Grandmother tells how floor-rise training changed her life
An 81-year-old grandmother told how new floor-rise training gave her the strength and confidence to pull herself up off the ground when she fell in her back garden.
Widow Mary Findlay, from Paisley, attended a five-week falls prevention class, run by Glasgow Caledonian University researcher Shane Seeley and the Roar charity, where she learned techniques on how to get up and down off the floor.
A few months after the training, Mary put her new-found skills into practice when she fell in her garden. She was alone without any means of contact.
She fell backwards into the mud from a box she uses while weeding, but managed to roll herself over to a sturdy plant pot and pull herself up off the ground to safety, using the techniques she learned from Shane.
Mary was quite immobile and had suffered several bad falls before she attended the falls-prevention classes at Roar-Connections for Life in Paisley. It has changed her life and given her much more confidence.
She praised Shane, who is studying a Doctorate in Physiotherapy, and the charity for their support, and is urging other older people to stay fit and practice the falls-prevention training.
Mary, a mother of five and grandmother of four, said: “Months before I did the floor-rise training I was quite immobile. My legs were pretty bad and I had had quite a few serious falls where I ended up in hospital.
“I can honestly say that the training has changed my life. Even my daughter, who is a yoga teacher, said the difference in me is like night and day. I don’t think I would have had the confidence or strength to pull myself up off the ground if the fall in the garden had happened before I had the training. I feel like a different woman and it’s all thanks to Shane and Roar. I would urge others to do falls prevention exercise and practice getting up off the floor.”
Shane, who is a physiotherapy researcher in the School of Health and Life Sciences’ Research Centre for Health (ReaCH) Ageing Well group, has been exploring the effectiveness of the floor-rise exercises for older people, in partnership with Roar, with the hope that it will be rolled out across Scotland.
Shane, who is also a personal trainer, said: “Mary is an amazing woman and the floor-raise exercises gave the confidence to get up off the ground when she fell in her garden.
“As part of my study, I ran a five-week class with older people where they practiced getting up and down off of the floor. At the end, the group was better able to independently rise from the floor and confidence to complete this task was also significantly improved.
“This is important as when older adults fall and cannot rise for over an hour, there are many harmful physical and psychological consequences. Also, the cost of NHS ambulance crews picking older adults off the floor following a fall when they do not require any further medical assistance was £75.5 million in 2012 and that figure is rising each year.”
Shane shared his top tips for getting up after a fall and a self-help video for older people - https://youtu.be/mbUp9ODetbM
- Roll onto your side
- Push yourself up to a side sitting position
- Slowly get onto your hands and knees
- Crawl towards sturdy furniture, like a chair or sofa
- Kneel side-on to the furniture with your strongest leg next to it
- Slide the foot of your strongest leg forward so it’s flat on the floor, keeping the other knee on the floor
- Put both hands on the furniture
- Push through your hands and foot to raise and turn your body until your bottom is safely on the furniture
- Sit for a few minutes before doing anything else, and check again for injuries
Roar-Connections for Life is based in Paisley. Its aim is to empower older adults to stay resilient, socially connected and physically active.
Roar CEO Cassie Forbes said: “Floor-rise training is essential in later life and can literally save your life. We encourage everyone to participate in this training and to regularly carry our strength and balance exercises and practice getting up off the floor.
“Roar would like to thank Shane for delivering the training to a group of Roar Service Users and evidencing the importance of these vital techniques of getting up and down from the floor.”
Find out more about our physiotherapy courses - https://www.gcu.ac.uk/study/courses/undergraduate-physiotherapy-glasgow.