by Nina

Baxter Balancing by Melina Meza

“As the population ages and people live longer in bad shape, the number of older Americans who fall and suffer serious, even fatal, injuries is soaring. So the retirement communities, assisted living facilities and nursing homes where millions of Americans live are trying to balance safety and their residents’ desire to live as they choose.” —NY Times

When I sat down for breakfast with Brad this morning, he told me about an article in the New York Times Bracing for the Falls of an Aging Nation that he had just finished reading, saying, “You should write about this today.” So as I started to drink my morning tea, I read through the fairly long article, and the more I read, the more depressed I got. Because after presenting all the terrible statistics about the numbers of people over 65 who have died after falling (nearly 24,000 in 2012, almost double the number 10 years earlier), the article described all the measures that retirement communities are taking to keep their residents safe. But the problem that I saw right away was that many of the safety restrictions for residents, such as keeping floor surfaces completely even and requiring walkers, would cause the residents to become even less mobile and less able to balance, in a downward spiral of inactivity in the name of safety. And the really sad thing for me was that even though these facilities offer optional exercise classes—even classes specifically focused on improving balance—people were not going to them. As the article said:

“But many residents do not, or refuse to, recognize their own gradual deterioration, leaving them vulnerable despite efforts to protect them. Institutions offer sessions on avoiding falls and Improving balance and fitness. But some residents will not go near them – until after they have fallen.”

At one point in the middle of the article, I said to Brad in despair, “I can’t write about this—it seems totally depressing.” It was only when I reached the end of the article that I saw a glimmer of hope:

“Though the risk of a fall increases significantly once people reach their 80s, researchers have found that people 85 and older in excellent health have no greater risk than someone 20 years younger.”

Yes! That’s what I like to hear. As we have written about in several posts (see Winter Ice, Fear of Falling, and Yoga), yoga is especially helpful for enabling you to maintain and/or improve your ability to balance. So if we’re all practicing yoga asana regularly—especially standing poses and balancing poses—we’re going to be much better off than the old folks in the article, who have become practically immobilized in attempt to keep them safe. Granted, it is sometimes difficult to motivate yourself to take preventative measures. As the article said regarding the older people’s lack of attendance in the optional exercise classes:

“It is not so much laziness that accounts for the limited attendance, but denial. A sluggish foot, eyesight that fails to catch a step down, slowed reflexes – these creep up slowly, often imperceptibly. This helps explain why people tend to pay scant attention to their risk for a fall until it happens.”

So that’s our wakeup call for the day! Let’s all “brace” for future falls by practicing yoga instead of retreating into immobility. I don’t know about you, but I practice balance poses several times a week. If you’re not doing the same thing already, give Baxter’s Easy Balance Practice a try. And if this is too challenging for you—or you’re working with someone who is weak or shaky—take a look at Regaining Stability for Free and Starting to Move Again. Even just a few wide-legged standing poses, with your back to a wall if you’re feeling nervous about balance, can be a great start.



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