One of the major hazards that senior citizens face during their old age is the threat of falling. Reports show that more than 1 in 4 seniors fall each year, and most of them end up with serious injuries completely affecting their peaceful normal life. 

The risk of falling during old age can be due to various factors like lack of flexibility, loss of balance, reduced muscle strength and muscle tone, stiffness in joints, medications, and more. Several other factors can contribute to the risk of falling. 

A sudden fall can change the life of an elderly person upside down. It can affect them both physically and emotionally. The sudden loss of independence can be very stressful to handle for a lot of elderly people. Some injuries can even lead to their demise.  

So they must take necessary precautions in order to prevent the fall. And the best way to prevent falling is to practice regular fall prevention exercises. This will help them to strengthen their joints and muscles and also improve their balance.  

The risk of falling can be considerably reduced by regularly engaging in fall prevention exercises. In this article, we will further discuss some of the exercises that can be practiced at home without any help from other equipment to reduce the risk of falls. 

Sit to Stand

A simple exercise that will help to prevent falls and build up the strength of leg muscles is to practice sitting and standing. This exercise will help you with getting up from a chair, toilet, or out of a car. This exercise resembles squatting but you can do it with the help of a chair. It’s a simple activity which has great benefit.

Steps to follow:

• Start with slowly getting out of the chair while keeping your knees slightly apart
• After that, sit back down on the chair
• Cross your arms in front of your chest or hold them out in front of you at shoulder height to make it a bit more difficult.
• Repeat 5 times.

Balance Exercise-Feet Together

This exercise will help elderly people to gain more balance in their bodies. 

 Steps to follow:

• Place your feet close together as you stand
• Keep maintaining your balance for 10 seconds and gradually increase it to 30 seconds.
• To make it a bit more challenging you can balance with your eyes closed.

Knee Raise

This exercise can improve mobility and helps to strengthen your knee joints. Practising this will help seniors while climbing stairs and getting in and out of any vehicles.

Steps to follow:

• Lift a knee to hip level and maintain it for five seconds while keeping your hands on a stable surface to aid in balance
• Do the same with your other leg
• Repeat 8 times.

Side Leg Raise or Sideways Walking

Doing this exercise will help you improve your stability when one leg must bear weight, and help you avoid tripping.

Steps to follow:

• Stand on one leg and raise the other sideways, holding it for five seconds while keeping your fingertips on something solid to aid in balance.
• Do this eight times in a row
• Repeat the same process with the other leg
• Continue by taking gentle, sideways steps next to a bench or table.

Heel Raise

This exercise focus on strengthening your calf muscles and improving your foot balance enabling you to stand more steadily. This will help with climbing stairs and walking. 

Steps to follow:

• Lift both heels off the ground and for balance place your fingertips on a stable surface. After three seconds, carefully lower your heels back to the ground.
• Repeat the same 5 times

Heel-To-Toe Standing/walking

This exercise helps seniors with their balance while walking through a narrow space. 

Steps to follow:

• Hold on with one hand as you stand close to a countertop. It’s better to use a walking stick or the assistance of another person to support you on the opposite side.
• Place your heel in front of your toe while walking on a straight path.
• If your senior seems to be unstable, do not perform this exercise. Always be careful.

Back Leg Raise

Practising this exercise can be great to improve flexibility and to improve balance. This exercise also helps to increase the strength of your core and the muscles of your legs.  

Steps to follow:

• Hold onto the back of a firm chair or a countertop.
• Raise one leg behind your body while maintaining a straight posture in your stance.
• Take it slow so that you can work on your muscles.
• Change to the opposite leg after completing ten repetitions.

Side Twist

Side twist exercise helps to improve posture and balance. Practising this will helps to reduce the pressure on the lower back while doing activities like lifting an object.  

Steps to follow:

• Set your feet shoulder-width apart and keep two steady chairs at both sides of your body
• Turn and reach the chair on one side while moving your entire upper body and head. After that, turn around and touch the opposite chair.
• Repeat this 5 to 10 times. 

Conclusion 

Doing all these exercises can surely help seniors to reduce the risk of falling. But an important point should be kept in mind that it can be dangerous to practice these exercises without proper supervision. 

Make sure to be with your loved ones while they perform these exercises. If you find it difficult to supervise them it’s better to get help from home care assistants. 

Here at Entrust Care, we provide complete in-home care for seniors. To reduce fall incidents and injuries, we can assist you in improving your exercise routine. Reach out to us to know more about the home care assistance we provide at Entrust Care.