Essential exercise: Westminster gym provides fitness equipment to people with disabilites

Carroll County Times
2/17/2009

Mount Airy resident Dana Pickett has been in a wheelchair all her life. While the 29-year-old, who has cerebral palsy, is unable to walk on her own, she may some day and her mom Vicki said it’s because of the exercise her daughter has been getting at Therafit Gym in Westminster.

Vicki Pickett said her daughter has made more progress in six months than she had in the previous 29 years of her life.

“Even her speech is improved,” Vicki Pickett said.

Therafit Gym is a facility that provides fitness access to people with disabilities, ranging from quadriplegics to people with spinal cord injuries, to people with age-related disabilities.

The gym’s owner, Gina Gilligan, talked about her gym and the benefits that come from exercising Monday night at a workshop sponsored by The Arc of Carroll County.

“People with disabilities have the same benefits from exercise as people without disabilities,” Gilligan said. “It’s so important to keep moving.”

Lisa Albin, director of development with The Arc, said Gilligan’s gym is one of a kind in the area.

“We know that there is a need for this service,” Albin said.

Gilligan uses specialized equipment like a Quadriciser, which is a machine that doesn’t require a lot of sweat, but can help those who haven’t walked retrain their muscles to move.

“The motor is always running, but you can resist for more active exercise,” Gilligan said.

Jill Rosner, who attended the workshop, volunteered to try the Quadriciser.

“It was great, you really did want to work with it,” she said.

Rosner is a nurse and said she sees how immobility can lead to a decline in health and said people with disabilities will often stop physical exercise once they have hit a plateau in physical therapy.

Gilligan said community gyms are open to anyone, but they don’t always have the adaptive equipment or one-on-one counseling to work with people who have disabilities.

Kim Malone, of Mount Airy, was interested in the event because her son is developmentally challenged and she would like him to have more access to exercise.

“He has limited activity outside of his school,” she said.

Malone said her son cannot run or swim, but does walk. Though he is just 9 years old, she said he weighs as much as an 11- or 12-year-old.

Gilligan operates her facility out of her house and said with more than 20 clients, she is running out of room. She said she is looking to expand into a bigger facility and have more exercise equipment such as ellipticals and treadmills that even caregivers could use while a client is in session.

“There are so many things we are trying to include,” she said.