Changes with aging
As we age, we naturally lose strength, power and agility. Is this inevitable? Yes, but we should be fighting hard to slow this natural process and preserve as much strength as possible for as long as possible. Maintaining the ability to walk for as long as possible should be a primary goal of every senior. The problems occur when people start to compensate for weaknesses before it is absolutely necessary. Slowing down your pace, walking with a wider stance, stopping when you need to look at something, avoiding chairs that don’t have arm rests. Each of these adaptations accommodate some weakness whether it’s decreased hip strength, decreased leg strength, decreased balance or a combination. Maintaining abilities in these core areas can put some pep in your step, lower your risk for falls and keep you walking far into the future. Keeping focused on just four exercises will make it easy to stay dedicated to keeping your younger-self walk.
Four Essential Exercises
| Heel raises work the gastrocnemius complex which is not only an important postural muscle but also a muscle group that helps propel you forward especially when walking up hills. You can walk without good gastroc strength but you will walk with very small steps and be at high risk for falls. You should be able to lift your body weight on one leg, but don’t worry if you can’t do this yet, start with both feet and work your way to one legged heel raises if you can. 2 sets of 10 repetitions. |
* use a counter top or a heavy dresser for support….not a chair
| Mini-Sits is a 2-for-1 exercise. You will be working the quadricep and the gluteal muscle groups with this one exercise. I call this the “chairs and stairs” exercise. The quads and the gluts don’t need to be very strong for slow walking but definitely need to be strong to get you out of chairs without arm rests and up and down stairs. The goal is to move as if you are going to sit down but then you change your mind and stand back up. Go as low as you feel that you can safely go and still make it back up! 2 sets of 10 repetitions. This exercise can be tough on the knees so don’t keep going if it is really aggravating a bum knee. |
| The windshield wiper exercise works the hip abductor muscles. Yes, this muscle pulls the leg out to the side when it contracts but the leg that you are standing on is doing far more work. The standing leg hip abductor muscle is strongly contracting to keep your pelvis level as you lift the opposite leg. In other words, the moving leg is just lifting the weight of the leg, the standing leg is holding up the weight of the whole body. Having strong hip abductor muscles translates into the ability to take a larger and more confident step and significantly reduces risk for falls. Now, it is easy to cheat with this exercise which will limit its effectiveness in helping maintain strong hip abductor muscles. You will be tempted to place your right hand on the counter when you are lifting your right leg….resist this urge! Use your left hand on the counter when standing on the left leg and vice versa, right hand on the counter when standing on your right leg. 2 sets of 10 each leg. Slow the movement down to make it harder. |
Standing Balance
Do this exercise at the kitchen counter for safety. Find position that is challenging and try to hold X 1 min, without hand support. If you are using a single leg stance then complete as long as you are able on each leg. If you feel balanced, add slow head turns to increase difficulty.
The fourth exercise needs a bit more of an explanation. Walking is a process of falling and catching yourself over and over again. Even when walking over a smooth level surface with no distractions it is still a complex coordination of muscle contractions. Now, add in walking over uneven surfaces with obstacles such as traffic, other pedestrians, joggers, baby strollers, dog walkers and multitasking (I’m talking to you, texting-while-walking people) and now walking requires input from multiple sensory systems to keep balance in check. Our visual, vestibular and proprioception systems all work together to provide us with the sensory feedback that allows us to make little adjustments in real time that helps to keep us from falling. When we are young, each of these systems are strong and we have redundancy between the systems. Imagine standing on one leg with your eyes closed and turning your head. A teenager can probably do this without too much of a challenge. As we age, each one of these systems loses some reserve and now turning your head over your shoulder to look behind you while you are walking seems a bit foolhardy. Now we go back to the first paragraph, as we age, we start compensating for weaknesses and decreases in balance. Some of this is common sense and desirable in order to decrease risk for falls, however, too many accommodations before they are absolutely necessary can result in limiting mobility prematurely. Working on balance in a safe setting, near a counter top for safety, can help keep our postural muscles tuned up with a low risk for falls while doing it.
Positions 1 through 4 get progressively more difficult. You should use the position that is challenging but one that you can hold without having to use your hands on the counter for balance. You should feel some “sway” when you are in a challenging position. This “sway” is your lower leg postural muscles doing what they are supposed to do, which is to detect early loss of balance and make a correction. If you hold the position where you feel sway, your legs will eventually fatigue. You can increase the challenge with this exercise by adding slow head turns to change the input from your visual and vestibular systems. Just as point of interest, when you are in a challenging position, place one finger on the countertop for support. Did you notice how much even just light support helps you to balance? That is what a cane or holding onto furniture can do for your balance. This accommodation may be necessary to prevent falls for some but continuing to use the legs to make these postural adjustments rather than the hands will help keep these leg muscles strong for as long as possible. Even if you do need to use a cane, working on standing balance at a counter can be a way to work on balance in a safe place.
Knowledge of how your body tries to adapt to weaker muscles is the first really important “step” (wink, wink) in maintaining and holding onto your younger-you walk.
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