Hey everybody it's Doctor Jo, and it
looks like it snowed outside. Today I'm
going to show you some stretches and
exercises for fall prevention.
Much warmer in here. So
having good balance has a lot to do with
our ankles and our hips. Having very
flexible ankles are important. So to
start off with, you're just going to do a
calf stretch. You can do it a couple of
different ways, you can check out my
video for calf stretching, but i'm just
going to show you a runner stretch. Get a
sturdy chair or counter top, something
you can lean on to. Put the foot back
that you want to stretch, and keep that
heel down on the ground. That's the
important part to get to stretch, so you're
not coming up as you stretch, you're
keeping that heel down. You can bend your
front knee, but try and keep that back leg
straight, and then just lean forward
until you feel a stretch in that calf
area, and it might even come up past your
knee and that that's fine that's that
calf going all the way up. You're hold the
stretch for about 30 seconds and then
you're going to do three on each side.
I like to alternate back and forth just
to give the other side a little break, so
after you get it nice and stretched out,
then you're going to start doing some
balance exercises. One easy one is just
do a simple single leg stance. Again make
sure you have something nice and sturdy
to hold onto if you need to. You can
start off with two hands, go down to one
hand, just have a finger, or just have it
there in case you need it, but just a
simple balance on one foot.
Some people ask me when I do my balance
exercises should I wear shoes or should
I not wear shoes. Well it's up to you. If you
don't wear shoes, if you're just barefoot
or in socks,
it makes it a little bit harder because
your foot has to work a little bit
harder because it doesn't have that
solid shoe to help with the balance. So if
you want to start off with your shoes on,
that's probably good, and when that
becomes
easy, then take your shoes off, and then
work on your balance with that as well.
So just do about 15-20 seconds of that,
switch sides and then do three on each
side for that one as well. Then the next
one is going to be, we call it tandem
stance, or I call it standing on a
tightrope. So just put one foot right in
front of the other, and again if you need
something to balance with when you start off,
that's fine. What really helps, a lot of
people want to look down at their feet,
but look straight ahead. Find something
on the wall to focus on maybe a light
switch or something, and look straight
ahead that will help with your balance.
if you focus on something as well. So
just again start off with 10 to 15 seconds,
make sure you switch feet, and then do
that two or three times on each
side. If this becomes easy, then what you
can do is actually turn your head from
side to side, so you can see my feet are
having to work just a little bit harder,
my hips and my ankles, to keep that
balance, but it's working more because
I'm moving my head and making it a
little bit harder. You can also go up and
down while you're doing that, and then if
you feel really good,
make sure you have something holding
on to, you can close your eyes, and then
just work on that balance. And you can
you can see your body's going to move,
your ankles and your hips are working so
you're not going to be staying in one
spot, and sometimes people say they feel like
they're moving a lot, but they're not, so
you might want to try that with somebody
with you so they can be there if they need
it, or try it
holding on while you do it. If you feel
good again, then you can kind of go to
one hand, one finger, and then try it
without. So then to strengthen those calf
muscles, put your feet about
shoulder-width apart, again holding on if
you need to, come up on your toes and
slowly come back down controlling it. So
it's not just up and down like that
because you're using momentum. Really
control that movement
to make those muscles work. So you're
looking straight ahead while you're
doing it. I know people tend to want to
look down at their feet, but try and look
ahead if you can, and just start off with
about 10 of them and start working your
way up from there. If that becomes easy,
then you can go to one foot. Same thing
really trying to control it if you can,
instead of going fast, make sure you go
slow that really activates all those
muscles. And again just started off with
10 on each side, and then working your
way up from there. So that's just some
simple ones to keep you balanced, help
prevent you from falling because
falling has a lot to do with balance.
You want the flexibility, and your ankles,
strengthen your ankles and your hips, and
hopefully you won't fall. So there you
have it, those were your stretches and
exercises for fall prevention. If you have any
questions, leave them in the comment section.
If you'd like to check out my other videos go to AskDoctorJo.com
And remember, be safe, have fun and I hope you feel better soon!
feel better soon