Strategy to delay the point when you can't get off the floor

[lljkk]

Someone I know told a story about a fall she had & great difficulty getting up again. She is a larger person with a bad leg was part of her story, but she also said her arms weren't strong enough. For me, that problem felt almost unimaginable & I wondered about what I could do to delay this point in life for me... Assuming we all get to this vulnerability if we live long enough... I wondered if it's usually a matter of a series of injuries combined with poor fitness that slowly gets a person to that point or ... . I thought of my trim seemingly strong neighbour struggling to open a car roof hatch, she simply lacked arm strength. I imagine that maintaining general fitness (legs & arms) can delay this point in life. But maybe not so simple if sudden severe health stops you being able to get up.

Do other people have insights what is the pathway to get to can't-get-off-floor state? I imagine many Mners will reply "daily resistance exercise" so especially wondering if there's anything else to say.

You need to work on balance, flexibility and strength. Yoga and weights would be a good starting point.

I do Pilates. You can start simply and work your way up (I use videos on YouTube because classes just aren't viable for me).

Boringly, I suspect the answer is any exercise you enjoy and can fit into your life.

Strength training, the clue is in the name.

Yoga, Pilates, weight training.

My mum is in her 80s and now can’t get up if she falls over. She doesn’t have the arm strength. But she’s never really done any proper exercise.

I think for everyone it will get to a point where we’re too weak but I want to delay that as long as possible!

I have myositis and in my 50’s. I have exercised all my life and I’m pleased I did as when this illness struck, some days even lifting my arms to brush my hair was hard work.

What I have learnt though is it wasn’t enough just strength training and running but stretching and mobility exercises every single day are so important- these replicate some of the natural movements that you do in a day; lifting heavy bags, reaching for objects overhead and stop the stiffness setting in, but consistency is key, this is not something you can dip in and out of but you need to do them every day and as routine as brushing your teeth.

I don’t think it’s a simple as this.

We recently had to rush to my FILs after he had a fall and couldn’t get up. He just had no leg, arm or core strength.

Two weeks previously he’d been re-laying a patio and moving around things I wouldn’t have been able to lift myself.

He had a very short (2-3 day) bout of illness and, in his 80s, that seemed to be enough to trigger the weakness.

I’m young but I have been in this position.

in my case it was an accident and then spending significant time in hospital. Your muscles waste incredibly fast.

i have built back up again and while I’ll never be as strong as I was I can get myself off the floor again.

yeah, there’s classes you can do that focus on exercises that maintain independence - they tend to be aimed at the elderly or disabled. Beyond that, strength training. Core strength is a big one.

Weights dont have to be fancy, A couple of plastic milk bottles filled with water will be a good place to start. A litre weighs a kilo, two litre container weighs two kilos (or thereabouts,)

There’s all sorts of exercise help via the internet.

Balance and ankle strength are super important. Fitting it in little and often is important. My toothbrush has 30 second timer alert to let me brush each quadrant of my mouth , so as it works through it's two minutes, i stand on one leg, swap sides, stand on my tip toes (maintaining that for 30s is hard) and finish with squats in the last 30s. It's not huge but it's not nothing either and my balance improved hugely very quickly. Obviously I look like a tit so that's why doing it whilst brushing my teeth means i get privacy and the reminder to do it.

Standing from a chair without using arms or hands can significantly delay ageing. The earlier you start the better.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/future/article/20250404-sit-to-stand-the-simple-test-that-reveals-how-youre-ageing

I’m 70, and am horrified by how much strength and flexibility I’ve lost due to four years of limited mobility and exercise due to injury. .

I’ve started a range of exercises to improve matters - including lots of balance stuff to help avoid falling - and what has helped massively with getting up is practice. A month ago I couldn’t stand up without clinging on to something, now I can move from kneeling to upright by going onto one knee without support or using my arms, and from sitting to standing without kneeling at all; and yesterday I pinged from being on two knees to upright via a ludicrously bad downward dog sort of shape.