Whilst exercise is important to help improve your balance and strengthen your muscles here are some falls prevention tips in the home (where 65% of falls happen).
- Make sure that your lighting is good enough you can see. If you need to go to the loo in the night turn the light on or have those sensor lights (and if you have a care alarm take it with you!)
- If you have to have rugs make sure that they have an anti-slip underlay
- Clear up any spills on the floor in the kitchen or bathroom immediately
- Make sure you have a non-slip mat in your shower and bath
- Make sure the myriad of cables that we now have in our homes for lamps, electronic devices, charging devices etc are tucked away or run along the skirting boards so that you can't trip over them.
- Do not go barefoot, even in the home wear stable and sturdy slippers (make sure they have a back and that you don't press it down!)
For a quick balance exercise that you can practice whilst waiting for the kettle to boil how about doing the heel-to-toe stance?
Make sure you are standing by something sturdy like a dining room chair or a kitchen counter. Stand side on to the support.
Use one hand support to start. Place one foot directly in front of the other, touching heel to toe. Stand tall (chest up, shoulders relaxed, looking forward) and make sure your weight is distributed evenly between both feet.
Hold the position for 10 seconds before bringing feet back to parallel. As the exercise starts to feel easier progress to using less support until eventually you can stand this way with no support for 10 seconds.
If you would like some more information on the classes or 1:1 sessions I run to help you strengthen your muscles and improve your balance then please get in touch with me here