Don’t Wait To Fall Down

While falls are common at any age, the elderly are especially vulnerable to fractures, long-term reductions in quality of life, and even death, as a result of falling.

Falls account for 13 percent of injury-related deaths in Canada, according to a 2004 Statistics Canada report. Another Statistics Canada report, from 2005, shows that falls account for more deaths than poisonings, homicides, HIV, influenza or liver disease septicaemia and viral hepatitis.  The same organization reports that 49 percent of people aged 65 or older who have injurious falls sustain fractures—most likely to the arms or hands, then the legs or feet and followed by fractures to the hips.

There are several reasons we become more susceptible to devastating fall-related injuries as we age; we lose protective bone and muscle mass, we are commonly affected by mobility-limiting disease like arthritis, and we tend to adopt a more sedentary lifestyle that further reduces our balance and mobility.

For older adults, a fall is often a precipitating event that leads to a generalized decline in health and can result in death. Our bones take longer to heal when we are older; a fracture that would slow someone in their 20s or 30s for six weeks could leave someone in their 60s or 70s bedridden for even longer. Bedridden older adults are at risk of pneumonia and blood clots—among other problems—and hasten the process of muscle loss.

What can you do if you are worried about falls? Don’t wait for one; be proactive—and not reactive—about your health. If you haven’t done this, don’t write-off your health either—know that it is truly never too late to adopt an active lifestyle.

While all exercise helps us maintain mobility and prevent falls, there are also specific exercises we can perform, many from home, that target important muscles used for balance. Try the following:

Hamstring Curls: Stand up straight and hold onto the back of a chair, with your feet shoulder-width apart. Lift one foot by bending at the knee; bring your heel up as high as you can. Try three sets of 10 repetitions for each leg daily.

Chair Squats: Stand in front of a chair, ready to sit down. Slowly lower your body until you are seated—trying to avoid placing weight on the arms of the chair—and then slowly stand right away. Work up to three sets of 10 repetitions daily.

Leg Extensions: While seated in a chair with your back straight, slowly raise one leg at a time, making it parallel to the floor. Hold your leg out for up to 10 seconds (you’ll likely need to build endurance) before lowering it. Eventually, you should be able to do three sets of 10 repetitions for each leg daily.

Shaun Karp is a certified personal trainer.  For further information call 604-420-7800 or go to www.karpfitness.com.

Fall Prevention Exercises

Keeping your leg muscles strong and having good balance helps prevent falls. Before you start any exercise program be sure to consult your doctor.

Try to do these exercises everyday for best results.

CHAIR SQUATS

Stand in front of a sturdy chair. In a controlled and steady motion, sit into the chair, then stand up. Work towards not using the arms on the chair and standing back up without resting. Remember to breathe throughout.

Start with: 10 repetitions Goal: Two times a day

LEG EXTENSIONS

Sitting up straight in a supportive chair, slowly straighten out your leg and lower it back down. Work towards holding your leg out for ten seconds, while breathing normally.

Start with: 10 repetitions Goal: Three times a day

HAMSTRING CURLS

Hold on to a sturdy chair back or grab bar. Stand up tall with your eyes forward. Keeping your knees together, bend one knee so that your heel comes up toward your back. If this is difficult, only lift your foot up as high as is comfortable.

Start with: 10 repetitions Goal: Three times a day

Karp Home Care Vancouver is committed to providing priemium in home care to the elderly, ill or injured. For more information call 604-420-7800

Get Involved in Your Recovery

If you’ve been involved in a motor vehicle accident or have a chronic soft-tissue injury, such as shoulder, neck or back pain, you would likely benefit from an active rehabilitation program. One of the benefits of this form of treatment is that it allows you to become actively involved in your recovery. The program emphasizes education to enable you to continue exercising properly and independently, while improving your overall health. Increasingly, doctors are recommending this type of therapy to patients with soft-tissue injuries, as the treatment is effectively personalized to suit the individual’s needs. Active rehabilitation is also a highly cost-effective form of treatment, as a patient is able to continue their therapy independently long after the program has come to an end.

Active rehabilitation programs are lead and supervised by a qualified physiotherapist or kinesiologist, who begins by assessing the client to determine their specifics needs, limitations and physical capabilities. Programs can be performed in a gym, pool or at home, and consist of an individualized exercise prescription combining stretching, core stability and strengthening techniques. Active rehabilitation programs work to restore range of motion and address postural mechanics, muscular imbalances and limited flexibility.

Though each active rehabilitation program is tailored to the individual’s needs, the common goal is to return the client to normal function. Active rehabilitation programs are highly successful in enabling clients to return to work, get back on a sports team after an injury or simply resume activities of daily living, as they are progressive and easily modified, if necessary. These programs often include work-simulation exercises and functional activities, which effectively prepare the client for a return to their pre-injury lifestyle.

A common misconception with active therapy is that exercise should be avoided to prevent further aggravation of an in injury, when in fact the opposite is true. Monitored, controlled exercise is healthy way of strengthening muscles to speed up recovery and prevent reinjury. Dr. Stephen Hoschuler, co-founder and orthopedic surgeon with the Texas Back Institute write, “Controlled gradual and progressive exercise, rather than inactivity and bed rest most often provides the best long-term solution for reducing back pain.” You may initially experience some discomfort upon beginning an active rehabilitation program; however, this is a normal part of recovery, and you will begin to see positive results and ultimately improve your physical well being with continued and consistent effort.

The guidance of a kinesiologist throughout your program will ensure that you are not only performing your routines properly, but will also provide you with the motivation and structure necessary for a successful return to normal function and continued involvement in a healthier lifestyle.

Karp Home Care Vancouver is committed to providing priemium in home care to the elderly, ill or injured. For more information call 604-420-7800

Exercise and Hypertension

An Overview of the Disease

Blood pressure is defined as the amount of pressure exerted by blood on blood vessel walls as it passes through the vessel. Systolic blood pressure (SBP) is the highest pressure on the walls right after one single heartbeat. Diastolic blood pressure (DBP) is the lowest pressure on the walls right before a heartbeat. Hypertension, also known as high blood pressure, is defined as having a SBP 140 mm Hg and/or DBP 90 mm Hg. Hypertension is a primary risk factor for cardiovascular disease such as stroke, heart failure, angina, renal failure, and myocardial infarction or heart attack. It is also a stronger independent risk factor for mortality from coronary heart disease among elderly women than among elderly men.

Causes and Implications of Hypertension

Population factors associated with hypertension are obesity, high sodium intake, low potassium intake, physical inactivity, heavy alcohol consumption, and psychosocial stress. Accumulation of intra-abdominal visceral fat, which is fat located inside the body around organs instead of those right beneath the skin, and hyperinsulinemia also play a role in the development of the disease.

Hypertension causes the heart to do extra work in order to pump blood throughout a person\’s body. It promotes the presence of coronary calcium, which is a potential predictor of sudden death. It is associated with some changes in the brain, for example impaired cognitive function. It may lead to retinopathy, a degenerative disease in the eye, and nephropathy, a disease of the kidney. Finally, it induces thickening and stiffening of the medium and small blood vessels.

How May Exercise Reduce Hypertension?

The typical blood pressure response to acute bouts of aerobic exercise is a gradual increase in SBP and gradual decrease or no change in DBP. Age, gender, and body weight often cause variation.

First of all, exercise training can lower both cardiac output and peripheral vascular resistance at rest and at any given level of work. Lowered cardiac output is primarily due to reduced heart rate. All these help to reduce the amount of work needed from the heart in pumping blood. Next, exercise can decrease visceral fat and central fat deposition, rather than simply body weight, which will help reduce blood pressure in most people, especially in obese people. Specifically, aerobic exercise will decrease both resting SBP and DBP. Even exercises of moderate intensity can induce these beneficial changes. Finally, exercise training may reduce or eliminate the need for antihypertensive medications in patients with mild or severe hypertension.

Exercise Guidelines

The recommendations for exercise for those with mild hypertension are generally the same as those for healthy adults. Endurance, or aerobic, exercises are preferred, with a frequency of 3-5 days/week, duration of 20-60 minutes, and intensity of 60-85% of maximum heart rate. However for those with severe hypertension of markedly elevated blood pressure, the intensity should be lowered to about 50-70% of maximum heart rate.

In regards to weight training, this form of exercise usually results in increased SBP and an associated increase in DBP during the exercise bout. However, there is a smaller increase in heart rate compared to aerobic exercise. The blood pressure response between individuals contains great amounts of variability. Therefore a person should just exercise cautiously when performing any types of weight lifting. Interestingly, circuit training has been shown to result in a modest drop in DBP and no change in SBP.

Finally, for any person with hypertension, lifestyle modification including diet, weight loss, and exercise is much needed to help manage the disease.

Karp Home Care Vancouver is committed tp providing priemium in home care to the elderly, ill or injured. For more information call 604-420-7800

Fall Prevention & Safe Route Program

Most of us have slips and trips with no serious consequences. But, among older adults, falls are more common, and can often result in serious injuries. Falling is the biggest health risk for seniors, but the good news is that older adults can reduce their risk of falling. At Karp, we can provide you with the education and skills to reduce your risk of falling, ensuring your mobility and independence.

Personal and environmental factors can increase an older adult’s risk of falling. And, in most cases, personal factors and environmental hazards interact, greatly increasing the risk of falling. At Karp, we can help you reduce the majority of these risks; however, it is also important you have regular check ups with your doctor to have your blood pressure, eyesight and ears examined, as problems with these, too, can increase your risks of falling. It is also important to periodically review any medications you are taking with your doctor, and discuss any side effects with your pharmacist.

As we age, our bodies change: we experience loss of muscle and bone strength, eyesight and balance problems, chronic illnesses and increased use of certain medications. Any or all of these issues may also increase an older adult’s risk of falling. Certain behaviours and lifestyles also contribute to increasing your falling risk: not paying attention, rushing or taking unnecessary risks increase your chances of falling, as does wearing improper footwear, not eating a well-balanced diet, or being physically inactive. That is why, at Karp, we encourage older adults to try to become more active. This may include going for walks with a friend, or joining an appropriate exercise program offered through a local seniors’ centre, or a recreation centre. With one-on-one guidance from our Karp representatives, we will help you make an informed choice on the physical activities that will be appropriate for you and your lifestyle.

Physical issues are not the only factors increasing your susceptibility to falling. Many accidents leading to falls happen inside the home; at Karp, we can help you protect yourself against any indoor hazards. These potential hazards include bathtubs without grab bars or non-slip surfaces; carpets or mats that are not secured to the floor; stairs with no handrails or poor lighting, and electrical and telephone cords in walking areas. Karp offers a guided walk-through of your home to identify any possible risks, and offers solutions to ensure your house is safe and free of possible hazards.

Safe Route Program

Hazards also exist outside the home, and can be particularly dangerous when you are not familiar with the outside environment. These hazards outside the home include poor lighting, broken sidewalks, uneven steps and poor snow or ice removal. Although you may not be able to control these outdoor hazards, Karp can still help you protect yourself from falling, with the help of our educated professionals, and tailored programs. We offer numerous tailored programs, each developed specifically for your individual needs; including our Safe Route program, where a member of our trained Karp team will personally guide you along a custom walk route. These custom walk routes will be devised in consideration of the challenges an older adult faces, including avoiding any major obstacles, such as major intersections, uneven paths, or construction zones.

Whatever challenges you face in older adulthood, Karp can help provide you with the knowledge on fall prevention, and help you ensure your independence well into your senior years. With close communication with your family doctor, pharmacist, and Karp, it is easy to safeguard yourself from falling, and to protect yourself from any unnecessary injuries.

Karp Home Care Vancouver is committed to providing priemium in home care to the elderly, ill or injured. For more information call 604-420-7800