your backyard! COVID-19 has shown us that there are many different ways to stay active, without expensive equipment and even from home! 

1. Aerobic Exercise (also known as cardio): 

Is a great way to stay fit and can be the easiest way to incorporate and maintain physical activity during this time. Some great examples of aerobic exercise include … 

• Walking

• Running

• Bike riding

• Dancing 

• Skipping (jump rope) 

• Active video games 

Minimum 30 minutes a day is a great way to get out of the house for some fresh air and to stretch your legs! 

2. Strength and Flexibility:

As many of us have had a decrease or cessation of the various forms of exercise we use throughout our day, there is no surprise that we would also be losing the strength we have built and maintained with these activities. It is still important that we focus on maintaining strength and flexibility throughout our week. Whether that be by … 

• Workout online: Amongst the endless amounts of free exercise videos available on YouTube,  various qualified fitness instructors have taken their classes online. From strength workouts to yoga,Pilates, and high intensity interval training (HIIT) etc. 

• Going freestyle: Build your own workout, if you don’t have access to weights, use household items like filled water bottles and cans or jars of food, do some star jumps, planks, sit ups, push ups, or burpees. Anything to get your heart rate up a little.

• Recreate a sport in your backyard or lounge room (be aware of breakable items!).

  • Tennis: Get  2 dining chairs apart with a sheet over it to recreate a net 

  • Sports such as Soccer, hockey, netball etc: use tinned food or small objects to create obstacles to perform various drills around 

  • Good old fashioned backyard cricket 

  • Can you play squash/ or hit a ball against a brick wall?

  • Kick to kick.

FINALLY DO NOT FORGET - Sedentary Lifestyle!

It is extremely easy at the moment to fall into a sedentary pattern! It is extremely important that  Australia’s Physical Activity Guidelines still apply even in social isolation. Whether you are still working/studying at the office or at home, it is important to monitor your screen time and period of time spent sitting. Remember to break it up and incorporate the above 2 points into your day to day activities. 

If you would like advice or alternative ways to stay active during these times, please feel free to consult with your osteopath! We also love to hear about the new and interesting ways people have come up with to stay active. Don’t forget to encourage your loved ones, who you’re no doubt spending a lot of time with right now, to move their bodies too!

Physitrack @ Rockhopper

The days of taking home a scribbled piece of paper with a few (poorly) drawn exercises are over (we’re osteopaths not artists after all, haha). No more searching for it in the car or turning the house over trying to find that damned piece of paper.

A warm welcome to Rockhopper’s new favourite toy. Physitrack!! An app based program that allows us to send a structured tailored program of exercises that can be accessed from your phone easily - How cool is that!

The programs we set at rockhopper usually run from 4-8 weeks depending on the presentation, when we set these programs we like to schedule an extended consult (45 min) as a follow up session towards the end of your program, this allows time for a full treatment and reassessment of your exercise program that can then be edited to match your abilities and progression!

Below are a few tips to accessing your program plus a few things that each of us here at Rockhopper are loving about it.

Each program is accessed via an 8 letter code that is specific to your program. This means your program is only accessed by you and the osteopaths at rockhopper.

Step 2

Download Physiapp or log in online

Within the email is a link to download PhysiApp which is your access point. You can also view your program online at physiapp.com. Once you’re in you can set reminders and also pre download any video content so you can access it offline.  

Each program will come with a short message from your osteopath, if we have any additional information for you, it will show here. Depending on the case, we may include a specific questionnaire for you to complete at the start and end of your program, this is called an outcome measure and it is a way for us to track your progression from start to finish, and importantly can help us pick up areas that may need extra attention.

Step 4

Your program!

Most rockhopper programs will include 3-10 exercises. The order they appear in your program is our recommended way of completing the program. Each exercise will have a schedule of reps and sets. There may be some additional notes that we have included just for you too.

Step 5

The Exercise!

Each exercise has a video and a text description to ensure that you are doing them in an informed and correct manner. Occasionally, we will make small adjustments to how we would prefer the exercise to be done, those notes will be shown here. Once you have completed the designated sets and reps hit the complete button up in the top right.

Once you complete your exercise, fill out the amount of reps and sets you were able to complete and if there was any pain during the exercise. You can also give specific feedback for each exercise. This is a great spot to ask any questions, we’ll do our best to get back to you about it quickly.

Here is what the Rockhopper team has been saying about Physitrack.

What’s Cameron’s favourite part of Physitrack

“It is fantastic not having to write out programs by hand and use terribly drawn stick figures as diagrams. The videos and descriptions allow me to provide a few extra exercises into a program to really get things moving without making the program overwhelming”

What Tegan enjoys about Physitrack

“I really like how it enables us to manage and create tailored home-based exercises to fit the individual needs of our patients. Not only is it simple and easy to use, but it is also beneficial for all age groups and fitness levels. I really love how Physitrack reminds you to do your exercises, so you are less likely to forget to do them.

What Tink loves about Physitrack

“I love that I can still have lots of hands-on treatment time and know that the Physitrack videos are more thorough to help people remember the details of the exercises we give, rather than spending as much time as previously during treatment explaining them.”

If you have been using a physitrack program be sure to let us know what you enjoyed about it!

Stay mobile,

Cameron Allshorn

Osteopath @ Rockhopper