My son has low muscle tone and motor dyspraxia and now that he is wearing a Boston brace for scoliosis it has been almost impossible to get him to exercise enough to strengthen his core muscles. Walking long distances is hard for him because of the foot pain, even though he has specially made orthotics in his shoes. Our co-pays for physical therapy would be close to $200 a month and it would just be three days a week. He needs the exercise every day.
I think I found a way that he might be able to exercise pain free--a hot tub. I have been doing a lot of reading about this lately and I read things like "water's buoyancy serves as a cushion, protecting joints during exercise routines and since water offers more resistance than air it helps people build muscle strength as they push against it."
I also read that it is good for people with sensory disorders, weakness, poor motor coordination, pain, perceptual/spatial problems, and motor problems. I think it might also be good for a mom with anxiety and high blood pressure issues.
What a wonderful thing it would be for my son to have more time to learn without being distracted by pain. He could do history in the hot tub if he started hurting. He could listen to literature while lounging in the hot tub. He could practice singing his solos for musical theater in the hot tub. He can exercise without the brace in the water making it so much easier for my son.
I think we just need to do it. We are going to try to find a way to build on an exercise room and a place for a hot tub for my son, but going into debt really scares me when my husband can't get enough additional life insurance to cover the total amount of the loan and he rides a motorcycle, had cancer, and will retire in less than three years. I can imagine what Dave Ramsey would say about this. Once again I feel like we have to choose between spending money on the disability issues or making sure my twice exceptional son can go to college. This is almost as scary as making that decision to homeschool. Am I crazy? Are we doing the right thing?
