Exercises help seniors with balance

The seniors were moving slowing. Concentrating on moving an imaginary ball from one side of their body to the other side.

Sometimes they would practice this move while watching their hands with their eyes; and sometimes they would complete this move while moving their heads to follow their hand's movements.

This is just one of the many exercises seniors can do in the Golden Hour Senior Center's Moving for Better Balance class. This class is designed to help seniors develop better balance, which will decrease their chances of falling. Falling is one of the most common cause of injuries for many seniors.

This class takes place on Mondays and Wednesdays starting at 10:20 a.m. in the GHSC's exercise room.

Volunteer Mary Grubb was encouraging the participants to complete the moves to the best of their ability. If they were struggling with a certain exercise or if a move hurt, she would tell them to stop.

"I don't want you to do anything that makes you uncomfortable," Grubb said.

With a calm and steady voice, Grubb will first explain and show the seniors how to do a move and then watch them as they completed the exercise. She would give them tips on how to complete the exercise correctly.

While the participants were moving slowing back and forth, Grubb would keep asking them if any of the moves made them dizzy. If they did, she asked them to stop.

With upper body exercises done, the group then moved onto lower body. For this, they made sure to have a chair next to them for support if they needed it. They practiced rocking back and forth on their feet. The group then practiced a move which should help them when they are falling forward.

"If you're going to fall, catch yourself with your foot," Grubb said.

She then showed the group several times how to complete this exercise before encouraging them to try it.

Grubb explained that the more the group practices the move, the more likely it is to become an automatic response.

"The most common fall is sideways," she said.

However, the group was working on how to catch themselves with their feet if they were falling forward. Grubb said they would cover sideways falls in another class.

Participant Margaret Bouh said she had recently fallen backwards off of a step and hit her head.

Grubb asked her to show her how she walks up steps. As Bouh demonstrated her stair climbing, Grubb immediately noticed Bouh leans back when she walks up stairs.

"We're going to get you to lean forward instead," she said.

Grubb said she would look up more exercises for how to prevent backwards falls so the group could work on those too.