Living independently in old age despite declining mobility
Living independently in old age is the wish of everyone gradually approaching retirement age. Yet the ability to move around is often lost with increasing age.
Declining mobility threatens various areas of everyday life. For example, being able to get dressed and undressed without assistance, as well as having unrestricted mobility in everyday life inside and outside your own home.
In this article about living independently in old age, we cover the following topics - with one click, you can reach the section you want:
- how movement helps counteract some effects of aging
- getting dressed and undressed independently despite physical weakness
- Putting on and taking off shirts and trousers
- Buttons and zippers
- Walking aids for freedom of movement in everyday life
- Walking aids and other assistive devices in the statutory health insurance aids directory
Counteract age-related weakening through your own movement
What was previously taken for granted suddenly becomes difficult. Arms and legs become weak - to the point where it is hardly possible to support your own body weight. The hands lose their grip strength and dexterity - objects become more difficult to grip or pick up. Deep bending down is no longer an option for many seniors anyway. Joints give out and arms and legs no longer want to bend and stretch as effortlessly as they once did.
This effect usually develops gradually over many years, while the body also deteriorates more quickly with increasing age. One of the main reasons for this is lack of exercise. Even daily walks are enough to keep the body fit well into old age. You do not necessarily have to play sports for this.
The body needs to move - joints wear out and muscles atrophy when they are not used. For example, the cartilage in the joints and joint capsules are supplied with oxygen optimally only through regular exercise. Exercise therefore also serves as prevention, helping people avoid becoming dependent on others.
Many modern medical assistive devices are designed to compensate for declining physical performance and abilities. They help people manage daily routines such as getting dressed or going to the store despite limited mobility and physical strength.
In the case of dressing aids, such assistive devices can also provide support in regaining lost mobility after an operation or illness. After all, even with reaching aids, sock aids or similar products, patients still have to move on their own. The effort and extent of these movements are reduced - not eliminated.
Even simple movements - including with assistive devices - help you stay mobile into old age
Regular exercise and independently carrying out everyday movements - with assistive devices if necessary - therefore have various positive effects for seniors.
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Articular cartilage is supplied with more oxygen
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Joint mobility is maintained for longer or can be improved
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Muscle loss is slowed or halted
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Exercise is good for general circulation
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more independence and self-determination in everyday life
Putting on and taking off clothes despite physical limitations
Dressing aids help all people who are restricted in their mobility due to age, illness, or injuries with their daily dressing and undressing.
Putting on and taking off clothes is a complex process that involves moving numerous muscles. The body must bend, twist, and stretch – the arms and legs are bent and extended. The fingers often have to perform delicate movements to open buttons or zippers. For most young and healthy people, changing clothes is completely routine and requires no effort at all.
Things are quite different when age or illnesses weaken the body or the limbs and joints have become stiff. Patients are often also restricted in their motor skills and physical strength during the rehabilitation phase after operations, or they lack the necessary balance. A support or caregiver is often needed to help those affected change clothes.
But the more movements seniors, sick people, or convalescents can perform themselves, the better. Using dressing aids often makes it possible to do without assistance from others.
Putting on and taking off shirts and trousers
With shirts and trousers, the tubular sleeves or trouser legs must be pulled over your own limbs. The shoulders and elbows perform a complex interplay of bending and straightening. Anyone who finds these movements difficult is advised to use a dressing stick.
These arm-length rods are equipped with gripping hooks for pulling on shirt sleeves or picking up garments. The Deluxe Dressing Aid from Behrend, for example, has a differently designed hook at each end.
Complex movements such as fastening buttons are often only possible with assistance from others in old age
Opening and closing buttons and zippers
Opening and closing zippers or moving buttons through their buttonholes requires considerable dexterity. Especially in old age, however, conditions such as osteoarthritis reduce mobility in the fingers. Injuries to the fingers and hands can also severely restrict their motor skills.
Since many everyday garments have buttons or zippers, the problem is quite literally at hand. Anyone who no longer has the full strength and mobility of their hands and fingers must resort to alternative clothing, need help from others getting dressed, or use assistive devices to be able to dress and undress independently again.
To move the slider of a zipper, its pull must be held firmly between the fingers. It often also takes considerable effort to zip a zipper open or closed. The biggest problem is probably that the slider is usually so small that it is difficult to grip
Zipper extensions are suitable for all types of zippers
This is where zipper extensions come into play. They are fabric loops attached to a plastic clip. The loop is attached to the zipper slider, allowing the zipper to be opened and closed using the loop. To do this, open the plastic clip, pull the loop through the hole in the pull on the zipper, and then close it with the clip.
Now all you need to do is slide one finger through the loop to move the zipper slider. Outside help may only be required to attach the zipper aids. By the way, these practical dressing aids are not only suitable for clothing. Bags, backpacks, and duvet covers are also often fitted with zippers.
Tip: Where possible, wear clothing that is easy to change. There are many solutions to minimize the hassle of buttoning or threading zippers. For example, wear trousers or skirts with elastic waistbands - these can be put on with minimal dexterity and then stay securely in place. Hook-and-loop fasteners are a good alternative to buttons or more complicated fasteners with hooks and eyelets. Lace-up shoes can be fitted with particularly elastic shoelaces, allowing you to slip them on and off like slip-ons.
Moving freely in everyday life with walking aids
Walking aids are available in many different variants. They range from simple sticks or crutches, which can be used on one side or both sides, to wheeled aids such as walking frames and rollators. A doctor should always be consulted when selecting a suitable walking aid. It is important that it is adjusted so that the user maintains the correct posture.
With forearm crutches or underarm crutches, adequate padding should prevent pressure sores from developing on the skin during use. Here too, the handles on many models can be adjusted to suit the user's height.
People without walking disabilities also sometimes use mobility aids such as walking sticks or hiking poles to relieve weight. Modern walking sports such as Nordic walking also use special, technically sophisticated walking poles.
Wheeled walking aids either have three wheels and are called delta walkers, or four wheels, in which case they are considered rollators. Users push these aids in front of them and can support themselves on their handles. However, they are not connected to the walking aid, seated on it, or secured to it, as is the case with a wheelchair or the suspended frame of a walking frame.
Rollators therefore require a certain amount of strength and physical control to remain. Models with lockable wheel brakes and fold-down seats also serve as a seat if strength briefly runs out. Otherwise, the advantage is that a substantial part of the body weight rests on the handles and the frame, relieving the user's legs.
Since baskets for shopping or refreshments, umbrella holders, and other accessories can also be attached to rollators, they are also ideal for longer distances, such as walks in the park.
Walking aids in the GKV medical aids directory
In the medical aids directory of the statutory health insurance (GKV) system, a distinction is made between walking aids for indoor use and those that can also be used outdoors.
Accessories such as cane buffers, cane holders, cane caps, or other walking aids are grouped together as mobility aids without a specific place of use.
For the medical aids listed in the GKV register, health insurance funds cover the costs when necessary. The directory is updated regularly and contains over 30,000 products for a wide range of medical or therapeutic purposes.
Many products from the medical aids directory can be purchased in the online shop of Medicalcorner24®. In addition to walking aids, our range also includes other medical aids that make everyday life easier for seniors or weakened people. In addition to care aids for more independent living and mobility, we also offer toilet aids, bathing and showering aids, incontinence aids, hearing aids, as well as various orthoses and splints.
