Use it Or Lose It. Exercises with FacExer.

Do you have dumbbells and/or resistance bands at home? Do you think that having such a tangible and simple sport equipment available at home motivates to be more physically active?

        Physical Therapist implements one of the principals of neural plasticity “Use it or lose it”, leaving a stretch bands at the patient’s bedside, which encouraging patient to exercise his/her hands, arms, legs and feet during the day - any time when possible.

      It is more difficult to encourage and monitor exercises for face and neck muscles strengthening  (including oral-motor exercises frequently prescribed by Speech Therapist).

"The tongue is the only instrument that gets sharper with use". ~ Washington Irving Quotes

     Based on publications regarding exercise physiology, we need to perform 4-5 specific exercises with 100-120 repetitions each per day for a minimum 4-6 weeks in order to get actual muscle hypertrophy.Wow! It is a very difficult and complex exercising regimen.

      Research during the past several decades indicates that, depending upon their conditions and the complexity of the regimens required, as many as 40% of patients fail to adhere to treatment recommendations (DiMatteo and DiNicola 1982; DiMatteo 1994, 2004a, 2004c; Lin et al 1995; Rizzo and Simons 1997; Dunbar-Jacob et al 2000; Laederach-Hofmann and Bunzel 2000; Haddad et al 2004; Haynes et al 2004).

     Unfortunately, this statement is a true regarding preventive exercising regimens too. When preventive or treatment regimens are very complex and/or require lifestyle changes and the modification of existing habits, nonadherence can be as high as 70% (Dishman 1982, 1994; Brownell and Cohen 1995; Katz et al 1998; Chesney 2000; Li et al 2000).

     Knowing that drop out from newly initiated exercise regimens is very problematic, FacExer team has decided to develop a very simple tool similar to stretch band.            FacExer can be used to exercise head and neck muscles while  lying down, watching TV, serfing in Internet, making telephone calls etc. Eventually exercises with FacExer are saving  time, spending on exercising, increasing effectiveness of the oral motor exercises. The added advantage is that caring staff can observe that prescribed exercise regimen has been performed - FacExer is a tangible convenient device.