As a senior care service provider, you won’t be able to take care of others if you don’t take care of yourself! Developing some good stretching habits will go a long way toward keeping you more mobile.
Randy is 6 feet tall and I did not know him as a child but he must have grown quickly. He got Osgood Schlatter’s Disease, a knee problem, as a teenage and limped for a year – not uncommon when you grow fast and are trying to play hockey. Randy does like to point out that he was the worst player on the 2nd string of the worst team in Maine. What he had for 40 years of his life was tight hamstrings, which led to back pain, knee pain, neck pain, shoulder pain. You get the idea.
And then a brilliant physical therapist (not me because I am his wife and not his physical therapist) taught him to stretch his hamstrings. So for the past year at 6:45 am he has taken our dog Moses to the field down the street. As all of the neighborhood kids wait at the bus stop, Randy chucks the tennis ball for Moses, throws a foot up on a boulder, and carefully leans forward, keeping his knee and back straight.
Holding, holding, holding.
Foot down, pick up the ball, chuck it, repeat other side.
Repeat 3-4 times a day.
Happy that his 15 year old step son is unaffected by how strange he may look on the field across from the bus stop, Randy’s pain is gone. He is convinced that he has found a cure for all afflictions, including hair loss.
Stay Limber in Your Hamstrings
In my first blog I taught you how to do 7 simple exercises to start your day and maintain strength to combat the effects of gravity on the aging spine. But I also mentioned that stretching your hamstrings is another key. As your hamstrings shorten, your pelvis is pulled under, creating tension up your spine. All of the way up the chain you will compensate for this tension. So you should and you can stretch your hamstrings and this will help your mobility and counteract gravity pulling you down every day.
The exercise below is different than the one Randy does in the field but it is easy, and most importantly it is difficult to do this one with poor alignment as the bed or floor will serve to stabilize your spine:
- Lying on your back, bring your right knee towards your chest. Keep left leg straight on the bed.
- Place both hands behind your right knee and slowly straighten your knee, bringing your foot towards the ceiling.
- Hold for 3, bend your knee.
- Repeat 10 times both legs.
For some other tips on how to stay limber as a senior, visit this link.