Saturday, February 29, 2020
Ashburton Guardian 30
ADVERTISING FEATURE
Keep steady on your feet POSITIVE AGEING EXPO Thursday, March 5, 2020 10am - 3pm Hotel Ashburton Racecourse Road, Ashburton Come and experience all that is available for you: • Exhibits and displays • Social connections • Raffles • Enter our surprise draw • Light refreshments available on site • Gold coin entry • Bring a friend and make a day of it
Age Concern, Ashburton Phone 308 6817
Visit the Sport Canterbury stand and pick up a local strength and balance class brochure/Home Safety Checklist.
Balance is an aspect of fitness that is often overlooked, even by many active and motivated adults. The New Zealand Ministry of Health, however, recommends that older adults undertake balance exercises three times each week. According to Sport Canterbury strength and balance lead Rebecca Logan, “Improving balance helps us keep independent and living stronger for longer.” Falling, Logan adds, is not part of the ageing process and can be avoided. One of the best ways to help prevent falls is to add exercises into your physical activity regime that include balance as well as core and leg strengthening routines. Including these types of activities will help improve your reaction, so if you do become off balance, your increased ability to react swiftly and correct yourself will reduce the chance of a fall occurring. Having increased muscle mass will also help support your bones and joints so that if a fall does occur, you are more likely to walk away without a significant injury. Sport Canterbury’s Live Stronger for Longer project is part of a nationwide initiative supporting older adults to live independently and injury-free, in their own homes, by reducing their risk of falling. This is a collective, whole system approach, to falls prevention, encompassing in-home support, pharmacy, and community strength and balance classes. Kate Conner is a regular attendee at Evolve, an approved strength and balance class in Ashburton. “The Evolve class has definitely improved my strength and balance. The way Matt explains each exercise and the purpose of the exercise, it feels like it’s our own personal training session. If I didn’t attend the classes, I would certainly feel very stiff in a short period of time.” One of the goals of the Live Stronger for Longer project is to ensure that every person in New Zealand, aged 65 years and over, can attend a strength and balance class within their community. There are currently 15 approved strength and balance classes running weekly within the Mid–Canterbury region. Each of these classes has met nine clinical criteria, established by a technical Join an approved class near you: advisory group, to ensure they are Visit www.livestronger.org.nz effective in reducing falls risk. or phone Sport Canterbury on
For more information please contact Aimee Cosgrove at Sport Canterbury, Mid Canterbury office 0220587695 or email aimee.cosgrove@sportcanterbury.org.nz
0800 228 483
BE SAFE IN YOUR HOME You don’t have to wrap yourself in cotton wool to reduce your risk of a fall, but you can make your home safer with a few adjustments. The Live Stronger for Longer website (www. livestronger.org.nz) has a Home Safety Checklist available both online and as a paper copy, which you can use to check areas in your home such as rugs, lighting, the bathroom, bedrooms, the kitchen, living room, stairs, outside and your personal safety. The Home Safety Checklist gives ideas on how to fix identified issues/hazards and includes a todo list, so you can make a note of what needs attending to. Copies of the Home Safety Checklist will be available from the Sport Canterbury Mid Canterbury stand at the Positive Ageing Expo. Call by and pick up a copy.