Skills Needed To Avoid Falling Whilst Walking As You Age Include Balance, Short Stride, Flexibility, Strength, Agility, And Awareness

Hi folks! Thanks for stopping by!

Nearly lost my footing as I stepped onto this bag on a slick floor – rules broken, (1) stride too long, (2) not watching where I was going. Rules that saved me, (1) fit and flexible, (2) well-developed sense of balance, (3) agility, gained through Ironman training and a lifetime of sports.

I nearly crashed to the ground today, as I stood on a small bag lying on a slick polished floor, lying in wait as a trap for the unwary, or should I say the unaware.

Due to a good general level of fitness and agility I avoided injury, but not without some effort. If you watch elderly people walking, you will notice that they tend to take tiny steps, for fear of falling, I suspect. The faster ones combine this with a high cadence (foot turnover rate). If you want to survive well into old age,  it is especially important to avoid falling, with all of its attendant risks of broken legs or hips, and even brain damage and death.

Look up “awesome” in the dictionary, and you’ll probably find a picture of 86-year-old gymnast Johanna Quaas.

The skills required to avoid falling as an elderly person are best developed before you reach an extreme old age, including:

1.  Sense of balance, which can be developed simply by standing on one foot in a safe place with your eyes closed.
2. Narrow stance coming from your inner lines (dance training will teach this), with a short stride – just think about the effect of a long stride on my interaction with that slippery bag. It’s simple physics or mechanics. To increase your speed increase your cadence, rather than stride length.
3. Flexibility, as a tight body is more easily injured: “What is brittle is easy to break.” Lao-tzu, Tao te Ching, translated by S. Mitchell.
   

   This is the kind of thing you would miss if you fell and were stuck in a hospital bed, potentially for years! Prepare for old age so that you can continue to live your life to the full.

4. Strength, as well developed, flexible muscles and bones can save you in a fall as you will tend to bounce instead of break, but you have to work to keep them that way; just see this article on the issue at Bicycle Lab.
5. Agility, because as you start to fall you just might be able to save yourself by remaining agile into old age, like this remarkable lady.
6. Awareness is really the key, as spotting the trap before stepping into it will save you every time.

FitOldDog’s Mom, Joan Key, tying her shoes at age 93, and still no major flexibility issues.

Train yourself to move safely in order to remain mobile and continue to enjoy the world into extreme old age, including a visit to your local coffee shop.

My Mom went out for tea under her own steam into her mid-nineties by remaining independent and flexible, thanks to the care provided by my kind sister, Marian.

-k @FitOldDog