Learn about the benefits of exercises
Bones - and muscles - are amazing! They respond to the challenges we place on them if done properly. Exercise is an essential ingredient for bone health and improved balance and strength.
A combination of balance exercises, function-based exercises, strengthening exercises, and bone loading exercises will help keep you mobile and help you maintain your independence.
Knowledge base
Muscle soreness 'pain' versus sharp pain
Body pain is defined as the unpleasant physical feeling and emotional experience that comes with damage or potential damage to part of your body. Most of us can think of a time we've experience body pain.
Exercise Safety - listening to your body
We’re sure you've heard of the phrase, "no pain, no gain". While hard work pays off, not listening to your body can be harmful. Many muscle injuries are from incorrect training. Below we list signs and symptoms that show you may be training incorrectly. Recovery days are essential in between trainings.
Making movement
Human bodies can make very complicated movements. We need full joint motion, muscle strength, muscle flexibility, and the ability to coordinated the parts of our body that perform the motion (think of dancing and gymnasts).
How to exercise - Start low and go slow
All body tissues that are part of movement can adapt over time based on the stresses you put on them (your bones, muscles, heart, lungs, etc). This can give us lessons for thinking about the things that we once were able to do.
Spine Sparing Strategies
For those vulnerable to spine fracture, it is very important to consider how your back is part of each movement. Most importantly pay attention to bending or twisting the spine, these movements are most risky when they are fast, repeated, when you are holding a weight, and when they move through the full range of bending and twisting.
Importance of warm ups
Warming up muscles and joints prepares them for more challenging activity. Warm ups can take many forms, such as gentle movements of your arms and legs or starting with a very low demand version of an exercise (smaller movements) before gradually increasing the difficulty.
When to increase exercise difficulty
A good starting point for gaining strength is to feel that you are tiring your muscles by the 15th time you complete an exercise movement (repetition). Tiring a muscle often feels like a burning sensation at the muscle that is working.
Exercise Disclaimer
Not all exercises or activities are suitable for everyone. If you have any medical issues that affect exercise such as a recent fracture, diabetes, or cardiac or respiratory problems, or if you have fallen in the last 12 months then we strongly recommend that you consult with a licensed or certified health professional before engaging in these exercises.