Although I teach seniors balance and the importance of not falling; however, there might be the possibility that you may be faced with having to get up after a fall. One thing that I have learned by speaking to, observing and training, seniors is that getting up from the ground is not easy for everyone. This led to my conclusion that the process of getting up from the ground is a skill that you lose the moment you don’t do it, and the less physically capable you become. You might be reading this and saying “I have trouble getting off the ground,” well, follow my step by step process for getting up from the ground.
What do you need?
Try to practice this on a mat or a carpet where the surface isn’t that hard. Also, make sure that you have a chair or couch nearby that you can use to stand if needed. Finally, if you think you will have trouble with this exercise, get someone to be there with you if it is too much of a struggle.
1. Start by placing your back in a comfortable position where you can have your knees bent under you
2. Roll onto one side of your body; preferably the side you are able to use your dominant hand.
3. Pushup until you are on all fours.
4. Crawl to either a chair or a couch that you can put your hands on to support your weight
5. Bring one leg under to prepare to stand, then get up and sit on the chair.
6. Sit on chair.
Ideally, if this 6 step process works for you then that is great; however, I have worked with seniors who either have bad knees or not the enough strength required to push up into all fours. If you fall into these two categories, my suggestion if you have knee issues is to wear an alert bracelet in case you fall. If your issue is upper body strength, this process provides an excellent opportunity to practice and increase it.
