Comment by BLKNSLVR | Hacker News Reader

Comment by BLKNSLVR | Hacker News Reader

I heard that falls are lethal for the elderly. A fall can cause an injury, which requires rest to recuperate from, which deteriorates muscles that help balance, therefore being more likely to have another fall soon after recovering from the first. Leading to an eventually fatal cascade of events.

Post back surgery I had to do core and back strengthening and balance exercises. Standing on one leg, keeping my back straight, pivoting at the hips to pick up a water bottle or basketball, then stand up straight again, and repeating the action 10 times whilst staying on one leg, picking the thing up, and putting it back down. I felt like I was a 3-year old with how poor my balance was. It also made my feet hurt like a child made to walk to the shops.

Just tried the exercise again now after not doing it for a long time. Yep, still terrible. I actually thought it would be much easier since I do inline skating regularly, and can roll on one skate for a decent while even down to pretty low speeds. More to add to the regular fitness routine...

When I remember, whilst brushing my teeth, I'll stand on one foot for 30 seconds at a time. It's also surprisingly hard and tiring.

"When I remember, whilst brushing my teeth, I'll stand on one foot for 30 seconds at a time. It's also surprisingly hard and tiring."

Still, do it as often as possible. The trick is to make it a habit, to build it into your regular dayroutines. Also when you are waiting for something, when you are lying in bed - all opportunities to exercise and strenghten your weaknesses.

That would be good, but even better would be to practice daily a more complex exercise, like a tài-jí-quán form or a karate kata (executed slowly and without excessive force), both of which are excellent mobility and balance exercises for elderly people.

I doubt that "exergames" are as efficient as these traditional and proven methods, which require minimal space and time and no equipment.

Well, or Qui Gong. But not everyone can open themself towards it, so maybe for some those games are beneficial.

Another opportunity to stand one-legged is putting on and taking off shoes... Tie one shoe lace while standing on the other leg.

>I heard that falls are lethal for the elderly.

falls are lethal in general. I personally know of a man who broke his back and neck (two separate occasions) with shower falls, the last fall leaving him quadriplegic, and a distant relative died from the same thing.

I don't care enough to go reference hunting but I remember at one point reading that taking a shower is one of the most dangerous singular and common things that anyone does on a daily basis.

Several years ago I learned from the shop owner across the street that the guy who ran The Hippie Shop, a place I often visited, had a fatal accident while crossing the street in winter (icy conditions). It's still a downer, he was rather young, extremely friendly and his shop had this unique and lovely atmosphere that I still miss.

Shower accidents are a sub of home accidents, which is a sub of accidents. Accidents are, from recollection, in the top 5 causes of death.

Every time I wash my feet in the shower, and I mean this.. I stand on 1 foot, then the other soapy foot, and repeat to myself 'this is how I die'. Every time.

I watched in horror as an elderly lady shuffled up to the merest lip of a recessed curbstone, and full towards me. That horrid feeling that I could have dived in to catch them, instead just transfixed.

One of the reason why I posted this in the first place.

I know this sounds odd: but why not prescribe those individuals non-virilizing anabolic steroids for recuperation? Worst case scenario, you have some lipid imbalance, possibly liver enzyme increase and natural testosterone suppression at the end of healing. All of this would be extremely minimal.

Oxandrolone is already used in medicine for this purpose, but not nearly in as many indications as it would be useful.

They heavily increase healing and muscule cell proliferation via supercharging protein synthesis. They also prevent muscle wasting via maintaining nitrogen balance in your body.

You could have recovered much faster with this medication.

I've long felt that the taboo surrounding anabolic steroids prevents their therapeutic usage.

One of the reasons that bone breaks can be fatal is that bone marrow can escape into the bloodstream and cause blood clots. The result can be a fatal stroke. This is fairly common during hip breaks. My great-uncle went this way.

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