POWER and BALANCE
become ever more crucial as we get older.

We talked about muscle strength on a previous page.
When referring to the human body, power is a measure of how quickly that strength can be brought to bear.
A good example to use would be stopping a trip from becoming a fall. To do this you not only need the strength to make a physical correction, but in most cases this strength has to be applied in a split second.
In order to do this the ability of your nervous system to react quickly, to receive and send information between your brain and muscles, is called into action.
The sense of balance needs to be mentioned at this point since it is your sense of balance that must instantly convey to the brain an alarm message and sufficient information to enable it to determine the necessary correction and to implement it.

This one, unbelievably common, occurrence demonstrates the incredible interactions needed between our senses and our physical attributes required to keep us safe and uninjured. Loss of power tends to occur before a reduction in strength since it relies heavily on the efficient function of the nervous system. Poor performance of the complex system that makes up our sense of balance means we are likely to suffer more falls and so more fractures.

Did you know?
According to Research Into Ageing:- one third of people over the age of 65 suffer a fall at least once a year and these can be catastrophic, they are the main cause of injury leading to hospital admission or death for this section of society. In addition, half of those who break a hip never regain independent mobility.

So, our trips may become falls more often if, our sense of balance is impaired, our muscles are weak and our reactions are slow. But, balance can be improved by training so we don't need to lose it as we age. We can also improve our general fitness which will result in faster reaction times and will give us enough strength to cope with and correct trips.