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?

I tried to read carefully, but never saw this info.
@NoisySnail : how old are you?

Why do you need to know how old I am?

She meant excerise and build muscle. My grandma rested too much after a small stroke. He was told by occupation therapy to walk around in herbluving room every day, but she rested in bed all day, every day. Her muscles wasted away and she could no longer walk. Go walking for an hour every day and lift weights to keep muscles strong.

@RogueFemale What a brilliant article - thanks for sharing - so much wise and humbling advice in there.

Very true. I had a big wake up call when I was squashed against a barrier in a poorly managed crowd. I couldn't get over it like others were. 😫Thanks for this thread OP - really interesting.

Yes, very useful thread, agree.

Just need to get up and do some exercises now rather than just contemplating doing them whilst drinking tea.....but I will recall the old lady in the cafe to spur me on.

My friend is a physiotherapist and he always says avoid moving into a bungalow or ground floor flat because you really do get bungalow legs and it's one of the worst things. So I guess stair climbing is a good way to look after your legs.

Petrafishermovement on Instagram is really good.

@NoisySnail I'd interpret what cafe woman said about looking after our legs as keeping as much strength in them as possible as we age. We lose muscle quicker as we age and if we're not careful this can lead to frailty. So, if you don't have a physical job or a mainly sedentary, and you don't like gyms (I don't blame you!), what I'd suggest is doing a few squats and lunges each day. It's what physios have advised me to do when I've needed to increase strength in my lower body.

Another good, all round exercise for strength is the push-up. Please don't be put off, they are adaptable depending on what you can do. Personally I do them against my kitchen worktop as I'm not strong enough to do them on the floor yet. If you have good form you'll also be toning your core (another area to be careful not to lose strength in).

With those 3 exercises you're pretty much working the whole body, from home, in just a few minutes a day. Doing those with some cardio (eg a brisk walk, even better if it includes inclines and declines), and whatever flexibility you can do, and you're sorted.

Are compression socks useful for those of us who have above the knee vein problems?

Do squats! I do 40 squats on a lazy day and about 300+ squats on an active day. They keep you fit and strong. I read somewhere that people with strong quads are less prone to dementia. DM has dementia and always had incredibly weak quads. Not exactly scientific proof, but enough to make me do squats daily.

Once you are good at squats, get up from sitting using just one leg, sit down using just one leg. Then try to get up from sitting on floor without using your hands or knees.

But surely what he really means is, if you're going to move into a bungalow or flat be mindful of the lack of stairs, and make up for that with some lower body strength training and balance. And do some sort of "stepping down" exercises.

I've seen so many elderly people become stuck downstairs in their houses, so even having stairs doesn't necessarily help. Bungalows aren't bad. What's harmful is when people don't compensate for the lack of stairs.

I don't think people know/think to do that though, do they? My OH broke his leg and forgot to do physio exercises half the times he was supposed to, and that was just a few months and he was specifically told and shown how to do them. Not sure bungalows come with a warning and posters.

I don't have stairs but I live in a ground floor apartment so not much I can do about that! I do weight training and spin classes though

I think exercise and movement yes.

Additionally I think you need deep tissue massages to break up “lumps and bumps”. Furthermore lymphatic drainage type movement, so cups that kind of thing. Then, exfoliating and moisturise.

My DM has lived a very sedentary life, with too much alcohol. She hasn’t moved properly. She tends to think an occasional walk is a triumph.
Her legs are swollen, she can’t move and is ALWAYS complaining. She is paying Osteo, doctors, acupuncture, anything to make it better. Honestly, it never will get better because she’s lazy. It is hard to watch and listen to, when it’s self inflicted. She’s only early 60’s and behaves like something over 85.

there is my 2 cents.

Compression tights or stockings for when standing for long periods. Can prevent all kinds of issues, but of course no one wants to unless they have to.

Had a session with a PT at the gym the other day and he was saying how it's good to practice getting up from a chair without using your arms and using just one leg!

Cause and effect!

if you can hold a plank for a couple of minutes, you’ll find every other exercise sooooo much easier. Including walking.

Seriously, I started doing regular planks in my mid-60s. To begin with I could not do it but I kept at it and now (aged 70) I can do planks and so much more. Including skiing for 6hours a day.

try the Bowflex plank for a couple of weeks and see how you get on 😊

oooh! I have started planking last week. I can hold it for 10 seconds at the moment but hope to build up.

Because you keep saying things like

Your recommendations sound like they are for fit younger people. Not really relevant to me to be honest.

I dunno if "relevant" to you is for age 45 or 95. I'm guessing at least 75, based on things OP wrote here. Am I wrong?

Because you say you are older and describe afar you can and can not do. If you are 50 and can't not do some of these things then that's very concerning. If you are 85 then not so much.
Your age is very relevant to what you should hope to be able to do.

I wanted this thread to be supportive so I have not said my age. Because whatever age I say someone will come on and say my 90 year old mother runs marathons and goes to the gym every day, why can you not do more? I know what MN is like.
The only thing I have said I can not do is stand up from the floor with legs crossed. Plenty of other people can not do this either.
I have never claimed to be fit. But I do want to remain functional.

So your question was how to look after your legs.

Well if you were under about 60 I would suggest going to the gym or getting a PT and learning functional exercises.

Squars, lunges, plyomebtrics. Try jumping up and down. Side to side. Get a skipping rope. Walk up and down stairs, hop on one leg then the other. Jump forwards. June backwards. Try it again hopping.

If you are over 60 and have limited ability I would suggest stairs, body weight squats, holding a chair back or wall and lowering yourself one in leg then the other. Calf raises. Hilly walks.

But it's not really. One can be dealing with an injury, or a flare up of some disease, or living with a chronic condition, and be unable to do the things you seem to think a 50 or 60 year old should be able to do, when in their thirties.

I read it 17 years ago, long before I had any thought about aging, and somehow it stuck in my head, especially the stuff about feet, I've never forgotten it.