Help A Senior With Balance - Send Them Out To Play Catch

Thursday, January 15, 2015 - 17:30 in Health & Medicine

The simple training exercise of catching a weighted medicine ball can improve balance and may help prevent falls in the elderly - and if you have a grandkid that wants to go out in the yard and toss a baseball, it will be good for both of them in many ways. When someone is jostled by a bump or a stumble, the brain uses two strategies to maintain balance and prevent a fall, says Alexander Aruin, professor of physical therapy at University of Illinois at Chicago and principal investigator on the two studies. "When the perturbation is predictable, for example, if when walking down the street you see someone about to bump into you, you brace yourself," Aruin said. The brain activates muscles in anticipation of the jolt. read more

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