Here's a bit on using your arms on the treadmill:
http://walking.about.com/od/treadmillworkouts/ss/treadmillmistak_7.htm
Unlike what they recommend, I hold one or the other rail for the most part. This keeps the cats from laughing at me when I fall off. I do a mile every morning, but my O2 at best is 91-92. Such is life...

OOOO! Ouch! Fell off a treadmill once. It was defective and speeded up big time all on its own. It didn't stop either. Caught my toe in the belt thingie. Bled alot. Was glad I was by myself though, would have been really embarrassing if people were watching! The cat didn't laugh - she just looked at me, sighed and walked away!

I, of course, now hold on to both sides..... I don't care what they recommend! :o) And I use 2 liters to keep my stats up.

They told me in pulmonary rehab that I could hold on. My balance is not all that good:>))

my treadmill has cross trainer handles that I can use if need be and I do use them but mostly just to have something to hold onto.
I am lucky that my treadmill has a cord that I can clip to me so that if I should fall it will pull out a little key and turn the treadmill off. Great safety feature.

That's great Moonsky you can do 35-40 minutes on incline. I wouldn't worry about not holding on just do what you feel comfortable with, if you want to try and lose a few more pounds you could use your arms to mimic power walking. You could start small and work up if you have the inclination. Ie 6-10 steps arms power walk on 10-20 holding on to recover and just keep repeating that as you feel you want to. You could try reducing the incline when trying this out and that way you could vary your routine.

KIeep up the good work.

Walking on treadmill is great and doing the incline is even greater! The idea is to do as much as you can. I touch the bars on mine just for balance sometimes but not a lot of pressure. Not good to lean on it as you are defeating the purpose. If you have to lean, then maybe you need to slow down a bit and rest in between.

Walking outside is always best, however we don't always have the weather to do that. So walk outside when you can as you can see the difference!

Happy walking - keep up the good work!!

Or the terrain. Great having you post on the main board. Tomorrow is hair & pub day. I'm getting it all whacked off:>))

Oh, Kaput, I'm afraid I've spent too long with a 'rowdier' segment of society. My first thought was did she mean hair and pub as in bar or hair and pub an abbreviation as in Brazilian? Since I've only had the oxygen for about a month so far, let's go ahead and blame my deranged mind on hyperoxemia and turn me down to 1.5 liters for a while!!!

I just joined and appreciate everyone here. But I've been reading quite a bit and disagree with sassy; treadmill is better than outdoors and can improve our problems (also treadmill is better for us than cycling). Short version here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/775025.stm I sometimes hold the bars but the important thing is to not move my arms any more than necessary, to retain as much oxy as possible. There are some simple freeweight exercises that help strengthen the chest muscles (raise in front, raise hips to shoulder on side & hips to chest/shoulder in front are 3) to help you breathe. (My cat ignores everything I do except feeding.) Get a couple therapy sessions then go to the gym, which is a lot cheaper than 2 or 3 PTs every week forever! My insurance pays for my gym, which I call theClub.

I admit to feeling envy. Not all of us can afford a treadmill. Not all of us have Pulmonary Rehab. in our area. Not all of us have Malls nearby to walk in. Walking outdoors is the only solution to some, like myself. I have to consider air quality and watch for "warnings to stay indoors"; consider heat and cold. I guess I could march in place inside my apartment? LOL