FitOldDog Exercise Video On How To Reduce Your Risk Of Falling Through Better Gravity And Balance Awareness

Hi folks,

For older adults, especially the elderly, a fall can be devastating. The risk of falls can be much reduced by spending a little time becoming more aware of your body, and of it’s relationship to gravity and objects that you handle everyday. This post provides some thoughts on body awareness and describes a simple exercise to improve your balance awareness.

It’s funny how it takes a while to put two-and-two together to make four, sometimes. Guess I’m a little slow. As Karen, my Feldenkrais instructor, said, we already covered the impact of external hand rotation on the position and degree of relaxation of the shoulder blades (so I had to repeat that lesson today – go to the bottom of the class!). During my run this morning I practiced ‘running like a waiter,’ which I noticed was similar to the advice of Earl Fee, to keep your thumbs pointing skyward. These movements or positions of the hand tend to relax the shoulders and drop your shoulder blades down and in towards your spine, which in my case also pulls my elbows in towards my body. My epiphany was that Dave Scott and Earl Fee are saying essentially the same thing, which is “rotate your palms towards the sky.”

As I did my run today, which was one of my most enjoyable runs in many months, I thought about how one of my granddaughters, Ella, ran at the age of about four (I want to run like Ella). Fast, high cadence, relaxed, leaning forward at the ankles, upright, and very focused on her destination. Taking all of these things together, my body put out a very enjoyable six miles. Then I headed for my Feldenkrais lesson, where I asked Karen to help me make my first FitOldDog training video and here it is, warts and all. We shot it with my new iPad 2, the subject being ankle/calf relaxation for running. I had two props, a heavy book of chemistry and my Trigger Point Performance Therapy roller.

If you decide to try this out, don’t use a book that is too heavy for you. In fact, the weight of your arms may be enough. Furthermore, make sure that you are safe if you do lose your balance, and for people who are really unsteady on their legs they should have a companion to stabilize and help them. With a little practice you will be able to move one of your arms a short distance from your side and feel how your body moves to compensate for the slight shift in your center of gravity.

-k Your Medical Mind