Staying active

Regular exercise and staying active can help to improve your balance, make your joints more flexible and improve your muscle strength. This helps you to:

• stay independent and do everyday activities
• reduce your risk of having a fall
• improve your mood, sleeping patterns and overall health and wellbeing

Muscle strength

Muscle weakness can make you less independent and stop you doing everyday activities. It can also affect your joints and make them more at risk of injury or being unstable. This can make you more likely to have a fall.

Muscle weakness can happen for several reasons, such as:

• illness or injury
• not being able to move around (immobility) – this might be because it’s too painful to move
• not having an active lifestyle
• not eating and drinking well

Seeing a physiotherapist can also help you to increase your strength. They do this by giving you advice, recommending lifestyle changes and showing you suitable exercises.

Using a walking aid

To keep active and move around safely, you might need to use a walking aid. There are different walking aids available depending on how much support you need. The most basic type of walking aid is a walking stick.

Indoor walking aids

A walking frame or zimmer frame gives you more support than a walking stick. It is more stable and helps to improve your confidence.

A rollator frame is a frame with wheels, which makes it easier to use and move around. It helps you to keep your normal pattern of walking and is good if you have moderate balance problems. However, it is not suitable for using outdoors.

Outdoor walking aids

You can buy a walking aid designed for outdoor use. This can be either:

• a 3-wheeled walker, which has brakes and a small shopping basket
• a 4-wheeled walker, which has brakes, a seat and a shopping basket

These can be folded up when not in use.

Adjusting your walking aid

Make sure that your walking aid is the correct height for you. It should be level with your wrist crease when you hold your arm by your side.

Maintaining your walking aid

A walking stick or frame should have rubber on the part that touches the floor. This is called a ferrule. It stops your walking aid from slipping. Ferrules wear out quickly and need to be checked regularly. You can buy replacements from large pharmacies or get them from your physiotherapist.

Make sure that the handles and connecting parts of your walking aid are not loose or wobbly. If they are, contact your physiotherapy department or GP for a replacement.

Information and support

Speak with your physiotherapist for more information about walking aids and what would be suitable for you. You can read more about walking aids on the NHS website.

We also have information on exercise and keeping active as an older adult.

Local strength and balance classes

Our strength and balance classes are for people who have had a fall or who are worried about falling.

Trained instructors lead the classes. They involve a programme of exercises designed to improve your strength, balance and confidence when walking.

We hold the classes once a week at places across Lambeth and Southwark. Each class lasts 1 hour.

By coming to these classes and practicing your exercises at home, you can:

• feel more steady when walking
• improve your strength and balance
• find it easier to manage daily activities, such as housework, shopping or gardening

Contact us to learn more about our strength and balance classes. We’re open Monday to Friday from 8:30am to 4:30pm.

• Phone: 020 3049 5424
• Email: [email protected]