Some tips and exercises to help avoid falls.
We see people with injuries from falling all the time in clinic and one of the biggest, most enduring problems that falling can leave us with, is the way it erodes our confidence in movement.
we need to get out and about, right? We need to see our friends, get fresh air, go shopping, walk the dog, move with ease around our homes and gardens.
Movement keeps us happy.
So here's Lilla with some tips and exercises to keep or regain our confidence in our ability to balance and stay on our feet. To not fall over.
How to prevent falls!
💚
We love movement! It helps us stay strong and confident!
💃
It keeps us getting out and about, meeting friends, walking our dogs, getting fresh air, staying happy!
🐾
Here are some tips and exercises from Lilla to help us avoid falls. Or to regain our confidence if we have fallen.
💓
How to prevent falls: #1 getting our thighs strong!
And here's top tip number two - softening your knees!
🤔
Avoiding tensing our legs, especially when we feel unstable or as if we might fall (think icy pavements!) is key to avoiding falling.
😊
If our knees are already relaxed then our whole bodies respond by being ready to act if we need to.
💚
This is key to avoiding topping, helplessly over, like a felled tree!
🤔
But instead it makes movement relaxed, safe and fun!
💃
And finally, tip number three - learning the quick stumble!
Here's Lilla with how to turn the start of a fall into a dance....well ok - a quick stumble!
💃🕺
Often when we fall it's because we haven't been able to move our feet fast enough to catch the start of our fall and prevent it!
👣
And- yes!- this looks like a quick stumble!
👀
And sometimes it might be a quick stumble and then a half fall. But...
The outcome is SO much better than falling without moving our feet!
🏃♀️
Which looks like a tree falling and happens too fast for us to protect ourselves.
🌳
Give it a go, practice transfering your weight from one foot to the other as fast as you safely can. Hold onto something for safety as you're practising if you need to.
🙂