Senior Balance Exercises To Minimize Responses That Lead To Falling

By Suzanne Stoke, Physical Therapist @ Exercise For Balance via www.exerciseforbalance.com/

As we age, senior balance exercises are important to practice on a daily basis for many reasons. By staying current on a stability exercise program, the balance system in the brain, the brain-body connections and the muscle strength needed to maintain good balance are able to perform at their optimal levels. Our balance system needs to be like a well oiled machine that is continually challenged at a reasonable level to keep running smoothly. In our later years, if we give up on balance routines and exercise in general, we tend to experience

- lower extremity weakness

- ankle stiffness

- reduction in strength and speed of balance reactions

- decrease in functional activities around the home

-reduction in general activity level inside and outside the home

-a greater risk and incidence of falling

As a result, our balance abilities decline and we are more apt to revert to unrefined protective balance reactions that can further lead to falling. Please see

http://www.exerciseforbalance.com/buy-now

Senior Balance Exercises To Modulate Protective Extension Reactions

Practicing senior balance exercises every day helps to keep the balance system working at its optimal level. One of the main components of stability is the balance reactions at the ankles. When we shift our weight during standing, walking and all movement activities, the ankles are the first line of defense for correcting balance and center alignment. Balance reactions at the ankles enable the body to correct the person’s center body alignment within their base of support, maintaining an upright position. When the individual does not continue to practice general exercises and equilibrium routines on a daily basis, the ankles become weak and stiff and the balance reactions are diminished and slow. Consequently, if the person starts to shift their weight beyond their base of support, the ineffective balance reactions at the ankles create an over-reactive protective extension response. When the individual uses a protective extension response such as tightening all their backside muscles, throwing their arms back, tilting their head back and thrusting their hips, that over-reaction often times leads to a fall and injury. In general, the balance system works the best with small, modulated, corrective reactions to a change in position, not a forceful, over-reactive, excessive muscle firing that leads to falling. The take home message for older adults is to practice stability routines everyday to keep the balance system in tip-top shape. Now you can perform senior balance exercises in the convenience of your home with the Exercise For Balance DVD.

Balance Exercises In The Exercise For Balance DVD

To keep your balance reactions in tip-top shape, begin balance exercises with the Exercise For Balance DVD. The DVD is the perfect tool to use at home or in a group setting. The Balance DVD is set up with the best balance and strength exercises needed to enhance senior fitness and to perform basic activities like walking, standing, stair climbing or to advance to high level activities like dancing and hiking. In the Exercise For Balance DVD, you will learn how to improve balance, balance techniques and balance routines from a licensed Physical Therapist who has worked with balance and dizziness disorders for over 20 years. Get your copy of the Exercise For Balance DVD by clicking on the BUY NOW button

Stay in good balanced condition by starting balance exercises today with the Exercise For Balance DVD to improve balance and prevent falls.
For more information see http://www.mayoclinic.com/health-information/