Preventing falls

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.

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.