A healthy lifestyle can’t eliminate the travails of aging, but it can make them significantly easier. As we age, we’re at greater risk for sustaining some illnesses and injuries. Reduced balance, obstructed joint mobility, and more put seniors at risk of sustaining injuries through things like falling.
Those who don’t exercise will be at an even greater risk of injury. However, with the right guidance and therapy, seniors can improve function, strength, and more. Here are some prehabilitation exercises for injury prevention.
Wall Push-Ups
Push-ups exercise your chest, shoulders, and triceps. Additionally, your core muscles also help by stabilizing the body. Stand about an arm’s length away from a wall and place your hands slightly outside shoulder-width on the wall. Lean into the wall and then push yourself back to the starting position to complete one repetition. This improves balance, posture, and strength, all of which prevent injuries.
One-Foot Balance
The one-foot balance is performed by lifting one leg and standing on the other foot for some time. The easiest version of this exercise is with support from some surface, a still head, and open eyes. To make the exercise harder, you can move your head side-to-side, close your eyes, or remove the support.
This is great for improving balance and proprioception, both of which prevent injuries. Balance is your ability to remain stable when being acted upon by external forces. Proprioception is your ability to sense your body’s orientation and position in space.
Squats
The squat is a full-body exercise, but it primarily strengthens the hips and quadriceps. As with the push-up, the core is also active during the movement to stabilize the body. You do this by standing straight and breaking at the knees and hips simultaneously (essentially just sit right down). Once your hip crease is parallel to the ground, stand up.
If this is hard initially, you can slowly progress by squatting to a box or chair. The chair can support you at the bottom and acquaint your mind with proper depth. Besides that, you can also hold something in front of you to help you sit down and get up. This will also stretch your ankles and hips, improving their mobility.
If you’re looking for an active living program for seniors in Augusta, GA, get in touch with us at Healing Hands Physical Therapy Centers, Inc. We also provide post-operative rehab and rehab for sports, auto, and work-related injuries.