How the elderly use fitness equipment needs to be treated differently

The elderly exercising must exercise according to their ability and choose equipment that suits them. In particular, some elderly people with special diseases should pay attention to exercise safety to avoid injury.

Space walker: focus on preventing falls

The space walker has low resistance. Some elderly people may fall due to poor coordination and cannot control their movements. Some elderly people swing their legs back and forth at the same time and easily lose their center of gravity. In addition, excessive swing range may cause muscle strain. Therefore, when exercising, the elderly should hold the handrails with both hands, keep the upper body straight, stand on the two pedals with feet apart, bend the knees slightly, keep the center of gravity of the body stable, and then naturally swing the legs back and forth, as if walking with a larger stride. This kind of stroller has a small load, and the elderly need to be combined with other aerobic training methods to achieve a better effect of exercising their cardiopulmonary function.

Pedaling device: Prevent knee joint strain

The pedal machine is mainly used to exercise the strength of the lower limbs. Since the angle of the equipment is fixed, if the elderly perform unreasonable knee flexion and extension movements, improper alignment of the lower limbs, or excessive exercise, it will increase the burden on the knee joint and cause patellar chondromalacia. Therefore, when the elderly use pedals to exercise, they should pay attention to the knee bend angle not being too large, align the knee joint in the direction of the tip of the second toe, and exercise moderately according to their own athletic ability.

Cycling: Beware of spinal injury

The fitness riding machine relies on pulling the handrails back with both hands, pedaling forward with both feet, and at the same time stretching the entire body as far back as possible, and then returning to the initial position to exercise the strength of the upper and lower limbs and lower back, move the joints of all parts of the body, and enhance cardiopulmonary endurance. This exercise is very suitable for people who often work at their desks and suffer from neck and lumbar muscle strain. When exercising, your movements should be gentle and do not exert too much force, otherwise it may cause muscle strain or spinal discomfort.

Upper limb traction device: don’t bear the pain and do it forcefully

This equipment mainly uses its own strength to fight and improve the mobility of the limb affected by frozen shoulder. Its function is similar to receiving traction treatment in a hospital. However, some patients with frozen shoulder are so eager to recover that they endure severe pain and use upper limb tractors to continue exercising for a long time. Not only do they fail to improve their symptoms, but they increase local damage. Rehabilitation exercises for such patients are best carried out under the professional guidance of rehabilitation doctors or therapists to ensure safety, scientificity and effectiveness.

Elderly people should pay attention to these things when exercising

1. Be careful not to rush for success

The elderly have poor adaptability to physical load, so they should take a long time to adapt during exercise. They must proceed in a sequence and avoid rushing.

2. Be careful not to swing and rotate

Elderly people have poor coordination, weak balance ability, weak leg strength, slow walking, and slow limb movements. They should avoid skating, swinging, and various rotating movements, otherwise they are prone to danger.

3. Be careful not to compete fiercely

No matter what sports the elderly participate in, the most important thing is participation and fitness. They should not be competitive and compete with others. Otherwise, not only will their physical strength be unbearable in fierce competition, but they will also be prone to collisions, falls, and excitement, which can easily lead to accidents.

4. Be careful not to change the head position too much

Elderly people should not lower their heads, bend over, raise their heads, bend left or right, and do not do head-down inversion movements. The reason is that these movements will cause blood to flow to the head, and the blood vessel walls of the elderly will become hard and have poor elasticity, which may easily cause blood vessel rupture and cause cerebral hemorrhage. When returning to the normal position, blood flows rapidly to the trunk and lower limbs, causing anemia in the brain, black eyes, instability in standing, and even falling.

5. Be careful not to hold your breath while bearing heavy weights

Most elderly people have emphysema. When they hold their breath and exert force, pneumothorax may occur due to alveolar rupture. Holding your breath will also increase the burden on the heart, causing chest tightness and palpitations. When you hold your breath, the pressure in the chest increases, and the amount of blood returned to the heart to support the brain decreases, which can easily lead to dizziness, dizziness, or even fainting. After holding your breath, the amount of blood returned to your heart suddenly increases, your blood pressure rises, and you are prone to cerebrovascular accidents. Therefore, the elderly should not participate in sports that require holding your breath, such as weightlifting, tug-of-war, hard qigong, pull-ups, rope climbing, etc.