Feeling unsteady on your feet can cause a lot of fear and anxiety when being mobile in our homes and the community. This fear is justifiable as falls are the #1 cause of injury-related deaths in seniors. As a result, individuals tend to become less active and mobile, no longer interact with their peers or within their communities, and become more isolated in their daily lives.
The fear of falling is one of the many factors that can result in an increased risk of falling. In addition to fear, poor vision, hearing changes, medications and chronic illnesses can also increase our risk of falling as we age.
To decrease our fear of falling and remain independent, we want to learn to be steadier on our feet and improve our confidence in our mobility. With the use of exercise, we can improve upon our balance, stability, strength and agility. Why are these 4 factors important in preventing falls? Balance and stability cause us to be steadier on our feet and feel stronger. Strength improves the ability to hold ourselves steady and increases our confidence in our abilities. Agility is our ability to dynamically move within our changing environment. Therefore, agility can help us to catch ourselves when/if we trip up when moving.
At Rebalance Rehab, we can help you to improve balance, strength, stability and agility through personalized exercise programs. The programs we structure focus on improving upper and lower body strength, posture and using mobile devices as a balancing and mobility aid to improve our balance, stability and confidence when standing and walking. Also, we can help you to safely progress your mobility from self-propelling in a wheelchair to using a walker to move around your home or community to decrease your fear of falling.
By improving one’s mobility and independence we can partake in physical activity classes’, social events and feel more confident when leaving our homes and maneuvering within the community. Also, as our independence improves, or is maintained as we age, we can achieve a better quality of life through our hobbies, friends and other social interactions.
It is never too early to start working on one’s balance and preventing falls as we age. If you think you or someone you love can benefit from an individualized program to help prevent falls and improve strength, mobility and independence then please give us a call today!