The Link Between Lateral Movement And Falls In Older Adults
Today’s Topic Highlights:
Lateral stability plays a very big role in fall prevention in older adults.
A study published in Exercise And Sports Sciences Reviews found that when older people lose balance, they tend to cross up and entangle their legs in an attempt to regain stability.
Younger people tend to do the opposite upon losing balance - they sidestep. Sidestepping is a much safer and more effective way to regain lost balance.
One of the most effective exercises for improving lateral stability and reducing fall risk is the side lunge.
Side lunges directly address the adductor and abductor muscles of the hips, which are responsible for balancing our base of support (legs) under our center of mass (core).
We all know that falls in older people are relatively common. We also know that fall probability is directly linked to issues with balance. What is not commonly understood, however, is what causes an age related deterioration of balance in the first place. While there are certainly multiple factors involved, there is one which is curiously underemphasized: lateral movement.
Think about the various ways in which you move during a given day. The way you roll out of bed in the morning, get in and out of vehicles, squeeze between parked cars in a jam packed parking lot, step onto curbs, and navigate grocery stores just to name a few. All of these seemingly trivial tasks involve lateral (side-to-side) movement.
A study published in Exercise And Sports Sciences Reviews on the relationship between lateral movement and fall risk discovered something very interesting. The study found that when older people lose balance, they tend to cross up and entangle their legs in an attempt to regain stability.1
The study’s tests also revealed that younger people tend to do the opposite upon losing balance - they sidestep. Sidestepping is a much safer and more effective way to regain lost balance. This provides us with a clue as to which kinds of exercises older people should do in order to reduce their fall risk.
One of the most effective exercises for improving lateral stability and reducing fall risk is the side lunge. This exercise directly addresses the adductor and abductor muscles of the hips, which are responsible for balancing our base of support (legs) under our center of mass (core).
Below is a tutorial on how to perform the side lunge exercise. The side lunge has several variations to it. This article will focus on the alternating side lunge variation.