Strength Training for Fall Prevention, Protection, and Recovery
Strength training can reduce your risk of falling, reduce the severity of injuries from falling, and improve your recovery after falling.
Reduce the Risk of Falling
Strength training builds lower-body strength.
Lower-body strength is key to not falling, just as a strong foundation is key to designing a building. The two best exercises for building lower-body strength are the squat and the hip hinge (deadlift).
If you are new to strength training, begin with a squat variation called the sit-to-stand. Sit on the front of a chair, stand up, sit down, and repeat several times.
Then, progress to box squats, goblet squats, and other variations. Use my article “Squats and Hip Hinges, the Two Best Lower Body Exercises“ as a guide.
Reduce the Severity of Injuries
Strength training improves bone density and increases muscle mass.
The stronger your bones are, the less likely they are to break. The more muscle you have on your body, the more of an effective cushion you have.
Strength training and agility training develop your ability to fall “better.”
When falling happens, you can protect yourself with these actions:
Control the direction of your fall. Aim toward open areas away from objects that can cause puncture wounds or fractures. Aim toward more forgiving surfaces such as grass or dirt rather than concrete.
Land on the meaty parts. Landing on the muscles of your back, butt, or thighs is less likely to lead to fractures than landing on the boney bits like elbows and knees,
Shift your weight and turn to absorb the impact by rolling.
Relax as you fall. Bend your elbows and knees and crumple.
Protect your head by tucking your chin when falling back or to the side when falling forward.
To develop the strength and skill necessary to do these things, train by moving in all directions. Good exercises for this are lunges, step-ups, and step-downs. Do each of these moving forward, backward, and sideways. Demonstrations are available in my Squats and Lunges video playlist on YouTube.
Make lunges a partner game where one person calls out a foot and a direction, and both of you perform that lunge. Take turns.
Improve Recovery
Strength training makes it easier to get back up.
As adults, we don't get down on the floor as often we used to. And so we don't practice using the muscles needed to get up from the floor. This can leave us in a bad position.
Squats, lunges, and pushing exercises are all good preparation. The most effective exercise is simply to get down and get back up.
Start in a carpeted room with a sturdy chair nearby. (If this is particularly challenging, have another person with you.) Put your hands on the chair, lower one knee to the floor, and then the other. Reverse the process. Repeat several times.
All-over strength training builds a resilient body.
The stronger and healthier you are at the time of a fall, the less time it will take to bounce back.
In addition to squats and deadlifts, do exercises where you push, pull, and carry weight. If doing a full pushup is too much, try a pushup with your hands on a bench, counter, or wall. You can even do pushups on a staircase. You can do both push and pull exercises by anchoring a resistance band to a door.
Strength training plays a critical role in fall prevention, protection, and recovery by improving muscle strength, balance, and coordination. Strong leg muscles give you a stable foundation, reducing the risk of slips and trips. Increased bone density helps protect against fractures in the event of a fall, and improved coordination allows you to control a fall. And, strength training helps you get up after a fall and improves overall physical resilience, making it easy to keep going after a fall.
If you would like a custom program and personal guidance for building strength and muscle, please contact me.
References:
El-Khoury, Fabienne et al. “The effect of fall prevention exercise programmes on fall induced injuries in community dwelling older adults: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.” BMJ (Clinical research ed.) vol. 347 f6234. 29 Oct. 2013, doi:10.1136/bmj.f6234 https://www.bmj.com/content/347/bmj.f6234
Gillespie, Lesley D et al. “Interventions for preventing falls in older people living in the community.” The Cochrane database of systematic reviews vol. 2012,9 CD007146. 12 Sep. 2012, doi:10.1002/14651858.CD007146.pub3 https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD007146.pub3/full
Medical Advisory Secretariat. “Prevention of falls and fall-related injuries in community-dwelling seniors: an evidence-based analysis.” Ontario health technology assessment series vol. 8,2 (2008): 1-78. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3377567/
Zhao, Renqing et al. “Exercise interventions and prevention of fall-related fractures in older people: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.” International journal of epidemiology vol. 46,1 (2017): 149-161. doi:10.1093/ije/dyw142 https://academic.oup.com/ije/article/46/1/149/2617195
