This post includes a video clip demonstrating four ways to get down to and up from the floor. It is not expected that each person will be able to do all of these techniques. Please respect your personal limitations, and don’t do any movements that cause you pain. If you have difficulty putting weight on your knees, you might be able to do the last technique shown, where you scoot on your bottom instead of coming down on your hands and knees.

Falls are a major cause of death and/or disability for people over 65. Learning about fall prevention is important, of course, but it is equally important to know how to fall to reduce the impact and incur the least possible injury. A few quick tips to follow when falling are: protect your head, turn to your side as you fall, keep your arms and legs bent, relax, roll out of the impact, try to spread out the impact of the force of the fall, and step into the fall. In this post, I have included a very informative, easy to understand, illustrational resource that educates in much greater detail about how to fall safely.

As we grow older, we expect certain changes to occur. We may notice that we have less energy, gain weight, and are not as strong as we used to be. Aging may contribute to these symptoms however inactivity is the major cause--and that's something that we can address. Strength training is the most crucial step we can take to slow down our aging.  If we don't engage in a strength training program on a regular basis then we'll lose 40-50% of our muscle mass and 50% of our muscle strength by age 65 and, sadly, even more by age 80. When this happens, we can become so debilitated that we'll depend on others to help us with simple daily activities.

Older bodies are prone to loss of strength and muscle (sarcopenia). Fast-twitch muscle fibers are especially prone to atrophy which is why many older adults lose their ability to push the body up to a standing position. Also, proprioception, the ability to balance while standing and moving, declines.  But, it doesn't have to be this way!

Taken from an email that was recently forwarded to me by one of my class members:

"On Wednesday, Dr. Oz had a show on the fastest growing cancer in women: thyroid cancer.  It was a very interesting program and he mentioned that the increase could possibly be related to the use of dental x-rays and mammograms.