Balance Exercises for Seniors

It rarely starts with a fall. It starts with a hand on the wall that was not there last year. A pause at the top of the stairs. Sitting down to put your socks on, because standing on one leg is no longer worth the risk.

That steadiness is not gone. Balance is a skill, and muscle answers to being used at any age - including well into the nineties. Both of them come back when you ask for them.

60 exercises, each on its own two pages. The left page shows the movement in a clear, uncluttered illustration. The right page tells you exactly how to do it, how to breathe, how to make it easier or harder, and the one mistake most people make.

The book works outward in careful steps, so nothing ever asks you to be brave:

• Seated warm-ups - ten exercises you can do in any sturdy chair
• Standing with both hands supported - fourteen exercises at your kitchen counter
• Standing with fingertips only - fourteen exercises that quietly remove the support
• Walking patterns - ten exercises for turning, stepping over things, and stopping suddenly
• Strength that supports balance - twelve exercises for the calf, shin, thigh and hip

• Large print throughout, so you can read the instructions from standing height
• An eight-week plan - three sessions a week, fifteen to twenty minutes each, with every session written out
• Progress pages to record how long you can stand on one leg in week one, week four and week eight
• An exercise finder at the back, so you can look one up in seconds
• No equipment. A chair, a counter, and a clear stretch of floor

For anyone who has started reaching for furniture. For anyone recovering confidence after a stumble. For adult children who want to give a parent something more useful than another gadget.

Chapter two is the shortest chapter and the most important: how to set up your space, what support to use, when to stop, and how to get up off the floor - practised while you are perfectly well, so you already know it if you ever need it.

Steadiness is built the same way it was lost: a little at a time.