Rehabilitation sports for seniors
In the last 30 years the importance and the possibilities of sports for the elderly have changed a lot. Whereas in the past, older people (60 plus) were expected to take it easy, today the image of active seniors prevails, who have completely different requirements for getting older. They want to participate in the social environment, travel and physical activities, work beyond retirement age and above all independence and independence of care.
The performance in groups with seniors is often very heterogeneous. Participants of astonishing fitness and activity are represented in the groups, as are seniors with significant multiple health restrictions. In the case of more serious diseases of the cardiovascular system, participation in a cardiac sports group should be considered if there is an appropriate offer in the surrounding area.
If there is the possibility in the association of setting up differently “fit” groups of seniors, e.g. a division under health criteria (spinal column illnesses, Osteoporose, Prothetik in hip, knee, shoulder) can take place, or whether TN are able still on the mats, or only in the conditions, course and seat exercises to accomplish can. Due to the demographic development it is increasingly important to intensify the establishment of groups for participants with dementia. The professional trainers need to know the anamnesis of the seniors very well in order to know the risk factors and contraindications.
Many participants suffer from a variety of diseases and limitations from several medical specialties at the same time. The goals in seniors’ sports do not differ significantly from the general goals of rehabilitation sports, only the focus is different and the expected increase in performance is at a level adapted to age and functional limitations. The contents of the seniors’ rehabilitation sport are varied movement offers, which are adapted to the physical, mental conditions and the needs of the participants.
In the functional part, strength and cardiovascular endurance training is conducted and coordination and joint mobilizing exercises are offered. To prevent falls and mitigate the consequences of falls, one possible focus of the lessons is balance training. Sports games and moving memory training (not only in dementia groups) and the teaching of relaxation techniques round off the hour.
Due to the inhomogeneous performance in senior groups, it is necessary to work more with internal differentiation. Varied hour programs are important so that the participants remain motivated and experience and learn many different suggestions. The participants have to learn where their individual performance limits are, which sporting requirements are good for them and which reactions to sporting stress follow.
“Known pains”, which then often only appear after the hour, must not be triggered.The performance requirements should not be too high, feelings of success and the feeling of reaching possible limits and being able to cope with everyday life better are important for the sustainability of senior sports. Safety, especially in balance training, is always possible.
- Maintaining independence and improving mobility
- Increase of strength, endurance and mobility
- Improvement of balance, prophylaxis of falls, reaction
- Blood pressure reduction, blood sugar regulation, weight regulation
- Pain Reduction
- Memory training
- Social integration
- Mental well-being
- Strengthening of the immune system
Example visual impairment: The term visual impairment is superordinate to the most diverse types and degrees of visual impairment.
These can range from reduced vision in one or both eyes to complete blindness. Other senses can also change as a result of reduced vision. Often the sense of smell, touch, hearing and balance of visually impaired people is much more pronounced compared to right- sighted people in order to compensate for the visual impairment.
Also the proprioception (depth sensitivity, depth perception) – the ability of the body to perceive without looking in which position in space its body is located – is increased. Depending on the time of onset of a visual impairment, the development of motor skills with regard to coordination, spatial orientation and body schema is also impaired. Sporting activities are recommended without restriction, adapted to the degree of visual impairment, even if they present an increased potential for danger.
There may be restrictions for some sports from the outset. Coping with sporting achievements strengthens the ability to cope with the demands of everyday life and the self-confidence to dare to do more despite the visual impairment. Objectives in rehabilitation sports with visually impaired people: The overriding goal in sports for people with visual impairments is to compensate for the limited or missing visual sense.
In terms of content, the main focus in sports for the visually impaired depends on the degree of visual impairment, the ability to compensate and the independence of the participants. Sports games and functional exercises must be adapted to the visual impairment from the outset and then offered in a differentiated manner for individual participants. In order to compensate for the visual impairment of the participants and to facilitate orientation, special aids (e.g. bell ball) and materials are used.
It may be necessary to call in assistants for help. In order to promote body awareness, it is advisable to work with tactile stimuli. Touching between the group participants depends on how intensively the participants of the group know each other and how much they can touch each other.
Through tactile contact with others, the participants enter into communication with each other in addition to verbal expressions, gestures and facial expressions (if they can be perceived at all). In order to be able to assess the reaction to sports activities and their own resilience, the participants should learn to feel and assess pulse, breathing, sweating, muscular tension and relaxation. In order to get an idea of the size of the room, the room can be explained to the participants before the warm-up begins and then run and palpated.
Equipment or courses are set up together with the participants and thus made tangible and tangible. The OCs must make absolutely sure that there are no sources of injury in reachable surroundings of the participants. Learning or improving spatial orientation and the own body in relation to the environment is essential for orientation in everyday life and at work and reduces fears.
The participants are dependent on verbal and tactile information and didactic arrangements. Precise explanations of the required movement sequences and rules of the game in the correct chronological order are essential. The exercises or sports games should be chosen and explained in such a way that the participants understand the everyday context and can understand the goal and meaning of the required movements. Depending on the degree of disability and individual movement experience, the participants can perform the exercises to varying degrees.
- Improvement of the coordination of movement sequences
- Automate movement and learn substitute movements
- Learning unusual sporting abilities and skills
- Balance training
- Improvement of body perception, emotional balance and relaxation ability
- Improvement of orientation in the room
- Integration
