Exercise can help to reduce falls risk
Less than ten minutes standing on a vibrating platform several times a week could help reduce older people’s risk of falls, Australian researchers have found.
PhD student, Sven Rees of the University of Technology, Sydney, and colleagues, report their findings in the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport,which has been covered by the ABC.
“We’re trying to look at interventions to assist with physical function in old age,” says Rees.
As people age, they are more likely to lose balance and muscle strength, which makes them more likely to fall over.
Rees says previous research has suggested that vibration of muscles can cause reflex contractions, which in turn strengthens the muscles.
He and colleagues set out to test this theory in a group of 43 healthy men and women aged in their 70s, testing how steadily participants were able to stand on one leg, and getting some of the participants to do light resistance training on a vibrating platform.
Those who had been trained on the vibration platform had a significantly improved ability to stand on one leg.
The worse someone was at standing on one leg before training, the better their improvement was after training.
Rees emphasises the platform would not be a “silver bullet” to reduce the risk of falls, but could be one tool for older people who can’t make it to the gym.
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