Preventing Falls During Your Autumn Trail Walking As the weather starts to cool down, many of us will venture out into the outdoors to take advantage of the beautiful scenery among the walking trails. While this is undoubtedly a fun way to spend an autumn morning or afternoon, there are some precautions to take so you don’t end up hurting yourself. Nothing puts a damper on those beautiful views like tripping and spraining an ankle or bruising a wrist. At Centra Rehabilitation, we want to make sure you are safe while participating in your outdoor activities, so you can better enjoy them.
First and foremost, preparewith the proper equipment. When planning on hiking, climbing, or strolling through a trail this autumn, it is important to make sure you have the right tools at your disposal – especially when preparing to journey out onto a rocky or uneven terrain. Hiking boots with proper traction will help you maneuver those uneven terrains without the risk of slipping or falling. Custom orthotics may also be fitted to your boots. If this is a frequent hobby of yours, special products can be purchased to make hiking or climbing easier for you. If you are unsure about what may be the best fit for you, consult with one of our experienced physical therapists. Physical therapy can helpwith fall prevention. In addition tomaking sure you have the proper equipment, our physical therapy services can actually decrease your risk of sustaining a fall-related injury altogether. Balance is a large part of fall prevention, as lack of stability is one of the main reasons why falls occur. Your physical therapist will design a balanced training plan for you as part of your treatment, and may ask you to perform certain balance-based activities, such as standing on one leg or holding your balance while performing amentally-stimulating task (such as reciting the alphabet or reading a page from a book.) This will help with body control and will quite literally train your body to be better balanced. In addition to balance training, your physical therapist will also help decrease your fall risk with strength training. Strength training is typically pairedwith your balance training. Your physical therapist will design a strength training plan for you, which will focus on specific muscle groups in need of improvement. The goal of this will be to improve your standing and walking balance, as well as your ability to recover
from a loss of balance. This will be especially useful for trailblazers such as yourself, as even a falter in balance will be more easily recovered. For assistance with walking/hiking trails, it is likely that your physical therapist will also suggest endurance training. Endurance training is all about working up to more advanced levels of the same form of treatment. Your physical therapist will provide you with an aerobic exercise program and will slowly add on time to those exercises as your endurance improves. For example, your endurance training may begin at 10-minute sessions and then may progress to 30-minute sessions. This will help make maneuvering those long trails much easier on your body, as it will already be trained in endurance. Get started today. Don’t wait until you sustain an injury to seek the help of a physical therapist – we can helpmake you stronger, healthier, andmore agile before the fact! If you are planning on frequenting the trails this autumn, our experienced and dedicated team of physical therapists can help make sure your body is in peak shape. Contact us today to learn more, or to schedule your first appointment.
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