Hey everybody, it's Doctor Jo. I have a lot of people ask me, "you always talk
about your dogs, do not like cats?" Of course I like cats! I just don't have any. And so
my DJ kitty is going to help me show you some fall prevention exercises.
Let's get started.
Ok so we're going to start off with some walking exercises. And the thing to help
with the fall prevention, make sure you're in a safe environment,
make sure you have a wall or a countertop something sturdy to hold on
to while you're doing these, or have somebody with you just in case. Also
if you have a cane. use the cane unless you have somebody with you to practice
these. So we're going to start off with some forward and backwards walking, but
to make it a challenge, you're going to do some head movement. So we're going to
start here. I'm just going to do a side-to-side head movement while I'm
walking forward, and then a side-to-side head movement while I go backwards. So it
doesn't have to be fast. Just as you're walking kind of look side to side. Again
you don't have to go quick, otherwise you might get dizzy and fall. But just making your body
get slightly off balance and making your body challenge itself by looking in
different directions. So just start off with maybe doing 20 feet each way and
then take a little break because you might start feeling a little dizzy. If
you start feeling a little dizzy, definitely stop. Then the next one is
looking up and down while you're walking. So forwards just up and down, and then
backwards up and down. So again you don't have to do a quick head movement, you can
even go a little bit slower than me if you feel like you have to kind of make
sure you get steady as you're going. But just kind of constantly moving it at
your own comfortable pace. The next one, you definitely want to start off with
this one not doing head movements, the best way to find your balance is to find
something in front of you and focus on that the whole time. Sometimes people
want to look at their feet,
that actually makes it a little bit harder. So five spot on the wall or light
switch on the wall and focus on it. And now you're going to do what we call a
tandem walk. Which is one foot in front of the other.
If you can, you really want your heel and your toes to touch, not giving big space.
But if you can't that's ok. Then kind of slide them a little bit. So it's either
this, if you don't feel completely comfortable. This if you feel a lot
uncomfortable, but if you want to challenge yourself one right in front
the other while you're walking.
Oh see people do fall a little bit even if they have good balance. And then just
walking back and forth. See I was, I was talking, I wasn't actually focusing on a
spot in front of me. So make sure you focus on that spot. See it became a lot
easier once I kept my head forward and focus on something. So one foot just
right in front of the other.
Alright so now I'm gonna grab a chair for some balance if I need it.
These are going to be some standing balance exercise.
So now you're just going to put your feet as close together as you can. So
nice and close. Again this is another one if you don't feel comfortable with him
touching, you can open them up just a little bit, but you want it to be more
narrow than shoulder-width apart.
Nice and close together, and then again you're going to do those head movements.
So if you need to hold on to something,
start off holding on something, and then work your way up to not holding onto
something. So just a little side to side. Again you know, focus on a certain
point one way and then a certain point the other way. And just back and forth,
maybe five times on each side. And then up and down. Again kind of focus on the
spot of top and then maybe the tip of your toes looking down. If that becomes
really easy, then you can do that tandem but staying in one spot.
So again if you need that little bit of holding, on even if it's just a finger,
that's fine. And then again doing your head turns side to side. And it is a
little bit tougher if you don't have shoes on, so if you want it to be a
little more stable gets a nice solid shoes and that will help you out a
little bit. And they make sure you're switching sides as well
doing your side and then also doing your up and down. So kind of just a nice
smooth motion. Doesn't have to be fast. You can you slow it down just a little bit
if you want to to kind of recover from it being off balance just a little bit.
The next thing is going to be working your hip muscles because our hip muscles
have a lot to do with our balance. And if these are weak a lot of times you become
off-balance, and if that gives out, then you might end up falling so making sure
you have strong hips is always very important too. And make sure you do both sides.
I'm just going to do a couple on each side. so start off leg as straight as you
can. Toes pointed out in front of you,
and then a little kick to the side doesn't have to be a big kick, make sure
you stay nice and upright, and then a little kick across. So just a nice smooth
back and forth kind of motion. Just start off with maybe ten of these, work your
way up to 20-25. If they become really easy you can add some ankle weights on
there. And then you're going to do a front-to-back motion, but still keeping
that leg nice and straight, and just front-to-back. Just kind of a nice
movement. If you feel like you're wiggling around a lot,
hold on make sure you have a little more balance, and then it becomes easy then
you can go back to one finger or even try it without holding on. And then you
also want to strengthen your ankles because of the ankles and the hips are
equally important in our balance. If our ankles are weak, then when we're stepping,
we're wiggling a lot and that might make us fall. So we want to make sure and
prevent those risk of falling. So feet about shoulder-width apart. If you need
to hold on something, go ahead and hold on something, and then just bring your
heels up off the ground high as you comfortably can and then try and slowly
come back down. So it's not coming up and then just plotting back down, it's that
controlled movement of nice and slow coming back down. So really working those
calf muscles, those ankle muscles, to control that movement.
Start off again about ten work your way up to 20-25. If that becomes easy, then
you can just do one foot at a time and still slowly coming back down. So there
you have it.
Those were your exercises for fall prevention. If you have any questions, leave in the
comment section. If you like check out some other videos go to AskDoctorJo.com
And remember, be safe, have fun with the DJ kitty, and I hope you feel better soon.