In this short, Dr. Ivan Bracic, DC, clinical director at Novaré Injury Care and Rehab in Fort Myers, demonstrates barefoot bodyweight squats to strengthen your hips, glutes and hamstrings and help you avoid a fall. If your knees are bothering you, he says, that's okay, just don't go as deep, and he shows how looking up as you squat helps keep good posture.
Read the full guide: Balance Exercises for Seniors: 6 Moves to Help Prevent Falls →
Video Transcript
Listen, one of the simplest ways to avoid a fall, to strengthen your hips, to strengthen your glutes, to strengthen your hamstrings, is to get in the habit of doing squats. They're simple. As we age, perhaps your knees are bothering you a little bit. That's okay, just don't go as deep. So make it a practice to start doing some squats.
It's important to use good posture and good technique, typically looking up, just like powerlifters. They're always looking up when they do the squats, to protect the low back. So let's start from the side here. You look up, you get a nice easy stance. Let's kick off the shoes, let's do it barefoot. Get into a nice position, get a nice hip stance, and let's just start. Up and down, up and down.
You do these. Perhaps in the beginning, you'll only be able to do 10, maybe 20, maybe 30. You'll see that my knees are going about 90 degrees. That's about it, that's all you need. If you can't go that far, that's okay. Get in the habit of, when you come up, squinch those glutes, squinch those quads, those hamstrings.
But when you can, and you start doing these exercises two or three times a week, you'll start noticing that you can do 50, it's a piece of cake, maybe 75, maybe even 100.
These are great exercises. Maintain hip strength, balance. It's really easy on the hips because you're not using heavy weight. Give it a try. You'll be pleasantly surprised.
Read the full guide on exercises that build balance and help prevent falls →