Mobility exercises to build strength, balance, and flexibility for seniors and individuals with MS or other mobility issues? First, always talk with your doctor before starting any new exercise routine. Individuals with limited mobility issues, such as MS and seniors, can modify any exercise routine to meet their needs. Just remember to work within your range of ability and not overdo it. A little goes a long way!
- Mobility problems may be unsteadiness while walking, difficulty getting in and out of a chair, or falls. Older people have common conditions that can contribute to mobility problems, such as muscle weakness, joint problems, pain, disease, and neurological (brain and nervous system) difficulties, such as MS.
- It is essential to keep your body limber, as this will make you more flexible in various situations. Being soft with your muscles helps protect them from injury by making it easier for joints and ligaments to do their job correctly. This also can help increase coordination because the flexibility allows for a more excellent range of motion between various body parts that may have trouble working together. This could be due to stiffness or lack thereof in one area versus another.
A Little Goes a Long Way
- People with MS and seniors can benefit from at least 30 minutes of physical activity at least three days a week.
- Some individuals with MS may need to avoid aggressive exercise, which raises the body’s core temperature. Overdoing it can bring on severe fatigue and injury and exacerbate symptoms. They exacerbate symptoms are temporary and go away as the body cools. They are not severe or permanent but are very uncomfortable and can be scary when experiencing them. Everyone is different, and their tolerance to more aggressive exercise differs.
- Individuals can always start with the gentle flow exercise, which is extremely helpful for gaining mobility, balance, and strength.
- Regular aerobic exercise can increase strength and balance, improve bowel and bladder control, and decrease spasticity related to MS, but it can backfire if you don’t take a gentler approach.
- Drink plenty of water to stay hydrated; as a result, it helps to keep the body cool. If you become too warm, take a break, keeping your core temperature from overheating.
Keep Our Bodies Moving
- It is of the utmost importance to keep our bodies moving; Tai chi and gentle Yoga are potent practices. They relieve spasticity symptoms, lose tight muscles, and get unused muscles moving. Just take it slow, and remember to keep breathing. Breathe in, and then breathe out on the stretch.
- Keeping a positive attitude with your exercise routine is critical, for physical health struggles can lead to problems with mental health. Unfortunately, medical professionals often overlook depression. Regular exercise and getting outdoors does a lot to relieve depression.
Endurance Mobility Exercises
Endurance exercise can be beneficial if able. For example, seniors can join a senior exercise class, a senior center, or the Y. Brisk walking, climbing a small staircase, or walking up a slight cline hill. Individuals with MS can also enjoy swimming and these endurance exercises; take it slow. Working out in the water is fun, especially with others. If able, dance class is also an option. Dancing gets the body moving and the heart pumping and the social benefits of mental health are very positive.
- Try not to become discouraged or frustrated with yourself. It takes time to gain strength, flexibility, and mobility; take it slow to prevent injuries. Working out together with a friend is fun and engaging at the same time. It is a perfect situation because you are more apt to keep on track with your exercise routine with a friend.
- Take it easy and give yourself credit for your work towards your wellbeing. Give yourself some love and patients. There is no race, just improvement in your physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing and increasing your social circle too!
- Celebrate each milestone you cross, for each is a big deal. Take exercises that work for you and your needs, and adjust your workouts to fit you. Shoot for 10% improvement at a time. Celebrate! Then move on to your next 10% improvement challenge.
Now let’s look at ways to improve our balance, strength, and mobility a little deeper.
An Integrated Fitness Approach
- There are five components to integrate with fitness plans for individuals with MS.
Functional fitness for individuals with MS and seniors is essential to maximize the efficiency of the body’s physiological system.
Focusing on:
- Building the body to conquer real-life activities in real-life situations should be practiced.
- Successfully combining the five components of fitness for functional exercise can help maximize strength and minimize the overuse of muscles that may already compensate for weaker counterparts.
- As with individuals in a wheelchair, we want to build up upper body strength. The primary mobility is triceps extensions, for the individual can transfer themselves. We want to do squats to strengthen their core, butt, and legs for a mobile individual. Giving the individual the ability to continue to rise from seated positions, or getting in and out of a car alone, and so forth.
1. Balance & Strength
Functional fitness is vital to enhance your balance, strength, and mobility, with exercises just right for you. Balance and coordination issues are common among individuals with MS and older adults. Coordination and balance involve a sequence of many muscles working together as a whole to move the body.
- Yoga, Tai chi, and Pilates practices work on the body as a whole. Entire body flow movement is essential for practical body mechanics and proper alignment. Posture can be an issue for individuals with MS. Core muscles become weak. Practicing Yoga & Tai Chi or Pilates can enhance one’s posture by building core strength and flexibility. Therefore, there is potential to significantly improve one’s posture, flexibility, balance & overall strength.
2. Strength and Endurance
- Strength training uses resistance to challenge muscles, improving muscle strength, bone density, muscle mass, flexibility, and balance to help prevent injury. Weakness is a common problem in MS and older adults. There are numerous and a variety of causes. A properly designed and executed physical activity program can help address areas of weakness and imbalance, with increased activity endurance over time.
3. Flexibility & Range of Motion: mobility exercises
- Individuals living with MS sometimes suffer from loss of flexibility, resulting in a limited range of motion. Flexibility exercise can improve joint integrity, prevent injury, and release stress.
- Yoga and Tai Chi focus on breathing techniques, which correlate with the whole body flow movements, with flexibility enhancement. Breathing correctly, learning to relax with the breath, and being mindful of one’s body is a beautiful experience, with the possibilities to enhance your fitness and life.
4. Body Awareness & Relaxation
- The purpose of relaxation practice or meditation is to consciously lower the physical cortical influence stress has on the body. Physiologically, as one relaxes, muscle tension decreases & reduces spasticity. Heart and respiratory rates slow, and mental attention shifts, helping to increase concentration. Mind/body techniques like those used in Yoga and Tai chi enhance the body’s ability to adjust to movement execution. These techniques give the possibility to individuals with MS. Enabling the body to adapt to its sometimes-changing ability levels as affected by MS and age.
- Living with MS and stress can deplete an individual both emotionally and physically. Potentially increases MS symptoms and fatigue. Physical activity acts as a form of stress management. Yoga, Tai Chi, and aquatics can assist in lowering levels of harmful stress hormones that may impact the immune system. Body awareness is a heightened consciousness of how the body moves. Such awareness can help identify changes, needs, or poor movement patterns in the body. This body awareness gives the individual a new skill and the ability to address issues when they arise.
5. Cardiovascular Exercise: mobility exercises
- Cardiovascular exercise increases heart and respiratory rates and keeps the heart rate elevated for some time. Using the larger muscles in the body, cardio is good for the heart and can help fight fatigue and increase endurance in MS patients. An individual with MS should practice cardiovascular exercise with this approach. According to the National MS Society, “Use the Perceived Exertion scale (0-10) to monitor exertion before, during, and after exercise. Warm-up/cool-down should be at 1-2/10 RPE (Rated Perceived Exertion); exercise zone at 3-5/10 RPE. (Rated Perceived Exertion); exercise area at 3-5/10 RPE.
- Examples of cardio exercise include walking, elliptical, stationary bike, arm cycle, and swimming.” Cardio exercises should be practiced during the cooler temperatures of the day. This will help regulate fatigue. Fatigue experienced after an exercise session should not exceed approximately 2 hours.
- Fatigue from workouts exceeding 2 hours should reduce the activity’s intensity, frequency, and duration. However, an exercise program can help maintain and enhance good health with some guidelines.
Balance Training: Mobility Exercises
Why is Balance Training Important?
Why is balance training so necessary? Balance training improves the body’s ability to react quickly to everyday missteps, therefore helping to prevent falls in older adults. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 1 out of 4 older adults fall annually. Balance training also helps improve performance and prevents injury in sports.
Sensory Systems in the Body.
Your vision, inner ear, and joint receptors all provide a sense of where your body is in space. These are the body’s sensory systems. The neuromuscular system synthesizes the information from your body’s sensory system. Giving you the stability needed to keep the body upright and your weight evenly distributed. You can increase your strength by practicing balance exercises. Your neuromuscular system will strengthen and improve your stability.
Practice balance training throughout your day. Balance & Mobility Exercises
- Venture out and walk on variable terrain, a hiking trail, or a sandy beach. If you can’t get out, stand on a pillow or mat. Stand on a foam pad, or work with a balance ball. Standing or sitting balance training exercises can be practiced. You are sitting on a balance ball with your feet flat on the floor, holding your arms out to the side like an airplane. You can begin to make circles with your arms forward, then back, 10 seconds at a time. Get your balance and lift one leg at a time, holding it up for 10 seconds, then the other leg. Increase the time held as you enhance your balance. Stand with feet together, stand on one foot, and switch sides.
- For balance and mobility exercises, pretend you’re walking on a balance beam. You are walking with one foot in front of the other, maintaining balance, and practicing throughout the day. Standing on one foot every opportunity you get and during TV commercials, waiting for the bus, chatting with a friend, gazing out the window.
- Close your eyes, standing with feet together. Use the same exercises above, standing on one leg using a partner if needed for support. You can add movement elsewhere with your body while standing on one leg. For example, arms can go out to the side like a T and use the circular motion front and backward for 30 seconds each. Add additional time as you progress in balance. Turning the head from side to side can also be added to enhance this exercise.
Balance training exercises should be tailored to your skill level. Incorporating balancing training into daily activities or exercise routines can be fun and easy. Balance training should be challenging but not too hard where it’s too difficult to do them safely. Modify and adjust any exercises, and advance when they become too easy.
Studies Show Yoga Reduces Fall in Adults 60+ Mobility Exercises.
How to reduce falls in older adults?
- The research concludes that Yoga reduces falls in adults 60+. In addition, in an 8-week yoga course in rural Wisconsin, the study showed that Yoga increases strength and balance in seniors.
- The research group consists of healthy adults 60 years and older. Participants enrolled in two 1 hour classes a week over eight weeks. Yoga exercises included seated, and standing Yoga poses, breathing exercises, awareness, and meditation.
- Participants’ Yoga poses were adapted to their ability and advanced as they progressed. During this 8-week study, participants were randomly assigned to either practice yoga for 10 minutes at home daily with a 5-minute breathing exercise or just a breathing exercise.
- Fifteen participants reported a total of 27 falls in 6 months before starting. In the follow-up study, reports of falls dropped significantly. 13 participants reported 14 falls. In addition, participants show significant improvement in balance and strength tests between the start of the study and one week following the 8-week course.
- Yoga reduces falls in older adults 60+. In addition, the study shows equal improvement between the group that practiced Yoga at home and the group that did not. The study was an encouraging sign for future applications of yoga programs to keep older adults healthy, balanced, and at home.
- Yoga is a powerful tool for older adults to build strength, foot awareness, and balance.
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