Stretching exercises for seniors – a few minutes a day is enough to strengthen the joints

Physical activity is important regardless of age. However, it is particularly important for the elderly. It affects their physical condition, health, well -being and level of mobility and comfort of life. It is therefore a good idea to introduce stretching exercises to your everyday life. They are safe, not very demanding and bring many benefits.

Older people should regularly perform stretching exercises, also referred to as stretching. Thanks to them, they will be able to take care of their joints and stretch their muscles. This is particularly important because the seniors are often sagging muscles, as well as the loss of standard joint mobility.

Therefore, such exercises can improve the comfort of the lives of older people, and in addition they bring many other advantages. We include, among others:

• improving the flexibility and physical coordination,
• elasticity of muscles,
• learning to breathe properly,
• relaxation,
• increasing the mobility of the joints,
• prevention of muscle contractures,
• strengthening of tendons,
• removal of excessive muscle tone,
• Reduction of back pain.

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Seniors have a choice of many simple stretching exercises, which performance is not only difficult, but will not take much time. In addition, to carry out this type of training, we do not need any additional equipmentexcept for things that we certainly have in our home.

Here is a set of easy stretching for seniors. Just perform the following activities to do full training:

• We sit on a chair and lean on the floor. We put the right leg on the left and right foot. We perform circulatory. First, we do them according to the clockwise movement, and then change the page. After a dozen or so repetitions, we do the left foot exercise.
• We stand near the wall and base our left hand against it. We bend the right leg in the knee as much as possible and with our right hand we grab the ankle, trying to pull the foot to the buttock. We stop this position for about 10-15 seconds, trying to make the knees in the same line. During the exercise, you should stand straight and do not bend. After leaving the right leg, we repeat this exercise to the other side.
• We sit on the chair, resting both feet on the floor. Then straighten the right leg, laying the foot so that the heel squeezes into the ground, and the fingers at the feet are directed up. We bend the torso and try to grab the right foot with both hands. However, we only reach where our body allows us, not doing anything by force. We hold in this position about 10 seconds, breathing deeply during the entire exercise. Let’s pay attention not to bend the spine or knees. We repeat the exercise with the other leg.
• We lay on the back on the mat or the mattress, bend the legs in the knees so that the feet are completely based on the ground. Then straighten the left leg and lift it up, trying to withstand about 5-10 seconds in this position. We return to the initial position and rest for a while. We repeat this exercise with the right leg.
• We stand forward to the wall, setting ourselves at a distance of about 10 cm from it. We lift our hands up and put our fingers against the wall, trying to gradually reach them higher and higher. When we get to the maximum height, we lower our hands and rest for a while, and then do it again.