BALANCE EXERCISE FOR OMYS

OMY-Balance management and You:

How’s your balance? Have you thought much about it? Have you done anything about it?

Here’s a quote from the CDC:

“Every second of every day in the United States an older adult falls, making falls the number one cause of injuries and deaths from injury among older Americans.”

Falls are directly proportional to age. The older you get, the more likely you are to be seriously injured or killed due to falling. Injuries from falls are among the top ten causes of disability and death in those over 60.

If this is true, and it is, then why is fall prevention any less critical than preventing cancer or heart attacks? The truth, my OMYfriend, is that we can do a lot to prevent falls, and prevention is what this post is about.

Three things you can start doing today to prevent falls:

• Practive situational awareness:
• Use props and remove “trippers and slippers:”
• Do regular balance exercises.

The most important of these three is balance exercises. Why? Because this is something entirely under your control and the one thing that’s most likely to “bail you out” from the other two.

We will look at each of these preventions separately.

Don’t Get Busted Up – Do TheseThree Things Right Now:

Situational Awareness:

Regardless of how good your balance is, the best way to avoid slips and trips is to scan your environment for hazards constantly. Scanning is most important in environments you can’t control but must still navigate.

Airports, supermarkets, workplaces, and places of worship, are typical examples of environments you can’t control. Even so, there are many things you can do to avoid falls. Here’s a short list:

• Obtain and wear shoes designed to limit slipping, there are many options here, but stick with quality. Here’s the best place to get high quality work shoes that can double for your out and about excursions: https://www.redwingshoes.com/.
• Wear clothing that doesn’t drag on the floor or snag on objects.
• If you need glasses, wear them. Many falls result from uncorrected vision (e.g. steps looking closer to or farther from you than they really are.)
• Before you enter into a premise, scann the floor, and look for possible tripping points. Table legs sticking out, and electrocal cords are pretty common.
• Look for wet spots like spills and wet floors from mopping. Also look for greasy floors around kitchens and food preparation areas.
• As you enter new areas always do a mindful pre-scan for hazards.
• Respect waning signs “Wet Floor” warning signs are there for a reason. Respect them. Roped off areas also apply here – respect these warnings.

Tip: Search by sector:

As a Marine, I learned to divide large areas (and buildings) into sectors and search and clear each one. That training was many years ago, but I still retain the habit. You can do this too. When entering an unknown area, a large movie theater, for example, visually and mentally divide the theater into sectors and assess each sector for slip and trip dangers (torn carpets, rubber mats out of place, trash in the isles, and spilled food are examples.)

Check each area off to the best of your ability, and mentally mark the possible danger zones.

As you enter the theater, keep looking for “fall zones” and avoid these as you select a seat. Most theaters are poorly lit, so be extra careful. At this point, however, you now have a temporary mental map to guide you away from possible hazards.

As long as we’re on the subject of safety, scan the area for the nearest exit location as well as a second backup exit in case the primary one is blocked.

Even though you’re in an area you can’t control, you can use mindful situation awareness like I just described. Losing your balance from slipping on a wet surface or tripping on an object dropped on the floor is almost 100% avoidable if you teach yourself to stay aware. Make scanning by sector a habit, and you’ll start doing it automatically – it could save your life.

Use Props and Remove Slippers and Trippers:

In many environments, you have lots of control over safety from slipping and tripping. This environment means your living spaces, including outside storage spaces and yards. You might also have an assigned parking space if you live in an apartment.

All of these areas and more are in your control. This control doesn’t mean complete safety from falls, but it does mean removing obvious problems. When you were a child, your mother probably child-proofed your environment, especially the kitchen.

You’re just doing “adult proofing” by removing obvious hazards, like tripping on the edge of a carpet, losing your balance, and falling face-first into a table’s edge. This is a potentially severe fall that’s easily preventable with carpet edging.

Here are a few suggestions to neutralize slip and trip hazards:

Neutralizing Slippers and Trippers:

Things to do:

• Keep hard surface floors clean and dry. Clean up spills as soon as possible. This is especially important in kitchens.
• Pick up objects left on the floor, or outside on the deck.
• Keep steps clear of all objects, and install a handrail or a balancing handle. This includes inside and outside steps.
• Install leading edges and gap covers on all areas where there is an abtupt edge. Examples are spaces entering one room from another, and carpet edges.
• Pad fall zones on hard surfaces with rubber mats. Fall zones are the area you will fall in if you fall forward. An example is stepping down onto a concrete garage floor and losing your balance. The area adjoining the step and the floor should have shock absorbing rubber matting including the area where you’re head would most likely land.
• Eliminate clutter, and create clear pathways to everything you need. Believe it or not garages and tool sheds are famous for injuries due to clutter.
• To the exent possible keep your workplace safe. Depending on what you do, there are likely several things that are slip and trip hazards. Remove them if and when you can.

So, this to-do list is small and straightforward. Think about home safety, and do what you can. Accidents in the home are mostly preventable, be safe, not sorry. Now, let’s look at improving your balance:

Better Balance:

Balance is a 24/7 delivery and feedback process within our system that uses a sense we seldom discuss, kinesthesis – or our sense of where we are in space. A simple example of kinesthesis is looking up at a can of corn on a shelf, then closing your eyes and grabbing the can. You can only do this because your kinesthetic senses tell you where your arm and hand are in relation to the can.

People with certain types of brain damage can’t perform this simple task, and they have to open their eyes to get the can.

Kinesthesis is a complex process involving our inner ear, parts of our brain, and nervous system. One of the things we lose to aging is our sense of balance. Our kinesthetic sense underpins what we commonly refer to as balance. Fortunately, this is something we can definitely improve.

Much like muscular strength and flexibility, exercise can improve our balance. On the other side, however, balance is one of those “use it or lose it” things.

Balance 101:

First of all, good balance is directly related to lower body strength. For the most part, the stronger your legs and feet, the better your balance. So the first thing to do by way of improving balance is to work at your basic OMYcise Triad. This Triad will strengthen your entire body, including your legs and feet. If you haven’t started using this Triad, see it here: BEGINNER WORKOUT TRIAD FOR OMYS.

Additional (and more general) information: FOUNDATIONAL WORKOUT FOR OMYS.

Anatomically, your feet and ankles are complex, and your foot muscles grow weak with little use. Stay with this simple Triad three times a week to get stronger, especially the squats. When you do the squats, rise on your toes at the end of each squat. This “tippy-toe” add-on will strengthen the muscles in your feet.

“Tippy toe” squats and brisk walking strengthen both foot and ankle muscles. The stronger they get, the easier it will be to do your balance exercises.

Foundational Exercise for Balance:

First, all you need is a flat hard surface floor and a chair with a back on it. A regular kitchen chair will do fine (not one that swivels, though). You’ll also need a timer to count seconds. You’ll get more out of this exercise if your feet are bare or only covered with a sock if the floor’s cold. Using bare feet forces your ankles to work harder at stabilizing your foot/ankle axis. If the hard floor bothers your bare feet, wear a pair of bedroom slippers.

This exercise is entry-level and the first one of the three you’ll be doing. This exercise will take four minutes, and since it is a strengthening exercise, you should do it three times a week (not every day). It is crucial to master these exercises one at a time, as they get more challenging as you advance.

To do this exercise, with your hands on the chair’s back, you stand on one foot for one minute. After one minute, switch to the other foot for one minute. You then repeat this sequence one more time for a total of four minutes. Starting out, this won’t be easy. Don’t be discouraged, though; you’ll get a little better each time you do it.

Steps:

1. Stand behind the chair with your feet at shoulder width. Keep your hands on the back of the chair. Stand on one foot for one minute then for one minute on the other. Repeat this again, and you’re done. Keep doing this until you’re confident in going to the next step. Your ankles and legs might feel a little sore at first, but that’s OK, it means youre making progress.
2. At this stage we will take one hand off the chair back and do the same routine as above. We will do this “one-hander” until we feel confident in briefly taking both hands off the chair’s back.
3. OK, now were going to start taking our hands off the chair for a few seconds at a time while balancing on one foot. Don’t rush this as it will take time to wean away from the chair. You should shoot for taking your hands of the chair a littl longer in each session.
4. Eventually, you will be able to do the four minutes without hands on the chair at all. This will take quite a while. Even once you’ve mastered the balancing, you will have to grab the chair on occation. That’s OK, just keep doing it. Do your four minutes of balance three times a week.

Once you master Balance 101, we will go to Balance 102, which will be more challenging. However, getting your degree in Balance 101 puts you ahead of most the others, both young and old. By the way, don’t do this without the chair; it is normal to need a “grab bar” from time to time. Be safe, don’t be sorry.

Note, to see balance 102, go here: BALANCE2 TECHNIQUE-THE SATELLITE.

I hope you enjoyed this post, and you’ll pass it on to a friend. Balance workouts are a part of my overall routine, and I can assure you they will make a difference for you as well.

OMY1

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