The more challenging life becomes, the more you can benefit from physical activity. You are never too old to start being physically active and begin with exercise, it will help you feel better overall; help maintain your ability to walk and perform personal care; and is the best way to prevent a fall.
Have you experienced a stumble, trip, a fall, or near fall with or without injury? Are these falls or near falls becoming more frequent? Do you have difficulty walking or have trouble navigating through your home and hold onto furniture, or experience dizziness when getting up from your bed or chair, have dizziness or instability while turning, have stiff muscles or joints, and/or are you avoiding activities?
When your answer is YES, you have no time to waste and immediate intervention is necessary to protect your precious independence. Even as you approach 75 years of age or older, you can gain muscle strength, balance and endurance. We have had several clients over the years who started a personalized training program in their 90's and were able to regain strength, balance and mobility. The key is to avoid frailty and hold onto your strength, posture, balance and mobility as long as possible. Frailty leads to falls, injury, and loss of independence.
We all age different, and the underlying cause why we fall varies between individuals.
The fact is that one out of every four older adults 65 years and older falls annually. Falls are the # 1 reason older adults lose their independence. Most falls happen in and around the home. You can improve your odds by preventing and eliminating risk factors for falling and removing fall hazards.
The good news is that most falls are preventable with appropriate and timely intervention. Falls are not an inevitable part of aging, falls are not a normal part of aging, and the aging process by itself does not cause someone to fall.
Fitness & Function' s health and fitness professionals provide specialized exercise training to restore and reestablish balance, mobility, strength, stability and functional fitness for older adults who::
may just be beginning to experience balance issues
are at low to high fall risk
have a history of falls with and without injuries
Screen, Assess, Intervene
Fall Risk Screening can determine strengths and weaknesses and impairments that increase your chances for falling and injury.. Interventions such as balance and mobility training exercises that directly target your specific balance impairment provide best results. This often includes resistance training or muscle strengthening exercises to boost or restore lower body, core strength, upper body strength, and bone density, improve posture, joint range of motion and all contribute to better stability and the ability to perform daily activities to sustain your independence. Good balance and mobility is also needed for functional fitness and enjoying an active lifestyle without injury.
Make sure to eliminate fall hazards from your home. such as adding hand rails, removing throw rugs, removing chairs that are too low, too deep and too soft and cause difficulty getting up from can enhance your quality of life. Fitness & Function has a home safety check list that you can use to identify potential hazards.
We utilize the most appropriate tools for assessing balance, mobility, and strength, and use the results to guide the functional progressive balance and mobility training programs.
There are many reason why falls occur. Exercise programs for balance and mobility must address the specific balance disorder in order to achieve desired results.