Yoga is something I’m a keen advocate of in all its forms. It keeps you supple, improves your balance, teaches you breathing, helps your mental wellbeing and even cuts down your headaches.
But could it help old people avoid falls? There is no doubt as we get older our sense of balance begins to wobble, we’re more unsteady on our feet, trip over more easily and have more falls.
The stats are frightening.
Nearly a third of people over 65 and over half of people over 80 have at least one fall a year. Moreover, a fall can bring on the fear of falling, which in turn can lead to further falls.
There’s no question that exercise is beneficial. In fact, it’s increasingly beneficial as we grow older.
A recent review of 23,407 participants concluded that exercise, mainly to improve balance and function, can reduce falls by about a quarter among older people.
So what about yoga? Well, for starters, it will improve the quality of life in older people and, importantly, old people like it.
Garry Tew and colleagues from the Universities of Newcastle, York and Sydney, Australia, report on two reviews evaluating the impact of yoga on fall risk factors.
Yoga can result in small to moderate improvements in balance, mobility and leg strength. Pretty good, but is this enough to protect against falls? Two trials of yoga going on at the moment may answer that question.
They’re tailored to older adults and will evaluate the effect of group yoga on balance, posture, and relaxation. When completed in 2022, they will tell us if yoga does indeed protect against falls in older people.
Given the multiple risk factors for falls, these studies may include more than yoga. Assessments of hazards in the home and interventions like eyesight exams and correction, medication reviews or withdrawal of medicines could all play a part.
GPs could initiate elements of this wraparound care with support from other health professionals.
In any event, regular exercise with a focus on balance and functional training is good for most older people living in the community.
Exercise itself is effective for prevention of falls and fractures in older people with or without yoga.
Exercise programmes that include more than three hours a week of exercise while also concentrating on different kinds of balance exercises are really good at preventing falls.
We will see if adding yoga can make things even better.
