Fall Prevention Strategies you don't want to miss!

The following statistics regarding falls are staggering, literally. (Shared from my recent continuing education course "Helping Patients Stay on their Feet")

    • In 2019, over 8 million older American had a fall-related injury 

    • Resulting in more than 34,000 deaths (93 older adults per day) 

    • More than 1 in 3-4 older adults (28%) fall each year 

    • Approximately 36 millions falls annually 

    • Falls in older adults cost healthcare system approximately $50 billion dollars in 2015 

Holy cow!! That is a LOT of money! Not to mention waaaay too many people affected by falls!  

The best Fall Prevention Strategy of them all is to work on your balance reactions and challenge yourself to improve your strength and stability regularly.  As you likely know by now, helping clients improve their balance has been a long-time passion of mine. Teaching the weekly Balance & Stability group fitness class at the Wisconsin Athletic Club has been an absolute joy, and it's already been over a year since I started teaching. During this time, I've had multiple class attendees, who are regulars, come up to me and share stories of how their commitment to our class and the strategies we practice regularly have positively impacted their life. 

"I was told that my blood pressure & cholesterol were in a range that required medication. I told the doctor to give me some time to make some lifestyle changes and then we would recheck. After 8 months of taking regular walks, taking this Balance Class, and doing a weekly yoga class, my numbers are now all in the healthy range!!"  -Mary (70 y.o.)

"I'm able to keep up with my grandkids and get up and down from the floor much better since we started this class!" -Kathy (68 y.o)

"I recently had my gall bladder removed. I was able to use my feet to pick things up off of the floor while I was recovering and couldn't bend forward. I wouldn't have been able to do that if it weren't for practicing doing that in our Balance Class!" -Karrie (53 y.o.)

"We went on vacation with another couple from class, and had to walk across a log to get to the other side of a creek, and we said, 'Emily would be proud of us that we all did it!'" -John (75 y.o.)

I just love hearing their success stories! I just wish the classroom was bigger and even more people could come and join us and enhance their balance too. 

I decided it would be fun to share some of my favorite balance exercises here with you. This is a document I created to share with the Humble Warrior Wellness and Yoga organization this summer at their annual retreat. These exercises can be incorporated weekly, even while doing other activities at home to "stack" your habits and be sure to get them in. 

Balance Exercises

Let me know how these go for you and which ones you like best. If you are interested in giving my Balance Class a try, reach out for a free pass to the WAC. I'd love to have you join me! 

My prayer for you is to stay active, vibrant, and functionally independent as long as you possibly can and stay away from becoming part of the above statistics! You can do this!! : )

Taking Care of your "LOVE Muscles"

Imagine...You and your Valentine are snuggled up together, enjoying the holiday, and you start to notice a sensation rising up inside your body.  When you look deeply into your Valentine's eyes, butterflies flutter in your stomach. You feel a shiver go up your spine. You feel the intensity build, all the way to... your LOVE muscle...You feel a gentle pulsing, a rhythm, beating in your... HEART! 

The heart is a symbol that has been long associated with Valentine's Day. The heart was once thought to be the center of all emotions, as it is located in the center of the chest. Although we know that the heart muscle is not responsible for emotions, it is one of the most important muscles in our whole body. The contraction of our heart muscle, heard or felt as the heart beat, pushes healthy, oxygenated blood out through the arteries to all parts of the body, and pushes the used, de-oxygenated blood back to the lungs for more oxygen. Blood pressure is the the amount of pressure the blood creates against the artery walls as the heart beats. The growing statistics regarding the number of people being diagnosed with and medicated for high blood pressure are astounding! 

According to the Cleveland Clinic, "if you have high blood pressure, you are more likely to develop coronary artery disease (atherosclerosis). Coronary artery disease is the build-up of plaque or fatty matter in the walls of the coronary (heart) arteries. Over time, the build-up causes the arteries to become narrow. As the artery narrows, less blood can flow through to the heart, and the flow may become completely blocked. The hardened surface of the artery can also cause small blood clots to form.  Damaged arteries cannot deliver enough oxygen to other parts of the body. For this reason, high blood pressure can also lead to brain and kidney damage. High blood pressure also increases your risk of stroke, congestive heart failure, and blindness."  Since the number one rated cause for mortality is Heart Disease, it is obviously important that we take good care of our LOVE muscles!!

It has long been widely accepted that exercise is good for our heart and blood pressure. Finding the type of exercise that is right for your body is an important part of keeping your hearth healthy.  According to the "Journal for American Heart Association" Isometric Resistance training studies suggest this form of training has the potential for the largest reduction in Systolic Blood Pressure." (The Systolic Blood Pressure is the top number in the blood pressure reading, and the Diastolic Blood Pressure is the bottom number, with a normal blood pressure reading of: 120/80mm.) Isometrics exercises are widely used to re-train the communication between the brain and body as our muscle contracts in a fixed, non-moving joint position. 

If you have, or someone else you LOVE has high blood pressure, or you want to prevent it, you will benefit from a customized, guided exercise plan using Wisconsin's only ISOPHIT machine at 1212 Bodyworks. The ISOPHIT machine offers a way to gently and safely use isometric exercise to work your LOVE muscle and your skeletal muscles, as they are trained to contract efficiently, throughout their entire range of motion.  In addition to its cardiovascular benefits, isometrics based exercise programs offer many other health benefits for the musculoskeletal, nervous, lymph, endocrine, and immune systems.  What's not to LOVE about this type of exercise! 

Do yourself or your Valentine a favor: take care of your LOVE muscle 

and schedule your customized ISOPHIT session today!

Much LOVE to you!