Are there specific exercises that help maintain mobility and prevent falls for octogenarians?

As you obviously appreciate, we need to practice (exercise) the recommended technique, especially as we age continuously and hence will be gradually becoming less
able.

We evolved the necessary physical and mental attributes to walk safely over rough
country and so we simply need to do that to maintain our mobility.

But although almost all our normal walking will be on paved surfaces, this is still good
practice because we are continually dynamically balancing on one leg and then the other
for each stride.

This is quite a complicated business involving tracking the momentum and the centre of
gravity and making sure that overall the alternating thrusts from the feet maintain the
weight of the body against gravity whilst also providing sufficient forward thrust to
maintain a comfortable walking speed. i.e. it is not just the physical effort, there is also
quite a bit of subconscious calculation needed too.

This becomes much harder to accomplish when the ground is uneven and variable in
texture e.g. grass, loose stones, muddy puddles, thick leaves etc.
This is where a stick (or even two) can help prevent a fall.

But why risk a fall when walking on a treadmill with hand grips immediately available
can be done indoors at almost no risk of falling.
The reason is that walking on a treadmill is rather boring whereas walking outside can
be useful for shopping and/or meeting other people. i.e. you are more likely to relish the
idea of a walk outside rather than yet another boring session on the treadmill.
But the two are not mutually exclusive; you can walk outside when the weather is good
and walk on the treadmill in bad weather.

Full story: https://healthynfitlifestyles.quora.com/Are-there-specific-exercises-that-help-maintain-
mobility-and-prevent-falls-for-octogenarians

--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v7.0
* Origin: The Hobby Line! BBS (999:1/1)