Preventing
falls in five steps
I
decided to write this article after seeing a man, roughly 40 years
old jogging to jog to catch a bus. The man tripped, fell and lay
injured on the floor. He soon got up with a look of pain stricken
all over his face.
The
occasional fall is bound to happen. However I would say that you
could almost completely eliminate falls if you followed the techniques
below. I would point out that age is irrelevant, the fact the older
you get the more likely you are to fall is more to do with allowing
the body to become sedentary rather than physiological reasons.
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Follow
these tips what ever your age to help improve your ability to avoid
falling. If you know someone who is always spraining their ankle
send them this link also.
1)
Stretch
An
active and static stretch routine
in combination are so powerful that it will make the chance of you
falling almost impossible. Active stretching improves coordination,
flexibility and balance while static stretching improves posture.
This enhances your core and overall body strength through efficient
mechanics and operation of the muscles. Everyone should be doing
this regularly.
2)
Brush your teeth on one leg.
So
many falls happen as the ankle rolls over thus causing the person
to come tumbling down. This is more likely to happen if you have
done this same accident previously. The reason it is more likely
is that the proprioceptors (sensors in the ankle) that tell your
brain where the foot is in space lose their sensitivity.
The
results is the brain gets the signal you are about to fall over
when you hit the floor! A bit too late you may agree. Standing on
one leg, with your eyes closed if necessary will greatly reduce
your risk of falls. Do this when brushing your teeth is much more
of a challenge. Children love this too, makes brushing your teeth
fun.
WARNING:
Do not shoot yourself in the foot by falling over when doing this
exercise. Take it steady and begin gently at your own pace.
3)
Learn to engage your core.
Balance
comes from within. More specifically the muscles that hold the spine
rigid. To improve your balance you can therefore look to reactivate
the muscles of your core and ensure they are working and helping
you.
Here
is an experiment, stand on one leg, note how you feel. Now repeat,
but first stop yourself going to the toilet at the back and front,
then pull your lower stomach in like you are putting on a tight
pair of trousers. Now see how much more balanced you feel.
The
extra balance in the second test is because the mid section is now
stable. Practice engaging the core in this way whenever you can.
4)
Develop all over strength and coordination
Taking
the above point further, many falls occur because you are unable
to hold (through lack of strength) your body in a certain position
or perform a correct movement pattern. This causes you to lose balance
and fall. Tripping is a good example, when you trip a lot of weight
is forced onto the other leg. If this leg is weak you will be guaranteed
to go down. A strong leg could push you back up and allow you to
regain balance.
5)Discover
your metabolic type.
As
strange as it may seem the nutritional status of your body affects
your fall rate. Eating in accordance to your metabolic type will
increase your reaction time, allow greater responses from training
and ensure the joints are healthy and better prepared to take any
falls that do occur.
Check
out my lifestyle course
and see exactly how you can reduce your chances of falling to zero
at the same time as enjoying exceptional energy, health and prosperity.
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