[For Seniors] Exercises to Walk Again. Fall Prevention
As we age, our legs and lower back can weaken, making stumbles and falls a concern.
However, by continuing simple exercises, you can maintain your walking ability and build a body that’s less likely to fall.
If you make easy, manageable exercises a habit, you’ll be able to go about your daily life with greater peace of mind.
In this article, we introduce exercises that can be easily done at home—even by older adults—to improve walking and prevent falls.
Let’s start with what you can do, move your body while having fun, and keep walking energetically for years to come.
- For Seniors: How to Strengthen Your Inner Muscles. Fall Prevention
- For seniors: Leg-strengthening exercises you can do without overexertion.
- [For Seniors] Fun and Easy! Fall-Prevention Exercises for Older Adults
- [For Seniors] Balance-Training Exercises: Preventing Falls
- [For Seniors] Core Training: Recommended Simple Rehabilitation
- Recommended simple exercises for recreational activities for the elderly
- [For Seniors] Leg and lower-back training: Fall prevention
- [For Seniors] Recreational activities and games that let you have fun while strengthening your legs
- Back-strengthening exercises for seniors: easy routines suitable for women
- For Seniors: Effective Recreation for Preventing Care Needs—Have Fun While Staying Healthy
- For seniors: Enjoyable stick exercises. Easy workouts.
- [For Seniors] Improve Your Body Concerns! A Summary of Exercises for Urinary Leakage
- Let's extend our healthy lifespan! Care exercises to stay active and energetic forever
[For Seniors] Exercises to Walk Again. Fall Prevention (11–20)
Energized and lively! Easy-peasy exercises
Older adults often trip while walking because they don’t lift their feet high enough and end up shuffling, causing their toes to catch even on small steps or uneven surfaces.
It’s important to lift the toes, land on the heel, and push off the ground with the foot when walking.
This time, we’re introducing exercises to increase flexibility in the ankles and toes.
Movements such as bending the ankles forward, backward, and side to side, and pointing and lifting the toes while keeping the heels on the floor can all be done while seated, so go at your own pace without overexerting yourself.
Balance training using a chair
For older adults, being able to maintain balance is important because it helps prevent falls.
The chair-based balance training introduced here is valuable for preventing falls and improving walking stability.
Many older adults feel uneasy about exercising while standing.
In such cases, chair-based balance training is recommended! Not only is it safe, but it also lets you strengthen your core and lower body muscles without strain.
In fact, improving core flexibility helps maintain balance more than simply walking with your feet on the ground.
Give it a try and feel the difference.
Balance training in a walking posture
Walking is very important for your health, isn’t it? For older adults to maintain their balance, it’s essential to strengthen the core.
The key is to train using the whole body so you’re not walking with just your legs.
Since this movement activates muscles you don’t usually use, make sure to hold on firmly with both hands to a chair or something stable for safety when you do it.
Even if you usually walk without thinking, simply paying attention to your hip movement and posture can help improve your balance.
Why not incorporate this movement into your daily walks?
One-Leg Balance Exercise
In everyday life, don’t you sometimes suddenly lose your balance? This is especially something to watch out for among older adults, as losing balance and falling can lead to injuries.
A recommended way for seniors to train their balance is the one-leg balance exercise.
Since it’s done one leg at a time, use a chair or wall for support.
It strengthens the lower body, making it effective for preventing falls.
The movements are all slow and controlled, so it’s nice that you can keep it up without overexerting yourself.
Exercises to strengthen the hip area
We often walk on autopilot, and without realizing it we make our movements smaller to reduce effort.
This exercise aims to improve balance by consciously focusing on the muscles and joints you use when walking.
The key here is hip movement: by getting the hips to move properly, your posture becomes more stable.
Because these are supported exercises—like side-to-side movements while holding onto a chair—they place little strain on the body, so it’s recommended to pay attention to which muscles you’re using as you go.
Leg strength training
As we get older, pain in the hip and knee joints can develop and interfere with daily life.
Movements like standing up, sitting down, and going up and down stairs use the muscles in the thighs, calves, and below the knees.
In addition, strengthening the gluteal muscles improves posture and can help alleviate lower back and knee pain.
To help prevent becoming bedridden, let’s start building leg strength.
This exercise can be done while lying down on a mat or futon, so it’s recommended for older adults as well.
[For seniors] Exercises to help you walk again. Fall prevention (21–30)
Arm-swinging exercise
For older adults, building muscle strength is important to help prevent falls.
Even without intense exercise, this arm-swing exercise can be continued comfortably.
Arm swinging is very important for strengthening the core and lower limbs during walking.
As the arms swing forward and backward, pelvic rotation is moderately controlled, allowing smoother lower-limb movement.
It also helps improve balance.
The key to this exercise is to be mindful of your posture while swinging your arms.
It’s nice that you can do it at home.