Sports & Ostomates

Articles Included:

· An Ostomate’s Look At Sports

· “Spring into Exercise” Carefully

· Keeping Weight Down

· The Drink of Champions

· Swimming with an Ostomy

· Sports

· A Dose of Reality

· Daily Exercise for the Non-Athlete

· Walk Yourself to Better Health

· Walking

· How to Age 30 Years in 21 Days

· Build Muscles...Now

An Ostomate’s Look at Sports
By Barbara Hurewitz

Sporting activities are some of the most exciting things for an ostomate to participate in. Good muscle tone and increased strength are important for anyone who has suffered a prolonged illness; but for ostomates there is added pleasure of doing something which, because it is a challenge, adds to our emotional strength.

When I was ill, I had no desire to do any kind of vigorous physical activity. After my operation, while I felt better, I was still worried about taking part in many activities, especially athletic ones. I was afraid my pouch would strain my abdomen, and that I would feel inhibited from really throwing myself into a sport. But, by starting gradually to do various exercises, and by taking a certain number of precautions, I not only have enjoyed vigorous activity, but have also found myself doing many sports I had never done even before my illness.

This successful activity has in turn increased my courage and made it easier to accept my ileostomy. It has certainly brightened my outlook many times. Swimming is one of the first sports an ostomate should try. It is a gentle form of exercise which uses all the muscles in your body. The gentle exercise of swimming should get your body into good enough shape to start any other sport. I would suggest wearing waterproof tape around the appliance. I have worn a temporary appliance to the beach and found this satisfactory. I would also suggest wearing some sort of reinforcement such as a stretch panty, or a gentle support belt for men under your bathing suit. This will keep your appliance from moving around, loosening, or causing discomfort.

This same kind of support is excellent for horseback riding. A comment from Northwind News reads, "We have quite a few members involved in sports in Alaska. We have ostomates involved in running, basketball, tennis, skiing, hiking, skydiving, mountain climbing, swimming, hunting, fishing, baseball, two and three week backpacking trips over all sorts of terrain including glaciers, and all kinds of dancing and skating."

Remember, always check with your doctor before starting any strenuous physical activities. Ease into training for any kind of strenuous sport by working out an exercise and nutritional program with your doctor. A doctor monitored program should prevent electrolyte imbalance and possible hernias. 

“Spring Into Exercise” Carefully

Adapted By The New Outlook

Spring is the time in Chicago when we love to go outside and be more active. But, when you do return to a more active lifestyle, increase your activities slowly and gradually. This will help you to prevent injury, especially if you haven’t been exercising regularly during the winter.

Ostomates should start out at very basic activity level. Increase your exercise only gradually. For instance, if you took walks in the spring and summer last year of about three miles a day, start off this season at one mile, and then increase a little each day. In addition, you may find that you cannot perform at the same level that you did last year. Just take it slow at a level in which you feel comfortable. Never strain yourself.

A good place to start is with a visit to your doctor, especially if your exercise program was non-existent during the winter. He/she will check your health and work with you on the best exercise regimen.

Before any type of exercise, slowly...warm up and stretch. This means let your body adjust with some easy, low-stress movements. Move into some basic stretches before doing your main exercises. End your exercise session gradually and end with more stretches.

Stretching helps to prevent injuries and enables your muscles to perform better. A strained back, pulled muscles or tendonitis may be avoided by careful stretching or warming-up. When you stretch, hold the stretch for at least 10 seconds. This helps avoid “bouncing” which tears muscles and tendons. Holding a stretch allows the muscles the time they require to overcome natural tension. Bouncing pushes the body too fast and makes muscles tend to guard themselves against that movement.

Stretch as far as you can comfortably and then hold that stretch. If there is pain, you’re going too far. Experiment on the positions best for you.

Your don’t have to be an Olympian to reap the benefits of exercise. It is never too late to start getting in shape. We tend to lose about one-third of a pound of muscle per year after the age of 30, and our bones become weaker—if not subjected to weight-bearing exercise. So in addition to aerobic exercises such as walking or swimming, doctors recommend people—especially seniors—to do some degree of strength training.

If your body is in pain two hours after exercising, back off a bit. You may experience some minor soreness later in the day or in the next day or two—this is normal. You should not have intense soreness or pain at anytime, especially shortly after doing the exercises. If any exercise causes you pain, try doing it more gradually or don’t do it at all. Also, you should never increase your rate of exercise by more than 10 percent a week.

Keeping Weight Down

--Ostomy News Review, Green Bay, WI

Keeping weight down is especially important for ostomates. Even a few extra pounds can affect the fit of our appliance and cause the stoma to recess. For new ostomates, extra weight may put pressure on healing tissues. Here are a few ways to drop or maintain weight.

· Eat your biggest meal at noon and then have a very light dinner by 6 p.m.

· Eat an apple, or two bread slices, or other fiber-type food 20-30 minutes before dinner. It will help curb your appetite at the table. These foods, combined with a glass of water, will expand in your stomach and reduce your capacity to eat.

· Chew well and eat slowly. It takes up to 20 minutes for the brain to receive the messages of fullness from the stomach.

· Don't eat after 6 p.m. Resist snacking late at night, and your body will reward you with more restful sleep and lots more energy in the morning. Food eaten in late hours will generally go directly into fat production because the body's energy needs are low at night.

· Remember that vegetables are considered free of calories when not covered with dip, butter, or other extras—so you can have these healthier snacks without guilt.

· Finally, instead of plunking down in front of the TV until bedtime, how about a relaxing evening stroll? You'll sleep better and feel better in the morning.

The Drink of Champions
By Susie Harrison, RD

Water is the most important nutrient, yet it is often the most neglected. Water is essential for every metabolic function in the human body, and lack of an adequate amount will result in less than-optimal performance, fatigue, and impaired metabolism. As little as a 2% water loss from the body causes a noticeable decline in strength/ power, precision, speed, endurance, aerobic capacity, and temperature regulation.

How much water is enough? Eight cups a day, or 64 oz., plus additional amounts to compensate for losses through sweating during exercise. Although this may sound like a lot of water to someone not accustomed to drinking water, rest assured that once you start drinking plenty of water, your thirst mechanism becomes active, and you will crave water frequently. Remember though, that thirst is normally a very poor indicator of hydration. A person typically will consume only two-thirds of his or her water needs when drinking according to thirst.

Also, our thirst regulating mechanism declines with age, which is why the elderly are at such high risk of dehydration. Therefore, it is a good idea to drink to satisfy thirst, and then drink a bit more. Drinking plenty of water will enable you to exercise at higher levels and for a longer period of time, therefore burning more calories.

In order to assure an efficient workout, follow these guidelines for fluid consumption before, during, and after your workout:

· Two hours before exercise—16 oz. of water

· Immediately before exercise—8 oz. of water

· During exercise—4 to 8 oz. of water every 15 to 20 minutes up to 26 oz. per hour.

· Weigh yourself before and after a workout, and replace each pound of weight lost with 16 oz. of water.

Swimming with an Ostomy

Adapted by The New Outlook

Ostomates swim. We put together a few little items we have gathered to help make you feel more secure. First, allow some time after changing a barrier before swimming so that the seal is secure. Overnight is best, but even taking that extra minute to let the barrier seal should be fine. The newer barriers actually melt to obtain adherence. You have to make sure this chemical action has taken place. To be extra secure, it may be best to picture frame the barrier with a waterproof tape. There is a "pink tape" available through most suppliers that works well to assure the appliance stays on your body.

Hollister's new skin like tapes as well as other similar types may be made more waterproof by covering them with a skin prop after they are in place. Cloth belts stretch in water. If you wear a belt, it may be preferred to substitute a rubber one while you are swimming.

Swimsuits, with busy patterns camouflage the appliance better than solid colored suits. Wearing solid colors will reveal the appliance more easily. Skirts, bows, sashes, ties, drapes on a swimsuit may also help camouflage the appliance. Boxer-style trunks work well for men. A tight garment under your swimsuit can help hold the appliance in place.

Depending on how active you are and the level of comfort you desire some of the following are good suggestions: A lightweight two-way stretch panty girdle; the top part of old panty hose; biking shorts; or sewing a pocket in the lining of your swimsuit to support the pouch. These are unisex ideas. Men can also try a pair of jockey shorts for similar support.

Mini, non-drainable pouches are an alternative to people who use two-piece systems. They may be more comfortable and have a lower profile under swimsuits than your usual pouch. They may be used over and over if you rinse them out and air dry after every use. Avoid pouches with built-in filters for swimming. Water can get in, and make a real mess.

Try and plan ahead for swimming. Even non-ostomates should wait two hours after eating before going swimming. Try to roughly calculate your transit time, how long it takes food to get from mouth to pouch, and eat your meals at a time that will allow you to have the least amount of output when you plan to swim. For most people, the first few hours after getting up in the morning will be the time of least output.

The conclusion to all of this, the main reason for writing this article is so that you go swimming. An ostomy does not stop you, or even slow you down from swimming and enjoying all the different type of water activities like hot tubs, beaches, pools, scuba diving, snorkeling, diving, swimming, etc. Enjoy it…you have been given a new life.

Sports

--The Swiss Ostomy Internet Site, Schweizer Stoma Suite.

There is no reason to reduce sports activities just because one has had ostomy surgery. Though, there are some common sense considerations that should be utilized:

· A tight and strongly sticking appliance is absolutely necessary. There is no need to do anything extra-ordinary. You should try and keep your pouch reasonably empty. You just have to consider the shape you are physically in, plus the considerations you make in your day to day dealing with ostomy management.

· Avoid sports with a high risk of injury such as boxing. If you insist on contact sports, some of us still do, protect yourself. There are manufacturers of special stoma guards. These guards will permit you to do just about anything. Do not let having a stoma prevent you from doing the activities you wish. Of course, if you are 120 years old, you may want to limit your sports activities your body would ordinarily accommodate without a stoma.

A sport that stresses your abdominal muscles too much should be avoided, unless you have slowly and deliberately, under the guidance of a knowledgeable professional, built up these muscles to the point where you can easily perform the skills necessary without undue exertion. Isometric exercises are the best at tightening the muscles to minimize the gaps between them.

When playing ball games such as tennis, you may want to cover or in someway protect your stoma. There are vendors that advertise in Ostomy Quarterly that sell stoma caps and stoma guards. (Editors note: Ileostomates should generally not wear a stoma cap as it will fill too quickly.)

Check your appliance after a strong physical effort. Due to perspiration and movement, a change of the appliance might be required. We all get less wear time with our wafer with any kind of physical activity. Do the activity. It is better to change it after an exciting, active day then relaxing yet not putting a strain on your equipment. Put a strain on it. Then change it.

Before you go swimming, make sure your appliance is secure and empty. There is no reason that having an ostomy should keep you from swimming. Some people need to take extra steps though. If your skin is oily, instead of taking a chance, tape your appliance with some "pink tape". This will really hold the wafer on. Most of us don't need this extreme protection.

Many ostomates water and snow ski. They only take normal, common sense steps when active. The newer ostomy equipment with advanced adhesives works pretty well by themselves. One more thing, specialty stores have specific bathing-trunks for ostomates, which are higher and have a pocket for the pouch. Men usually may wear any type of regular patterned boxer type bathing suit with no problems. Woman have it more complicated. Their suits sometimes fit tighter making it harder to disguise what's underneath. Ladies usually find suits anyway. In fact you still may wear a two piece, if your body is otherwise accommodating.

In summary, have fun. Do the sports you like. You do need to use some common sense. Protect your stoma from injury, then go out and do it.

A Dose of Reality

--Niagara Frontier Ostomy Association

An Interesting point of view...

"If we could shrink the Earth's population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look like this:

· There would be 57 Asians, 21 Europeans, 14 from the Western Hemisphere and 8 Africans.

· 51 would be female; 49 would be male.

· 70 would be non-white, 30 would be white.

· 70 would be non-Christian; 30 Christian.

· 50% of the entire world's wealth would be in the hands of only six people from the U.S.

· 80 would live in sub-standard housing.

· 70 would be unable to read.

· 50 would suffer from malnutrition.

· One would be near death

· One would be near birth.

· One would have a college education.

· No one would own a computer. 

When one considers our world from such an incredibly compressed perspective, the need for both tolerance and understanding becomes glaringly apparent..."

Daily Exercise for the Non-Athlete

--Vancouver Ostomy Highlife

A recent medical association report stated that "proper weight control and physical fitness cannot be attained by dieting alone. Many people who are engaged in sedentary occupations do not realize

that calories can be burned by the hundreds just by engaging in strenuous activities that do not require physical exercise".

Here is a tongue-in-cheek guide to calorie burning activities that can be conducted right in your workplace, as well as the number of calories per hour they consume:

Activity Calories Consumed

Beating around the bush 60
Jumping to conclusions 75
Climbing the walls 150
Swallowing your pride 20
Passing the buck 50
Throwing your weight around 100-400
Pushing your luck 100
Making Mountains out of molehills 600
Wading through paperwork 100
Juggling deadlines 120
Balancing the books 60
Running around in circles 250
Bending over backwards 50
Opening a can of worms 60
Tooting your own horn 100
Reinventing the wheel 150

Walk Yourself to Better Health

--Medford UOA

Although recovering strength after surgery or an illness can be a challenge, walking is one of the best and simplest ways to build stamina, according to Margi Morris, Stanford University.

Begin by deciding on a manageable amount of walking. Plan to walk for a short amount of time, and walk slightly more briskly than is comfortable, in order to increase the heart rate slightly. Increase the time walked by five minutes each week.

Ignore the idea of distance walked; the amount of time spent in exercise is more important. Work up to a walk of 45 minutes, and do it three times each week to maintain stamina, or walk 20 minutes six days a week.

Walking is a common and automatic activity; almost everyone can do it to some degree. It makes you breathe deeply, which pulls oxygen into your lungs, making you feel energetic. It improves circulation, lowers blood pressure, and generally strengthens your cardiovascular system.

In bad weather try walking in a shopping mall. Some malls have formal walking programs; if you don't want to be part of a group, pick your own time and walk at your own speed.

If you cannot walk, do something else to increase your heart rate. Water aerobics classes are another good form of exercise, although the usual one-hour sessions are too long for many older people. If you take part in such exercise and are exhausted when you get home, you are overdoing it and should try something less strenuous.

Walking

--Metro Maryland

We are built for walking. Sitting contributes to back end spread and puts strain on the wrong places. Standing is exhausting and can be bad for the circulation.

Walking moves everything correctly and helps our body fully. Walking is endorsed by medical and health authorities for an astonishing variety of benefits. Physical fitness expects say it is one of the best exercises. Cardiologists say it is a preventive for heart problems.

According to obesity experts, walking is a first-rate weight controller. Walking is an aid to digestion, elimination and sleep. Walking is an antidote for tension. In fact, walking and breathing freely so helps the circulation that every part of the body benefits.

A one hour walk can reduce blood pressure to a safe level. Maintaining a steady pace while walking keeps the circulation flowing freely, the lungs breathing, and the eyes taking in sights they never noticed or appreciated before. In twenty minutes, you can comfortably do a mile and smile.

Age 30 Years in Three Weeks

--Aviation Medical Bulletin

How can you age 30 years in the next three weeks? Easy! Just go to bed.

Five volunteers from Southwestern School of Medicine in Dallas agreed to go to bed for 21 days. Here is what happened:

· Cardiac out put decreased 26%

· Breathing capacity dropped by 30%

· There were declines in muscle mass

· There were declines in bone density.

Interestingly, the decrease was found to be almost identical to what occurs in a typical sedentary person in the three decades between thirty and sixty.

The bed rest simply accelerated the deterioration process that most people experience as a result of decreasing physical activity. They literally "aged" thirty years in twenty-one days.

Build Muscles...Now

Edited By The New Outlook

You should start strength training now, don’t wait to start losing weight first. The average 25-year-old woman has 25% body fat. The average 65-year-old woman is 43% body fat. As we start to lose muscle over the years—everyone losses muscle as they get older, our body fat increases. The good news is, you don’t have to be “average”. You can build muscle and burn fat, while gaining strength, balance and confidence. Oh yeah, and lose weight in the process.

A Dieter’s Dream

Cutting calories can help you lose fat, but unless you exercise, you’ll also lose muscle. In fact, when you lose weight, you lose muscle first. That’s why after ostomy surgery you feel a bit weak. You lost 25 to 35 pounds, but it was mostly muscle.

Strength training exercises, done three or four times every week, dramatically alter the ratio of bulky body fat to fat-burning muscle tissue. The more muscle you have, the more calories and fat you burn—even sitting still because exercising increases your metabolism.

Strength training has several benefits for the body, but it produces different results than aerobic exercise. Don’t consider skipping your daily walk—it is a great cardiovascular workout. Do regular stretching exercises also. You need to combine these different types of exercise for optimal fitness and weight loss.

More Than Muscles

Besides building strength and aiding weight control, weight lifting also improves the ratio of LDL—bad cholesterol—to HDL—good cholesterol, relieves arthritic symptoms and helps prevent diseases such as diabetes and hypertension. Studies show a direct link between resistance training and increased bone density. Strength training to prevent weight gain as we age can also help lower cancer risk.

Let’s repeat, strength building exercises:

· Help lower cholesterol;

· Reduces joint pain and swelling;

· Better controls your blood sugars;

· Lowers your blood pressure;

· Builds stronger bones;

· Helps prevent osteoporosis;

· Lowers cancer risk.

Dumbbell Basics

Before getting started, consult our doctor and perhaps a strength-training instructor. Always let they know that you are an ostomate and have special needs. Strength training exercises must be done properly to prevent injury and effectively to build muscle strength.

Once you learn proper technique, exercises can be done on your own. If you cannot meet with an expert, a good introductory video or guidebook can teach you basic movements. Do exercises in front of a mirror at first, to be sure your form matches that of the images you’re learning from.

Begin a program of strengthening the largest muscles in the body: those in the legs, back and chest. As an ostomate, you may want to modify your weight training from that of more tradition methods. Most weight training guides suggest lifting a weight that’s heavy enough to make you feel fatigued after eight or nine lifts. That may be too heavy for an ostomate. It is surely too heavy for an ostomate that is just beginning weight training .

If you cannot lift a weight at least 20 times without straining, it is too heavy for you. You need to build up slowly. And I mean very slowly. Never strain yourself and obtain adequate rest in between sets. For ostomates, it is better to lift a light weight 20 to 40 times instead of lifting a heavier weight 8 to 12 times. Lifting lighter weights build well defined muscle shape while lifting heavier weights build strength and bulk. Guess which weights Christy Brinkley lifts?

If you keep up your regular weight training regimen, you will be able to increase the weights you lift. The key is consistency, month after month, year after year, and you’ll be lifting more than you ever thought possible. Just so you know, the American College of Sports Medicine says that single sets are just as effective as multiple sets for beginners. So begin weight training this week. We’ll see you at the club.

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