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[For Seniors] Balance-Training Exercises: Preventing Falls
As balance decreases with age, the risk of falls increases and daily life can be affected.
However, by consistently doing appropriate balance training, you can improve your body’s stability and prevent falls!
This time, we’ll introduce balance-training exercises that older adults can do without strain.
From simple chair-based movements to standing exercises, we’ll show safe methods you can practice with confidence.
Make them part of your daily routine and aim for a body that moves with ease and peace of mind!
[For Older Adults] Balance Training Exercises. Fall Prevention (1–10)
Single-Leg Balance Stability UP: Gluteus Medius Training
Standing on one leg was easy when we were kids, but as we get older, many of us find our bodies wobbling and can’t balance well.
One possible reason is weakening of the gluteus medius.
The gluteus medius is an important muscle for stabilizing the pelvis, so take this opportunity to train it well.
This training introduces two movements to build strength, plus a stretch.
The strength exercises are simple: open and close your legs while bent, and move your leg diagonally backward while extended.
Do the stretch in a seated position.
Sit-to-stand training using parallel bars
This is a standing-up exercise using parallel bars for rehabilitation.
Hold the bars firmly with both hands and stand up on the count of three.
Then try to maintain a standing position for about 10 seconds.
If you can hold it, slowly sit back down.
Since you won’t always have support when standing up, practice repeatedly standing and sitting like this.
Doing so will strengthen your legs and lower back and help you learn a way of standing up that doesn’t put unnecessary strain on your body.
Parallel bars can also be purchased from online shops.
Sit-to-stand exercise using a chair
This is a training exercise using chairs that strengthens your legs and glutes.
It directly helps you perform the standing motion with less strain, so give it a try.
First, sit on a chair.
Place another chair facing the same direction in front of you, at a distance where you can touch its backrest with your arms extended.
Grab the front chair with your hands and lean your upper body firmly forward.
Then slowly lift your hips and stand up.
If you stand up with your torso upright, it puts strain on your legs and lower back, so be sure to lean forward well.
Standing-up exercises that don’t strain the knees or lower back
When you have pain in your knees or lower back, it can be hard to stand up.
Here’s a way to stand with less strain.
First, sit in a chair and place both hands on your thighs.
Then lean your upper body forward as if you’re bowing and lift your hips slightly off the seat.
Finally, press down firmly on your thighs with your hands to raise your upper body.
In addition to this standing technique, we also introduce exercises you can do while seated.
By continuing these, you can strengthen your legs, balance, and core, which should make standing up easier.
Back Muscle Training for Seniors
Strengthen your back muscles with training introduced by an occupational therapist.
Benefits of training the back include preventing rounded shoulders and lower back pain, and by building a strong upper body, improving balance so posture and walking become more stable.
While back exercises are typically done lying face down, this routine is performed standing.
Cross your arms to hold your shoulders and bow.
Keeping your torso tilted forward, raise your arms overhead as if cheering and then pull them back.
These are simple movements anyone can imitate, so give them a try if you like.
Leg swing workout
We’d like to introduce a leg-swing exercise that can improve hip strength and range of motion in just five minutes a day.
It’s very simple to do! While holding onto the back of a chair, perform five movements—swinging your leg forward and backward, side to side, and moving your leg in a circular motion—each for 20 seconds, and repeat the set twice.
Just this alone helps develop the strength to support your lower back, the ability to steady yourself when you wobble, and your overall balance.
You can do it at home anytime without worrying about the weather or temperature, so it’s highly recommended.
Exercises to improve kyphotic posture
A hunched back is commonly called a “cat back,” but the technical term is kyphosis.
When your back is rounded, it affects your whole body.
While walking, you may start shuffling your feet, increasing the risk of falls, and your chin naturally tilts upward, which can lead to aspiration.
So let’s try a simple exercise to improve kyphotic posture.
Place both hands on your ribcage and inhale.
The key point is to check that your ribs lift upward.
Then, open your arms out to the sides and raise your head and neck upward.
Keep breathing slowly and hold this position for 10 seconds.
Just this alone can help bring a rounded, backward-leaning posture back toward neutral.
