Yoga for Healthy Aging:
Enhancing Balance for Fracture Prevention
One of the inevitable changes of aging is a gradual loss of the ability to balance. While this may at first seem insignificant, it is a key factor in the increased risk of fractures people face as they get older.
Most fractures of the hip, wrists, or ankle are preceded by a fall, and the loss of balance makes fall exponentially more common in the elderly. Falls not only put you at greater risk for fractures, but also for head injury and other significant trauma requiring hospitalization.
The gradual decline in your ability to balance can be slowed and even reversed, however. Among its many benefits for body, mind and spirit, yoga can help us to improve our balance. Especially for seniors, instability and lack of confidence with balance can impede daily activities and exercise.
What causes us to have more trouble with balance as we age? What can we do to safely build skills for better balance?
In this course, Loren Fishman, MD and Ellen Saltonstall discuss the three physiological mechanisms that contribute to balancing, and why they decline as we get older. They will show different approaches to slow the loss of balance, and how to tailor your yoga practice to slow the loss of balance.
Balancing effectively is not just about being able to stand on one leg. Rather, it's about being able to retain core stability during challenging movements. In this excerpt from her practice video, Ellen shows one way to practice this important skill.
What You Will Learn
About Loren Fishman, M.D. & Ellen Saltonstall
Loren Fishman, M.D.
After graduating from Christ Church, Oxford, spending the year 1973 with Mr. Iyengar in Pune, attending every class, public and private, and taking daily instruction, Loren M. Fishman, M.D., was told “You can teach my yoga.” Dr. Fishman then went to medical school, and at Rush, in a Tufts-Harvard Residency program, and as Chief Resident at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, did indeed teach patients, health professionals, and also learned more about yoga and medicine himself. He has been practicing yoga daily since the year he spent with Mr. Iyengar, has written and edited more than 65 academic articles, chapters and books in the philosophy of science, and Rehabilitation Medicine, his field. His work has been reviewed in articles by Jane Brody, Spine, and a number of international periodicals. He is past President of the New York Society of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, currently Associate Editor of Topics in Geriatric Rehabilitation, on the staff at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, Treasurer of the Manhattan Institute for Cancer Research, and has a private practice on Park Avenue in Manhattan.
Loren has published two books: Yoga for Osteoporosis with Ellen Saltonstall (for W.W. Norton) and Yoga and Multiple Sclerosiswith Eric Small. For more information about Loren, visit: www.sciatica.org
Ellen Saltonstall
Ellen Saltonstall (E-RYT 500) is a yoga instructor and body therapist based in New York with extensive training in the Iyengar and Anusara methods. She has been a practitioner of yoga and meditation for over 40 years. She teaches Bodymind Ballwork, a method of self-massage using rubber balls which she developed, and she co-authored Yoga for Arthritis, 2008, and Yoga for Osteoporosis, 2010 with Dr. Loren Fishman. Her book Anatomy & Yoga: A Guide for Teachers and Students will be released in December 2016. She offers yoga therapy webinars through YogaOnlineU.com, and she teaches nationally and internationally with a specialty in anatomy and therapeutics. She is known for her clarity and depth of knowledge, and her enthusiasm in encouraging students of all levels to find freedom and joy through yoga. Please visit her website at www.ellensaltonstall.com.