7 Chair Exercises For Elderly Adults With Limited Mobility
When a senior has to deal with the reality of limited mobility, he or she often feels frustrated or in some cases, depressed. One of the things that can prevent a senior from getting depressed is to ensure that he or she is living the life he or she used to before the problem of limited mobility began. The senior should also try to focus on his or her health and well being by doing some exercises.
As almost everyone knows, exercising is beneficial for your body and mind because it helps you to be healthy, have more energy, and even have great skin among other benefits. Some of the exercises that can be done by elderly adults with limited mobility are mentioned right here.
- Seated Tummy Twists
As a protruding stomach is never a good sign, especially for seniors, they should consider doing the seated tummy twist exercise. To do this exercise, you need first to ensure that you have a good posture. Then you need to hold a ball with both the hands, ensure that it’s close to your body and your elbows are bent. After that, you need to rotate your torso left and right slowly. One twist to the left and one to the right makes a set. A senior must do eight sets at least to work their core muscles.
- Seated Rows
If you want to work your upper back and chest muscles, you should sit on the edge of a chair or a wheelchair that allows you to get an improved range of motion (you can choose a comfortable wheelchair at Halo Health Care). Once, you are comfortable, you need to hold the arms out to the front while keeping the elbows bent. You also need to ensure that the thumbs are pointing towards the ceiling. Once you do that, you need to draw the elbows back and squeeze your shoulder blades together before returning to the original position. Doing this exercise 8-10 times is advised for beginners.
- Hand Squeezes
Seniors who hope to strengthen the muscles in the arms or the chest should opt for this exercise. You should start by holding a ball in front of you and squeeze it as if you want to push the air out of it. You then need to release the ball and repeat it 10-12 times. You can increase the intensity of the exercise by pushing the ball straight out in front and squeezing it throughout the process and then pulling it back to your chest.
- Overhead Arm Raises
This exercise is meant to strengthen your arms and shoulders. A senior can do this exercise by sitting in an armless and strong chair and hold 1-pound hand weights in both hands. You should ensure that your feet are on the floor and your back is straight and then bend the arms while ensuring that the palms face forward and weights should be toward the sides of shoulders. You need to then raise the arms slowly above your head, pause for a few seconds and then lower them to the starting position. Repeat the exercise 8-10 times to get the best results.
- Knee Lifts
This exercise works your stomach muscles and all the important muscles that help you to sit and stand easily. Start this exercise by lifting your right knee slowly toward the chest and then put your foot down on earth slowly after you have touched the chest with your knee. Repeat the motion with the left leg. Perform this exercise at least 10 times for both legs.
- Knee Extensions
This exercise will strengthen various muscles in the legs. A senior should start the exercise by sitting at the edge of a chair with bent knees and a straight posture. Then you should hold the sides of the chair and extend the right knee while ensuring that your toes are pointing towards the ceiling. The knee must not be locked but only slightly bent. After that, you need to lower the leg to get to the starting position and repeat with the left knee. Do this exercise 10 times for both knees.
- Inner Thigh Squeeze
Last on this list is the inner thigh squeeze exercise that strengthens the thigh muscles. A senior can do this exercise by sitting on the edge of a chair and ensuring that the posture is straight. Then the senior needs to place a ball between the knees and squeeze it by pressing the knees together. The squeezing period must not be more than 1-2 seconds. You then need to release while keeping a bit of tension on the ball to prevent it from falling to the ground. Doing two sets of 10 reps is recommended.
Do you think you can do these exercises easily? Need more? Check out this link for more strength exercises for seniors.
