Look After Your Legs

[NoisySnail]

I was in a cafe today and over heard an elderly woman talking to younger friends about getting older. She said the best advice she could give is to look after your legs as they are so important for mobility. But annoyingly she did not explain what she meant by this, and I could hardly ask!

So does anyone know how we can look after our legs?

Search ‘leg exercises for stability’. You’ll find lots of suggestions.

Keep fit, keep mobile

Pilates is good for this
Make sure you can get up off the floor without using hands, stand on one leg for a minute, etc etc

I would assume both strength and circulation (plus preventing diabetes as that causes a lot of foot/leg issues)

I can not get off the floor without using hands at the moment! Surely that is not unusual in older people.

I already do the standing in one leg while brushing my teeth, but that is about balance.

You need your legs for balance and mobility.

My Pulmonary Rehab physiotherapist said look after your legs (actually the thighs) as moving them helps your heart and lungs to function optimally. Walking helps prevents blood clots from forming etc.

I remember being told that your thighs use up a lot of oxygen. So if you can get them working optimally, it can help with any shortness of breath as you get really elderly.

I do always ensure I do not use the arms of a chair to stand up. Being able to stand up from sitting without using your arms for as long as possible helps retain some strength in your legs.

You need to keep your legs strong. Older people can end up in a cycle of struggling to support their own weight, so they sit down all the time, then they are weaker and even less able to support themselves. Muscle strength goes off a cliff. It’s amazing how quickly someone can go from independent with a frame to not being able to get themselves off the loo. It’s the difference between living at home with support and a nursing home. It can happen if someone has an illness/infection/injury that leaves them bedbound for a few weeks, if there is little muscle strength to start with, after a few weeks rest it can be below the level you need to push yourself up from sitting (in a chair, not getting yourself off the floor).

Quads. Look after them and all will fall (sic) into place.

@Zwicky I saw that in my mother. She was very thin all her life and as she got older her muscle strength was very poor. A week in bed with an illness saw her muscle strength fall off a cliff and she needed physio to be ambulant again.

Strength work for your legs (squats and lunges etc). We need that because increasing muscle mass helps maintain good bone density which is so important as we age- loss of bone density particularly affects women due to our depleting oestrogen (which is why osteoporosis is more common in women).

Also flexibility and balance work (yoga, Pilates…) as mentioned above. That will make falls less likely when you get older (and will help you get yourself back up if you do fall!) Think about how often we sadly hear about older people falling and not being able to get back up- having to lie on the floor waiting for assistance or an ambulance. Breaking a hip is pretty common in this scenario (because of the aforementioned loss of bone density).

I can get myself to cross-legged and back up again without putting hands on the floor and I intend to keep practising that as I get older!

@echt any recommended exercises for quads?

@Waitingfordoggo Your recommendations sound like they are for fit younger people. Not really relevant to me to be honest. Cross legged and back up again is something I have not been able to do for a very long time.

Exercises for quads: squats, lunges, horizontal leg press machine in the gym, cycling, walking uphill.

Ah sorry @NoisySnail, I don’t think you said your age so I was basing my advice on someone who is not already ‘older’.

My back would not let me stand up cross legged even if I had the strength to do so - which I do not. Walking is the only real thing I do.

Although I do know quite a few people in their 70s doing all those types of exercise but they have probably been in that habit for quite some time so have just kept it going.

Tai chi is good for balance

I can recommend the recent A Thorough Examination podcast with the Van Tullikens on exercise. Lots of info about how to keep yourself fit and flexible to improve your mobility in old age.

They went through the sitting down on the floor / standing up again without using your hands thing. Also recording how many times you can stand up / sit down from a chair in a minute and practicing standing on one leg whilst cleaning teeth.

Look after your feet too. Exercise for circulation. Skin and nail care is a must for your feet in older age

I used to do Tai Chi when younger. My balance is not too bad.
But a back injury means I can no longer do anything that requires flexibility like yoga as it just makes my back worse.
I can look at building up my quads though as they are probably too weak.

Exercise and stretching. Pilates/yoga/strength exercises.

@Mumof1andacat That is a good point. I do cut my nails regularly, but rather take my feet for granted.

Keep moving, stretching etc. I know a few older ladies with such skinny legs and big bellies where they are inactive. No mobility issues either, just don't bother.

The skinny legs and big bellies seems to happen when people are very slim when younger, and then put on a lot of weight. For some reason it does not seem to go onto your limbs when you gain weight when older.