"It is estimated that at least one-third of people aged 65 years and over fall one or more times a year."
(Source: http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Falls_prevention_for_older_people)
What if they fell without apparent injuries, refused to see a doctor for a checkup, but resulted in blood clots in their brains without knowing it?
(Source: http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Falls_prevention_for_older_people)
What if they fell without apparent injuries, refused to see a doctor for a checkup, but resulted in blood clots in their brains without knowing it?
Check how they walk. One or both leg could be turned or twisted due to a bad sitting or sleeping habit. In this example, his right leg is toed out. This right leg of him would therefore have less strength than the other because the leg is twisted at the hip.
It will be extra work, attention, and exercise for him at this stage to twist his right hip back to a normal position while walking or standing. Again, you have to let them experience the increase in strength right away for them to believe you and take action. Talking alone will not work. |
Ask him/her to lay down on a sofa and raise his leg that is not twisted or toed-out. Hold lightly onto the sole of his normal foot with your hand and ask him/her to bend his/her leg. Now ask him or her to push your hand (and arm) away very slowly while you try to maintain some constant and small resistance to his foot. Feel the strength of that leg while your hand and arm is being pushed away.
Repeat with the twisted leg using the same hand (as one hand is stronger than the other and the feeling would not be as correct). Provide the same amount of resistant and feel the weaker strength of that leg. Ask him/her if there is a difference in strength even though you already know the answer.
(Picture on Left: Toed-Out) |
Now ask him/her to toe in and point his toes more toward the ceiling. He or she will have to twist the hip to make this happen. Now let him or her bend his leg and push your hand/arm away very slowly again. Make sure that the toes are facing upward all along.
(Picture on Left: Toes and hip turned; much stronger now.) |
Both of you should be able to feel a lot more power from that same leg. Again, ask him/her if there is a difference in the strength of his leg. Let him/her speak it out and persuade himself/herself that there is an obvious way of getting more power out of the leg.
Extremely well. However, they will quite often forget all about it after a while. Remind them of the possible consequence and that they have already possessed the ability to make it right.
So do you or do you not walk with bent knees? I bet you don't know, don't you?
What? I asked that before? Yes, I surely did. The point is, we do not communicate with our body parts as often as we think. For younger adults in a case of emergency, their body parts will function well enough and try to save us from trouble by instinct. |
That is not so for the elderly.
Their body parts no longer function as well as ours. To make matters worse, many elderly rely solely on their body parts to do their jobs. Once I asked a bedridden senior to lift his leg. His leg didn't even move. I asked what happened. He pointed to his leg and replied, "It didn't move!" I hold onto his leg, lifted it up a little and gave it a little shake. That leg is not powerless. It is "alive", though not too strong. And so I ordered him, "You have to lift the leg up by yourself. Do it now!" And the leg is lifted up a few inches off the bed.
There are two things that the elderly could do. Firstly, they can exercise to make their muscular system stronger. Second, they can learn to communicate with their body parts again. Of course, they should do both.
No, Taichi and the like are not the only solutions. One can do so simply by walking or doing anything very, very slowly. To move very slowly, we need to actively participate in the control process (talking to our body parts) as our body parts do not move very slowly by nature. Through any slow moving exercise, we establish our communication with our body again.
Taichi is a better exercise than walking or moving slowly for the elderly nonetheless. The reason? Social life is valuable for the elderly.
Their body parts no longer function as well as ours. To make matters worse, many elderly rely solely on their body parts to do their jobs. Once I asked a bedridden senior to lift his leg. His leg didn't even move. I asked what happened. He pointed to his leg and replied, "It didn't move!" I hold onto his leg, lifted it up a little and gave it a little shake. That leg is not powerless. It is "alive", though not too strong. And so I ordered him, "You have to lift the leg up by yourself. Do it now!" And the leg is lifted up a few inches off the bed.
There are two things that the elderly could do. Firstly, they can exercise to make their muscular system stronger. Second, they can learn to communicate with their body parts again. Of course, they should do both.
No, Taichi and the like are not the only solutions. One can do so simply by walking or doing anything very, very slowly. To move very slowly, we need to actively participate in the control process (talking to our body parts) as our body parts do not move very slowly by nature. Through any slow moving exercise, we establish our communication with our body again.
Taichi is a better exercise than walking or moving slowly for the elderly nonetheless. The reason? Social life is valuable for the elderly.
I do not see any other relates falling with twisted legs. Why not check it out since it is in general a simple thing to correct.
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