Stay Steady: Balance Exercises for Seniors

As you age, you may monitor your risk for heart disease, diabetes and other conditions that commonly affect older adults. However, one serious health risk may not even be on your radar. That’s your potential to take a fall.

Fortunately, just as you can reduce your risk for other health concerns, you can manage your fall risk. Understanding the danger and taking steps to protect your mobility, such as learning some balance exercises for seniors, can help prevent falls.

First, it’s important to understand that a fall can hurt more than just your pride. In 2021 alone, falls among seniors resulted in nearly 3 million emergency room visits and more than 38,000 deaths. Even without these dire consequences, the injuries you sustain in a fall and subsequent recovery time can seriously jeopardize your independence.

Next, it’s worth exploring what causes unstableness in senior citizens. There are many factors at play, including declining muscle mass and tone, as well as joints that lose their mobility with age. Some medications can cause vertigo, and some medical conditions hinder movement. Vision and sensory changes can also affect balance and stability.

In your later years, scrapes and bruises that were a minor nuisance in your youth can take much longer to heal. Your skin isn’t as durable as it once was, making it more prone to injury, and healing can take longer. That’s due to slower blood circulation, weaker immune systems and different cellular reproduction processes. As a result, a relatively minor wound can easily invite infection.

It’s a similar story for broken bones, although additional factors like osteoporosis and naturally occurring inflammation can also impact delayed healing times.

You can adjust your living environment to prevent falls (remove rugs and create clear walkways, for example). Making sure your path is well-lit can also help. But one of the most important things you can do to prevent falls is to focus on your mobility, and especially your balance. That’s why senior citizens should perform balance exercises.

Many senior wellness programs focus on improving balance for seniors because it’s such an important aspect of maintaining your independence and health. Keep reading to learn more about the steps you can take at home and resources in the Kankakee community to enhance your stability.

Expert Tips for Safe and Effective Exercise

Before you can start learning helpful balance exercises for seniors, it’s a good idea to get familiar with some tips that will make your efforts safer and more effective.

Warm up before working out. Before diving into an exercise session, take some time to stretch your muscles, loosen your joints and get your blood pumping. Dynamic stretches, which involve continual movement of your muscles and joints, are ideal for warmups because they let you ease into more vigorous activity. You can also incorporate some light cardio into your warm-up, such as a brisk walk.

Be conscious of what’s beneath you. That means considering the surface where you’ll be exercising, as well as the footwear supporting you. The surface should be flat, smooth and offer some friction, so you don’t slip. Your shoes can help with grip, as well as providing good support for your body. Shoes should be the right size (snug with a little wiggle room for your toes) and well-cushioned to absorb the impact of your workout.

Go slow and steady. Especially if you haven’t been very active lately, it’s best to ease into a new workout and steadily increase the difficulty as you build strength and endurance. Starting out too strong can actually hinder your long-term progress if you get hurt or wear out too quickly.

Know when to ask for help. If you have physical or medical conditions that may be affected by exercise, be sure to talk with your doctor before you get started. Then, if you’re not sure where to begin, consider finding a program in your area that specializes in fitness instruction for seniors so they can help you learn techniques and habits tailored to your abilities.

Balance Exercises for Seniors

Improving your stability and balance can be a relatively low-impact effort with simple movements. After all, the purpose is more about stretching and strengthening your muscles than getting your heart rate up.

Chair-Based Exercises

If you have a sturdy chair, you have all you need to get started with some basic exercises to improve your balance:

• While either standing or sitting, raise your foot and hold it for up to 10 seconds. Lower, then repeat 10-12 times before switching to the other foot.

• From a sitting position, extend your leg at a 45-degree angle. Tap your heel on the ground when your leg is fully extended, then bring your foot back to the chair. Alternate heels, tapping each side at least 10 times. If you’re up to it, take a pause and then do it again.

• Practice standing and sitting. Steadily lower yourself into your chair. Avoid dropping or flopping; the idea is to keep your muscles engaged the whole way down. Then, plant your feet in front of you and stand. In this case, focus on using your core muscles to support you. At first, you may need to use your hands for extra stability, but work toward standing hands-free.

Other Exercises at Home

If you prefer to keep your workouts at home, you can find a wealth of senior fitness tutorials online, including detailed photos and videos that let you follow along. Another popular option for seniors is SilverSneakers, which offers both at-home and in-person fitness classes geared toward older adults.

Stretching and Yoga

If you’re not fond of exercise, you might be pleased to learn that even movement as simple as stretching can help build muscle tone and improve your balance. Yoga is another popular choice among seniors because sessions also allow you to focus on breathing and your mental state for a whole-body wellness experience.

Group Fitness

Working to improve your balance doesn’t have to be a solo mission. In fact, if you’re interested in strength building and instructor-led sessions, joining a local gym or fitness center, or meeting with your senior living community’s wellness advisor, can introduce you to an excellent support system and others who share your goals.

Local Resources in Kankakee, Illinois

The Kankakee, Illinois, area offers a wide selection of wellness resources for residents of all ages, from local fitness classes for older adults to local gyms that provide fitness instruction for seniors. Some examples include:

• The Bourbonnais Township Park District offers an ongoing schedule of events and fitness classes for seniors.

• A new Introduction to Mindful Movement class is one example of low-impact options available to seniors at the Kankakee Valley Park District Rec Center.

• Kankakee Walks is a program that supports low-impact exercise throughout the city’s neighborhoods.

• A variety of programs, including sports and fitness classes tailored to older adults, are offered through the Kankakee Area YMCA.

• Some area senior living communities, such as Riverside Senior Life, offer robust wellness programs and facilities, including on-site physical therapy clinics specializing in senior care.

Prioritize Your Health and Independence

Improving your balance is an important aspect of protecting your health and your independence as you age. Enrolling in a class that teaches balance exercises for seniors is a great way to reduce your fall risk and enhance your mobility while meeting new people.

If you’re feeling unsteady on your feet and would benefit from a supportive environment, get in touch with our team at Riverside Senior Life Communities so we can introduce you to our therapeutic resources that can help reduce your risk of falling and improve your quality of life.