IMMOBILITY

It is essential to promote regular exercise in elderly to maintain them active and become more agile, that all helps them to prevent possible falls and immobility  situations consequence of falls.

I want to tell you about an activity that I discovered in one of my practices, in the health centre there has been created a group called "healthy walks" this is a group open for all the people that would like to walk, the only thing you have to do is to sign up you in  health centre. These walks are on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. When I went with them on one of these walks, I discovered that it was a group of elders from 65 to 80 years.

From the health center,  a health professional go with this group to encourage and control  new participants. Before starting the walk, they do some warm-ups and when they finish they do stretching. The walk takes about an hour. That make elders felt more healthy and agile, and it encourages communication between them by recreational activities. They felt the benefits of exercise, they "felt younger". 

I think it's an interesting activity and it should be promoted on primary care level in all centers because this walks promotes exercise, stimulates elderly patient to go outside, encourages social interaction .... too much benefits only for a walk.

In these walks, they sometimes also do some cultural activities such visiting museums, discover new areas ....

In addition to this personal experience I want to left an article that I found to expose changes that occur in aging, such as a Increased incidence or incontinence, and how they can result in geriatric syndromes known, in this case, malnutrition, dementia and immobility.

The prevalence of urinary incontinence increases with age. In this study we assessed the severity of urinary incontinence and comorbidities of nursing home residents.

I find this article interesting for the relationship mentioned before, for that reason I want to give a global vision about immobility , we have to keep in mind the interrelations between changes of aging and geriatric syndromes. I want to highlight that if aging changes are not controlled it could result in geriatric sindormes.

Rose A, Thimme A, Halfar C, Nehen HG, Rübben H. 

Severity of UrinaryIncontinence of Nursing Home Residents Correlates with Malnutrition, 

Dementia andLoss of Mobility. Urol Int. 2013 Mar 8. PubMed PMID:23485721.