Mobility Tests And Senior Balance Exercises

Senior Balance Exercises For Walking

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

  Medical professionals as well as family members can get a good idea of how well an older individual functions by looking at criteria such as gait speed and distance, thereby enabling them to recommend appropriate strengthening exercises and senior balance exercises. Please see more information at   http://www.exerciseforbalance.com/buy-now In the past, healthcare providers like doctors, nurses and physical therapists have measured older adults functional abilities by how far they can walk and if they lose their balance with tandem walking. For example, medical providers can ask aging adults how far they walk in the home and outside the home. Healthcare workers can also enquire if the senior patient uses an assistive device such as a cane or walker and if they have experienced a fall in the past year. More recently, healthcare providers are finding that gait speed is a more accurate depiction of a senior citizen's functional abilities and fall rates. Gait speed may be referred to as a “self-selected” comfortable speed or a safe “maximum” speed. For our understanding,  the term “gait speed” refers to self-selected gait speed, indicating that patients walk at their normal pace rather than as fast as safely possible. Gait speed is a practical test that takes only minutes to complete and uses inexpensive equipment such as a stopwatch and a facility hallway. Gait speed can be recorded as the patient walks with or without an assistive device. Patients may start with a necessary assistive device and progress to a lesser device, or undergo gait speed measure­ment in the same manner throughout the course of therapy. Measuring gait speed in older adults is important as it demonstrates how slowed gait speed limits function (e.g., not being able to walk with sufficient speed to cross a street with a controlled traffic light). Gait speeds are easy to measure and can even be done by family members at home. Gait speed test design: The person is instructed to walk at a comfortable speed down corridor unaware of start-and-stop timing points. If measuring gait speed over a distance of 4 meters, the patient is commonly instructed to walk at a normal pace (self-selected speed) down a hallway through a 1-m zone for acceleration, a central 4-m “testing” zone that is timed with a stopwatch, and a 1-m zone for deceleration. The central 4-m testing zone is bounded by a starting line and a finish line that are not visible to the patient; assessment of gait speed begins when the patient’s lead leg crosses the starting line and ends when the patient’s lead leg crosses the finish line. Medical researchers have provided normative data that indicates that healthy community-dwelling men aged 60 to 69 years walk at an average of 1.34 m/s; healthy women walk 1.24 m/s (Table 1). By the time individuals reach 80 to 99 years, average gait speed has slowed to 0.97 m/s for men and to 0.94 m/s for women. Medical researchers found that a “household ambulator” describes those who walk at 0.2 to 0.4 m/s; these individuals typically require assistance entering and exiting structures and have difficulty climbing stairs in the home. A patient who has undergone a cerebrovascular accident or stroke, for example, has an average gait speed of 0.29 m/s and thus falls into this category along with seniors with acute hip fracture, who have an average gait speed. Furthermore, Those with gait speeds of at least 0.89 m/s are typically able to complete household chores, individuals who can walk 1.11 m/s or faster are able to carry groceries and complete light yard work, and those who can ambulate at a speed of at least 1.33 m/s are commonly able to climb several flights of stairs. Overall, medical researchers discovered that older adults who have a slow walking speed tend to experience a greater number of falls and require greater dedication to working on senior balance exercises to improve their stability. ^.

Senior Balance Exercises For Safe Walking

     one aspect of senior balance exercises includes learning how to center our body mass over our feet.  Stability exercises also involve generating a plumb line through our body to anchor our center body mass in the middle of our feet. Finding that balance point, is a key aspect of balance training and steadiness routines, which helped to improve stability and eliminate excessive sway motion. Having a good sense of controlling your body weight will translate to improved walking speeds and enhanced stability with gait.  As Baby Boomers age, they increasingly face obstacles like balance problems and episodes of lightheadedness and unsteadiness. The incidence and risk of falling increases as we age, especially past the 60 year old mark. Practicing senior balance exercises at home can be easily done by following the direction of a qualified Physical Therapist in the Exercise For Balance DVD.

Senior Balance Exercises In The Exercise For Balance DVD

    To improve gait speed,  get started on a course of the best balance exercises with the Exercise For Balance DVD. The healthcare provider recommended Exercise For Balance DVD is a high quality instructional DVD to use at home or in a group setting. The easy to understand and simple to follow Exercise For Balance DVD includes  a step by step series of the latest balance and strength exercises necessary to optimize senior fitness and to carry out basic daily activities like shopping, doing laundry,  walking, standing, cleaning house, stair climbing or to advance to more difficult pursuits like skiing, dancing, playing golf and hiking. In the  comprehensive Exercise For Balance DVD, you will learn how to improve stability, how to apply steadiness techniques and how to safely execute balance routines from a  qualified balance specialist --- licensed Physical Therapist---who has worked with balance and dizziness disorders for over 25 years. Get your copy of the Exercise For Balance DVD by clicking on the BUY NOW button

Be strong and start 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/