If you want to reduce your risk of falls doing regular exercises to improve your strength, balance and flexibility will help make you stronger and feel more confident on your feet.
All adults aged 65 and over should:
- aim to be physically active every day, even if it's just light activity
- do activities that improve strength, balance and flexibility on at least 2 days a week
- do at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity a week or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity activity if you are already active, or a combination of both
- reduce time spent sitting or lying down and break up long periods of not moving with some activity
Ealing’s newly commissioned falls prevention programme is here to help. There are exercise programmes to help improve your balance, a handyperson's service to help make your home safer, and a personal alarm service to alert a friend or the ambulance service if you've fallen.
Top tip: Take action to reduce your risk of falling as soon as you start to worry about it. The sooner you take action to more likely you are to stay strong and reduce the chance of falling.
Reduce your risk of falling by:
- a strength and balance programme: you can sign up directly, and if you have a friend who also is concerned about their balance, bring them too
- doing some exercises and stretches at home to help you stay active and mobile; you can find strength and balance exercises to do at home in the get up and go, strength and balance booklet
- purchasing equipment or making small adaptations to your home to reduce the risk of you falling when at home and out and about
- Ealing's handyperson scheme can help with minor jobs around your home from fixing light bulbs, installing handrails to repairing broken stair treads
Find out about other help available
These programmes are available through a partnership between Ealing Council, Ealing Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), NHS based services and local community groups.
Some strength and balance classes are free, however there may be a charge for some home repairs and monitoring services.
For more information, tips, and even a self-assessment to measure your risk of suffering a fall, fantastic resources are available on the NHS Choices falls website