LPT Medical is luckily enough to occupy a small office located halfway between West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale, in Boca Raton, Florida. This area provides a surprising amount of nature trails and walkways to explore, and not to mention stretches of glorious beaches. If you are a Boca Raton resident or a nearby city on Florida’s southeastern coast we wrote this blog for folks who are looking to get outdoors and go for walks more often. 

LPT Medical is an oxygen supply company in Boca Raton, Florida. We are interested in providing oxygen patients with valuable information they can use to better manage their respiratory disease and take advantage of oxygen therapy benefits. This article is all about treating respiratory illness through exercise and specifically walking. Walking is the single most important and accessible form of exercise oxygen patients can add to their daily routine to improve their lung strength and health overall. 

Daily walks are a great goal to set for yourself if you struggle with a respiratory disease, the challenging part is getting started and knowing where to go! The other challenging aspect of walking, is having the right oxygen equipment that can hep make exercise and walking more accessible.

Therefore, we would first like to discuss how oxygen patients can walk with more ease and comfort.

Exercising With Supplemental Oxygen Therapy

Exercise is a critical part of treating any respiratory disease, no matter how severe or minor. Oxygen patients are normally at the point in their disease where their blood oxygen levels are consistently low enough that supplemental oxygen is prescribed to them in order to boost their oxygen levels to a healthier rate.

This all might sound counterintuitive because exercise can make you short of breath, and this is something that we try to avoid as oxygen patients. However, exercise strengthens your muscles and lungs, thereby expanding your lung’s capacity to work better in conjunction with your supplemental oxygen.

Having the right oxygen equipment can make walking and exercise in general more attainable, and even enjoyable.

Many oxygen users explain how bulky and cumbersome liquid and gas oxygen tanks are. Lugging around an oxygen tank while you do simple tasks like getting the mail or cleaning up your home becomes nearly impossible, and nothing sounds worse than exercise.

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So while portable oxygen concentrators and liquid and gas tanks all have the same main function; to give your body the oxygen it needs to maintain a healthier blood oxygen level, oxygen methods will have very different effects on your daily life. For instance, having a portable oxygen concentrator will not only fuel your body with the oxygen it is lacking, but it will also give you the mobility and freedom to exercise, run errands, and so much more. 

This is because pulse flow devices are normally very lightweight, for example, the Caire Freestyle Comfort portable oxygen concentrator only weighs 5 pounds. Portable oxygen concentrators also never run out of oxygen as a tank would, because they run off of battery power, and they simply need to be recharged. Devices like the Inogen One G3 can last for up to 8 hours before it needs to be plugged in. Having a device that will not run out of oxygen gives you the freedom to exercise and go for walks worry free. 

Some concentrators like the Respironics SimplyGo can operate within pulse flow and continuous flow settings, no matter what your oxygen prescription is, there is likely a device that can take care of your needs while you rest and while you exercise.

As you can see, there are numerous reasons why your oxygen equipment can either help you or hold you back, especially when it comes down to something like exercise. If you are interested in learning more about the benefits of owning a portable oxygen concentrator please read our other blog by clicking here. 

If you would like to speak with a respiratory specialist about portable oxygen concentrator costs, and more information, call 1(800)-946-1201 or email info@lptmedical.com 

If you are an oxygen patient or simply enjoy going for walks in the Boca Raton area, continue reading to learn about some of the best places to walk around your neighborhood. 

Gumbo Limbo Nature Center 

One of the best places to walk in Boca Raton is in the large oceanfront Red Reef Park, home to the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center with trails, a butterfly garden, and a sea turtle sanctuary.

The Gumbo Limbo Nature Center is a beautiful half mile-round trip walk through the Coastal Hammock Forest. Walking a half mile may be too much for some oxygen patients, but remember, you can slowly work your way up to walking these longer distances. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has limited capacity and closed down the north trails within the Gumbo Limbo Nature center, and parking lots remain closed in response to the Coronavirus pandemic until further notice. But there are still plenty of options to walk around and enjoy the beautiful terrain and explore very nice natural environments within the park. You can check out gumbolimbo.org and myboca.us for more information regarding closures and COVID-19 policies and protocols. 

Downtown, Boca Raton

A simple walk downtown in Boca Raton can be lovely. You can opt to enjoy time inside while walking through the Boca Raton Museum of Art, a modern and contemporary American and European collection. Walking indoors is a great way to get in your exercise for the day if there is rain, wind, or other unfavorable weather. 

You can also walk down streets in your local neighborhood, but if you easily tire of the same scenery, a trip downtown can be an easy way to change it up! Walking along a sidewalk in downtown is a great option for oxygen patients because it is flat, paved, and there are not many hills.

Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge

At the edge of Boynton Beach lies Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge a 145,000 acre buffer between suburbia and the Everglades. This is a beautiful area to get outside and enjoy the natural Southeastern Florida landscapes and wildlife.

Here, you can walk, attend events, fish, look at the wildlife, and even go boating. Pets are welcome, so if you have an animal that you like to take on walks, this is a special spot you can take a trip to enjoy the new scenery.

Daggerwing Nature Center 

Behind Daggerwing Nature Center in the busy South County Regional Park, lies an accessible boardwalk trail which leads you into a small area of tropical habitat with ancient trees. This is a great way to experience a walk through a very old jungle.

If you are interested in ecology, the boardwalk brings you into a wetlands area where you will enter a dark hammock thick with a multitude of different tropical tree species. After passing a spur, the trail leads to an observation tower that overlooks the beautiful canopy. If you make it up the tower, you can stand high above the forest floor for a great up-close view of the canopy. 

Sugar Sand Park 

In Boca Raton, the urbanized trails at Sugar Sand Park are great for all ages and oxygen patients. From the nature center to the playground the area is surrounded by coastal shrubbery and pine flatwoods, but the paths are paved and great for wheeling you oxygen equipment around behind you.

If you want to get on one of the nature trails, there is the Sand Pine nature trail and The Slash Pine nature trail. Neither of these trails are paved, but the trails are flat and wide enough to bring oxygen equipment with you!

Doris Davis Foreman Wilderness 

The Doris Davis Foreman Wilderness Preserve is a half mile loop through a lovely patch of tropical bustle in the center of suburban Parkland in Broward County. 

This designated area of forest offers public access to all of the site's amenities, the area is designed to be accessible for all to marvel in its beauty! There is a 5 ft. wide by 900 ft. long pedestrian trail traveling through pine woods and a 1,550 ft. boardwalk that winds gently through cypress wetlands and past a breathtaking oak hammock. There are two seating and observation areas along the path with a pavilion area located along the trail for a nice spot to take a break.

Overview 

If these nature trails do not get you excited to go out and walk, you might try walking on the beach. If you are able to carry your portable oxygen concentrator over your shoulder in its custom carrying case or via your portable oxygen concentrator backpack in order to avoid getting sand in the device, a nice walk along the boardwalk or even in the sand is a great way to get the exercise your body needs.

If you don't live anywhere near Boca Raton, you can try to Google search some areas within your city with nature paths or pedestrian walkways. If there are not a lot of trails where you live, If you like to golf, you can try to walk some of the green rather than using a golf cart the entire time. 

Simply walking is so great for oxygen patients, because even with the supplemental oxygen therapy, your body still needs exercise in order to maintain and improve its strength. Oxygen therapy simply gives you the energy you need to exercise comfortably, and having the best oxygen equipment is giving you the tools to be able to exercise without getting weighed down.