Guest guest Posted April 29, 2006 Report Share Posted April 29, 2006 Hi Reema, What an upper! Learning to swim. I learned as a child, like my brother (no CMT) and all my peers, so I was maybe 5 or 6. Hadn't been diagnosed with CMT yet, and was just as good as the other kids. As you know my CMT is not what I consider 'severe' and I have kept up swimming, but also manage an aquatics program of other water-based exercises (look in our Files for a list) Just learning to swim now is wonderful - anyone can learn at any age. Your flutter kick may be weak, and your arms may not make such powerful strokes, but keep this up. You can work on your kick alone just using a kickboard or bellyboard. Another way to improve your kick and work legs and arms at the same time is to wear flippers or fins. I have used ones called Zoomers. Here's some links http://www.zoomers.net/ and http://swimming.about.com/cs/flippers/a/swim_fins.htm You can also work on your arms alone using some aqua/styrafoam weights. If your muscle capacity is still there, it is possible to build up your muscle. You will have to let your instructor know that you must do all this AT YOUR OWN PACE. And remember, water exercise takes the stress off joints and makes the body buyouant, so it " feels " easier to move in water than on land - which, it is. But, if you do too much in the pool at first, being back on land you'll feel great fatigue. Keep this up by all means for 6 months and re-evaluate this. You'll get stronger, you'll feel really good too. Let me know how it goes. ~ Gretchen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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