Elderly Care in Avon, IN

Making weight-bearing activities part of your elder care plan is a highly effective way to control weight, support strong joints and muscles, and reduce the chances of developing osteoporosis. Many seniors, however, hear the words “weight-bearing exercise” and worry about intensive workouts featuring heavy weights or aggressive movements. Fortunately, this is not the case. Weight-bearing exercise is about your skeletal structure supporting the full weight of your body as it moves. This pushes your bones to create more new, healthy tissue for better strength and resilience.

There are plenty of weight-bearing exercises that offer all of the benefits your aging loved ones’ bodies need, but in a way that is safe and comfortable for their level of health and well-being.

Try some of these ideas, and share them with your aging parents’ elderly health care services provider so that she can integrate them into her care plan with your seniors:

• Walking. One of the simplest and most accessible exercises is also one of the most effective. Walking offers cardiovascular and joint conditioning benefits, but is also puts gentle pressure on your muscles and bones. For the most benefit, encourage your elderly loved ones to walk at a brisk pace and aim for 30 minutes or more per day, either continuously or in several segments throughout the day. In a recent research study, adults who walked four hours or more per week reduced their risk of suffering a hip fracture by approximately 41 percent as compared to those who only walked around one hour per week.

• Martial arts. Martial arts, particularly Tai Chi, relies on the body’s own weight to provide resistance during each series of movement. Tai Chi is slow and smooth but still requires your aging parents to use their strength, stability, flexibility, and balance to get them through all of the movements successfully. In addition to the muscle and bone benefits, these exercises help to prevent falls, which are the cause of millions of injuries each year.

• Yoga. Similar to martial arts, yoga is low-impact and offers strengthening and flexibility benefits. This activity uses postures that focus on different areas of the body for a full-body workout that improves strength, flexibility, range of motion, balance, and control, as well as a mind-body connection that stimulates cognitive processing and memory skills.

• Bowling. One of the best ways to make exercise as effective as possible is to make it not seem like exercise at all. Getting your parents out to the bowling alley might not seem like you are giving them a workout, but you actually are. The movements necessary for bowling put healthy stress on your arms, legs, back, ankles, shoulders, and chest for a fun, yet effective, full-body workout.

• Gardening. Truly active gardening, including bending, crouching, clipping, digging, and cutting, is fantastic for your body, but is another one of those activities you would not immediately consider a workout. Get outside with your loved ones and enjoy making the lawn look beautiful together.