By Miguel J. Ortiz
This doesn’t seem like a difficult task, however the older we get and the less active we continue to become only makes getting off the floor harder and harder. Interestingly falling to the ground and not being able to get up is one of the biggest fears of people over the age of 65. We also know this is a big fear for elderly because if it wasn’t then we wouldn’t need things like that life alert. Another thing we need to understand is the ability to move on the ground is extremely important. For example, there are some interesting studies that were done with children that showed if you tried to speed up the walking process to soon and skipped phases of crawling that children had slower brain development. So, if the ability for children to crawl proficiently helps their brain development then image what consistently having the ability to crawl can do for you as an adult. So, what can we start to do right now in order to make getting up off the ground easier? Well the first part which may be the hardest for some, is we need to actually start on the ground and work out way up, exactly like a child would and make sure you have a soft mat or double up a yoga mat to make it easier on your knees.
The first exercise we need to practice is a Quadruped HIP CAR. This exercise is more of a core stabilizer with great hip & core activation. Having the ability to stabilize while lifting 1 leg up is the first step in standing as balance is required when getting to a standing position because it’s a total body movement. I recommend doing this exercise with slow tempo and the highest level of control. You’ll start to feel areas in the high that may be tight as well as overactive, and by taking the joint through a controlled full ROM will drastically improve your hip strength & mobility.
The second exercise is similar to the hip car however I’m throwing in a little twist because we need to get used to loading 1 hip side before standing, this exercise is known as the The Half Kneeling Cat Cow to tall half kneeling position. So, I understand in the video I’m not preforming the “tall” part of the motion but I can coach you through it. You’ll start in the quadruped position, “on all 4’s”, and once you get one leg in front, use your hands to push off the ground allowing your hips & core to stabilize while you become more upright. When your done with the rep you should be in what’s called a tall half kneeling position. This requires majority of your weight to be split between both legs. To switch back to the other side, slowly lower your hands back down to the ground, and get back to that cat cow position so you can use the “Hip CAR” motion in the first exercise to reset back into the starting position which is having both knees and hands on the ground. Repeat on the other side.
The 3rd exercise is a static or walking Lunge. Now in this video I’m doing this lunge with DB’s however I highly advise we work up to this as the goal is to get up and down off the floor. So, the goal should first be able to hold something to stabilize, get into a split / lunge position (one leg back and one leg in front) and preform a static lunge. This will help strengthen the leg muscles which help with standing. The next would be to perform the lunge in a walking pattern to adhere to higher levels of balance and stability. If your able to perform both the last thing you want to do is challenge your ROM (Range of Motion) by trying to get your back knee to SOFTLY hit the ground. If you can smoothly touch the back knee to the ground under full control, then you can easily get up and down off the ground. Have fun with your movements and continue to stay active so that movements like getting up and down off the floor are a piece of cake.
