“There’s a big difference between how we should workout in our 20s and how we should workout when we’re much older,” says Jeff Cleveland, president of Clear Choice Health Care in Melbourne FL. “You can’t push it like before, and getting older brings conditions to overcome,” says Cleveland.
he believes that seniors require specialized equipment that is made specifically for their needs.
Walk into any gym and you’ll likely see equipment made for younger adults. And most of today’s exercise machines are designed for 18 to 35 year-olds. “Older adult needs just aren’t supported,” says Cleveland.
To make a difference with issues regarding balance, strength, and quality of life, many advanced skilled rehabilitation centers have acquired patented equipment to provide measurable outcomes for the active and aging population.
If there’s a magic ingredient that increases function, it is core strength. To have a strong core means you’re going to have less age-related problems.
Core muscles are the girdle that surrounds the torso that gives us the protection we need for daily activities that require bending and lifting. Whenever we reach for an item, our body goes beyond our center of gravity and triggers the core muscles to keep us from falling.
Strengthening the core will improve balance, trim our waist, and boost our pelvic ability to remain continent.
Without a strong core, we might lose our ability to stay independent. What’s more, we lose muscle mass, bone strength and our sense of balance as we age. This can lead to falls, fractured hips, and overall decline, which is a path to loss of independence.
The most serious injuries to seniors are related to falls. In 2009, 2.2 million fall-related injuries among aging adults were treated in emergency care and a quarter of seniorsrequired hospitalization. In addition, falls are the leading cause of death among older adults – according to the Centers of Disease Control.
Because most people who have poor balance aren’t strong enough to perform core movements like sit-ups, crunches, leg lifts, squats, planks, and lunges, it takes specialized equipment to work past the weaknesses.
Cleveland admits that there is exercise equipment that have age-friendly access and low-impact air-resistance technology, which allows injured and weak individuals to start exercising their core with very little resistance.
For those weak and/or injured, very little resistance is a great place to start. Exercising and working out with standard equipment, like a dumbbell, might be injurious to your health. Therapy can customize a patient’s natural progression to well-being, and our equipment is just one way to arrive at best results.
Those that serve the aging population know that patients need specialized equipment that’s made to offset weakness and injury. Overcoming injury will improve quality of life.
Rehab experts believe that quality of life is about maintaining independence and activities such as taking a stroll outside, visiting family and friends, picking up bags of groceries, or playing with grandchildren.
Equipment that complements seniors’ needs and promotes quality of life will redefine health care – and it will also change how society ages.