Four Easy Exercises For Older Adults At Risk Of Falling
Updated: Apr 7, 2025
Despite ongoing awareness of how important exercise is in our lives, especially as we grow older, many of our older persons are not doing it.
As it stands the current statistics from the Australian Institute of Health and Wellness report that 75% of older adults aged 65 and over don’t meet the Physical Activity Guidelines…
Interestingly, the most common reasons people report they do not meet the guidelines are not what you would expect. They are not because people are simply lacking motivation or time to do it but rather most report they do not exercise because illness or injury scares them out of starting.
Which we can empathise with.
This is before you even consider how much exercise the older person is expected to do. The current guidelines recommend 150 minutes of exercise every week, plus 2 resistance training sessions. As a Clinical Exercise Physiologist with 8 years of experience who has had a hand in helping literally thousands start exercise for the first time or resume it after a long time I can tell you right now that if you go from doing nothing to trying to meet these guidelines you are going to end up right back where you started. But of course, they don't tell you that.
So, what should we do and what should we prioritise when it comes to exercise with our older persons?
It's not going to be going for walks or exercises with that stretchy band they got years ago (that is moments away from snapping) that they might be doing, that they keep doing despite not really seeing any change in their physical function.
Rather it will be things to prevent falls and the injuries that may occur as a result of frailty when having a fall. This is because:
Falls are Australia’s leading cause of injury hospitalisation and death, representing 43% of injury hospitalisations and 42% of injury deaths.
The things we need to work on with our older persons involve improving their balance and their overall strength and despite popular belief, these things are not as hard as what people think when they hear the word “strength” or “resistance”.
If you care for older persons we have compiled four exercise most would be able to start right away with no equipment at all and these are:
four easy exercises for older adults at risk of falling
Sit to stand
Begin seated on a stable chair, with your feet hip width apart
Cross your arms across your chest or hold on to the arms of the chair for support if needed
Push your feet through the ground and stand up
Lower yourself back into the chair safely
Repeat no more than 8-10 stands to begin with and then have a rest!
Semi tandem balance
Stand beside a wall or railing that you can use to support yourself
Place your feet in a semi-tandem position with your heel inline with your toes and your feet slightly apart
Try and use as little support as possible and balance for approximately 30 seconds
Switch the position of your feet and practice on the other side
Incline or Bench push up
Stand a comfortable distance away from a sturdy bench or surface with your feet hip width apart
Begin with your arms straight in front of your against the wall
Use your arms to slowly lower your chest to the bench and then push your body back to the starting position
Repeat up to 10 times, ensure you stop 2 repetitions before you feel you couldn't do another one!
Calf raises
Stand beside a wall or railing to secure yourself
Begin with your feet hip width apart
Push the weight of your body up on to your toes lifting the heels from the ground
Lower your heels back down to the ground and repeat up to 15 times, ensuring you stop 2 repetitions before you feel you couldn't do another one!
Most should be able to start with these if they feel safe and confident to do so. If they are being held back by illness or injury and do not feel safe or confident, then we can help.
As Clinical Exercise Physiologists we help people who have never exercised before, haven't exercised in a long time or have tried exercise and didnt like it use exercise in safe and effective doses as medicine to help them live a longer, stronger, healthier and happier life. If you have someone in mind who could use some expert advice, why don't you give us a call to see how we would help on 1300 034 248?
Thanks for highlighting such practical exercises to help older adults reduce fall risk—your point about starting small resonates. Just like how proper form matters in exercise, verifying digital content matters too. For instance, when sharing health tips online, it's wise to confirm video authenticity, especially with rising deepfakes. I’ve found tools like aivideodetector.video helpful for checking if a video is AI-generated before passing it on to family or clients.
It's great to see such thoughtful advice on exercise for older adults at risk of falling. For those who need to document their exercise plans or track progress, the Markdown Table to Excel tool could be really useful for creating organized and easy-to-follow spreadsheets.
For those needing to clean up their exercise scripts or notes, try using the Invisible Character Remover to make them clearer and more readable.
To ensure the safety of our older adults, it's crucial to remove any AI image metadata before sharing any visuals. Using the AI Image Metadata Remover helps in protecting the privacy and security of those we care for.
The article raises critical issues about the challenges older adults face in meeting exercise guidelines. It's particularly interesting how fear of injury or illness, rather than motivation or time, plays a significant role in their inactivity. This reflects a broader societal issue where similar fears also manifest in behaviors like gambling, such as in the case of Thepokies, which can lead to avoidance of necessary health measures. Understanding these psychological barriers is essential for effective interventions.