The right exercise program, namely one made up of the four types of exercise listed below, can help your senior to keep driving for as long as she’s safe to do so. They also have the added benefit of helping her to be healthier overall, which never hurts.

Exercises for Range of Motion

Your senior’s range of motion involves the amount she can move in any given direction. For instance, if she’s unable to look over her shoulder while driving, the range of motion in her neck and back may be smaller than it was in the past. Exercises that help to improve mobility in your senior’s joints and muscles can help her to ensure that she’s able to handle a variety of tasks while driving.

Strength-building Exercises
Driving means that your elderly family member uses her muscles to control the various levers, wheels, and other parts of the car. If the door is too heavy for her to open, for instance, that’s a problem. Even with power functions like braking and steering, she needs to have a certain amount of muscle tone to help control the car. Older adults tend to lose muscle tone easily, so strength-building exercises can slow down muscle loss.

Exercises for Coordination and Balance
You might not realize it, but there’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes when you’re driving. If you’re not coordinating your movements, particularly between your body and your eyes and brain, you’re going to have a tough time driving. The same is true for your senior. Exercises that help her with both balance and coordination work the parts of her brain and body that she needs when driving.

Exercises for Flexibility
If your elderly family member isn’t as flexible as she used to be, that’s going to impact her driving, too. It’s going to be more difficult for her to get in and out of the car and to reach the settings she needs to reach while driving. Improving her flexibility with exercises geared specifically toward that goal give her a way to avoid problems behind the wheel.

It is always a good idea to have a backup plan for your senior. Some days may not be good driving days for her and if she has an option, like counting on elder care providers to drive for her, she may be more willing to only insist on driving on those days she truly feels strong enough to do so.

Excerpt: These types of exercise can help your senior keep driving for a little bit longer.

If you or an aging loved one are considering hiring Elder Care in Greenville, SC, contact Heart of the Carolinas Home Care at 864-991-3116. Providing Home Care Services in Greenville, Simpsonville, Greer, Anderson, Spartanburg, Mauldin, Seneca, Laurens, Charleston, Columbia and the surrounding areas.

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Edward Harrison

Founder at Heart of the Carolinas

Edward Harrison founded the Heart of the Carolinas Homecare in 2007 when he saw there was a need for caregivers that provide non-medical home care services, at a price that most people could afford. It was standard in the industry to require hourly minimums and it was common to be assigned a caregiver, not matched with one based on your individual personal needs. Edward understood that to make a successful relationship between caregiver and client, skills were not enough, personality and compatibility plays as much a role as do skills.

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