LITTLE FALLS VILLAGE HELPING HANDS
September 30, 2010
Seminar Report
If you missed the Preparing for Change seminar on Thursday, September 30th, you missed something very special. Close to forty residents of Little Falls Village braved the rain and the wind that night to hear Steve Rapposelli give us reasons to get up, and start moving our bodies. The co-owner of Performance Physical Therapy and Fitness of Wilmington, Hockessin and Millcreek was simple and direct in his message to the audience. If you want to live long and well, adults have to stand tall, develop flexibility to prevent falls and exercise in a way to counteract our sedentary lifestyles. And this exercise should become habitual and lifelong. But Mr.Rapposelli is not a fan of focused exercising such as running, rowing, spinning, etc. simple exercise is best that incorporates as many muscle groups as possible or simple exercise with movements in multiple planes He does not believe in rigidly exercising one group of muscles. Before embarking on any exercise program, however Mr. Rapposelli believes two things must occur. One, get a checkup from your doctor to determine your abilities and any problems. Two, consult a trained physical therapist to customize a fitness program for your body. Each body requires distinctive activities because of specific conditioning needs or specific health problems such as arthritis, herniated disc, spinal stenosis, osteoporosis or joint replacement.. Some of his other precepts are:
| a. | The fundamental objective for fitness exercises should be "to feel good," |
| b. | "Do not overdo" - start with exercises requiring minor strain or exertion, All that is required for fitness is moderate exercisefor 15 to 30 minuteseveryday. Exercising one hour or more on alternate days is excessive and may eventually induce serious injury. |
| c. | Exercise to develop balance, agility, coordination, and good posture. |
| d. | Train to develop safe, effective equilibrium reactions to help avoid falls. |
| e. | Exercise to increase the flexibility of ankles. This will also help avoid falling. |
| f. | All stretch-type exercises should last for a minimum of 30 seconds. |
| g. | Always wear gloves to relieve the pressure on finger joints when doing any kind of work, including dishwashing, cleaning, gardening, etc., or use large diameter sleeves to grip tools pens, pencils, utensils etc. |
| h. | Use wide rubber strips of varying resistance for multiple exercises. |
| i. | Use body weight for resistance rather than weights of any kind. |
| j. | He highly recommendsthe Wii fit Plus DVD exercise and game system with balance board and remote controllers used in conjunction with television sets; it features five categories of activities: yoga, strength, aerobics, balance games and an all-training program; for reference and guidance purposes scores are given as activities are completed. |
Mr. Raposelli demonstrated a number of things one can incorporate into a daily routine to help improve posture and balance including:
| a. | For balance - brush teeth while standing on one leg then switch. |
| b. | Standing tall to use back muscles. |
| c. | To develop flexible ankles, stand with back firm again a wall and raise toes several times, or while working at the sink or countertop raise one foot on a telephone book and lean forward on that leg, then switch. |
| d. | For posture - adjust vehicle rearview mirror slightly upward. This causes you to automatically sit up straighter. |
| e. | For shoulder muscles - stick them up exercise Find a blank wall. Place shoulders and hips against it, feet out about 6 inches, raise your arms facing each other to shoulder height, then over your head with back of hands against wall, then bend your elbows and slide hands down the wall until elbows are at shoulder height. |
| f. | Stretch hip flexor muscles to counteract the effects of sitting. To do this use the back of a chair to lean on and a low stool behind you. Lean on the chair, bend you knee and hook toes over the stool and hold for a count of 30 then switch. For extra credit, stand in this position without leaning on the chair. Gradually raise the height behind you to bed or higher. |
Our next seminar is planned for Thursday, January 27, 2011 in the Clubhouse.
