Mindful movement: Specialist discusses ways senior citizens can reduce their risk of falling

There are multiple ways to decrease the risk of being among a third of senior citizens who fall each year in the United States.

Get your vision checked and have your health provider review your medications, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests.

The CDC also recommends exercising to improve balance and strength.

“An example of this kind of exercise is tai chi,” the CDC says online.

Senior citizens got a chance to try it out last week at the Aging and Disability Resource Center in Hilo. The slow, balanced movements of tai chi have been shown to decrease falls among people who practice it.

“When a youngster falls, they bounce. They fall and they can get up,” said Stanley Michaels, senior fall prevention specialist with the state Department of Health.

But as we age, we’re more likely to break something such as a hip, he said.

That’s why tai chi helps — because it decreases the chance someone will fall and increases the ability to recover from a near-fall by improving balance, strength and environmental awareness.

“If you cannot see it, you will fall on it,” Michaels said.

He advises doing a home self-assessment to see if there are blocks in the way of the most-used paths. Could a more expensive but brighter light bulb prevent a costly fall?

Lack of exercise in particular, Michaels said, can be a killer.

“It’s deadly for us. It is deadly. I don’t mean that you have to run a marathon,” he said. But, “some honest-to-God movement with intent” is needed regularly “so that you might get your heart rate up a little bit and you might breathe a little harder.”

Certified master trainer Ileina Ferrier from Australia’s Tai Chi for Health Institute (http://taichiforhealthinstitute.org/) led a group of about 20 people at the Aging and Disability Resource Center, guiding their first foray, for many, into tai chi.

Michaels said he often sees a smile of surprise from seniors because it’s been so long since they infused so much oxygen into their systems and they get warm during their first tai chi session.

“I can talk myself out of it,” audience member Joy Cash of Hilo said. “But when I’ve committed to my friends, it’s more likely that I’m going to do it.” That’s why she recommends getting a workout buddy for exercise.

Michaels said you can get inventive and exercise by lifting your leg while watching TV (using your pant leg as a tool to lift with your hand, if needed). Or lift your phonebook, as if it’s a weight, while watching the morning news.

But also use common sense. Don’t run to answer the phone, Michaels said. Of falls among senior citizens, 71 percent occur in the home.

“If you live alone, or you have a dear friend who lives alone, you need a personal electronic safety device,” Michaels said. The kind that can be easily activated, such as pressing a button, to get emergency help or a device that automatically dials 911 if you fall.

Ferrier suggested audience members try lifting an imaginary ball in the air, that they imagine lifting the sun on a peaceful morning with their hands, that they feel the breeze through their fingers and that they purposefully breathe and allow their movements to flow with their breaths.

To view Tai Chi for Beginners, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIOHGrYCEJ4.

Email Jeff Hansel at jhansel@hawaiitribune-herald.com.

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CDC falls prevention checklist.

Do you have to walk around furniture in a room where you live? Ask someone to move the furniture so your path is clear.

Do you have throw rugs on the floor? Remove them or use double-sided tape or ones with non-skid backing so they won’t slip.

Are there objects on the floor like books, towels, shoes, magazines? Pick them up and keep the floor clear.

Do you have to walk over or around wires or cords from the lamp, telephone or extension cords?

Coil or tape cords and wires next to the wall so you can’t trip over them. Or have an electrician install an extra outlet.