According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), 14 million senior citizens fall every year, and falls are the leading cause of injuries for the elderly.
But some researchers at Tohoku University in Japan did a study that could help alleviate those falls by turning our aging Boomers into Samurai.
The study took 34 healthy adults, split them into two groups, and had half begin practicing Rei-Ho (Samurai martial arts) for five minutes per day, four days per week.
After three months, the Samurais showed an average of 29.5% increase in knee strength. The researchers touted this a success that would help decrease falls in elderly people:
Muscle strength naturally diminishes with age, often leading to conditions such as sarcopenia and frailty.
This decline is further aggravated by the widespread prevalence of sedentary lifestyles. Importantly, the reduction in strength tends to be more pronounced in the lower limbs than in the upper limbs.
Just for reference, here's a quick rundown of the basic movements in Rei-Ho:
There is one important caveat mentioned in the study though:
None of the participants were elderly.
That seems like a major drawback to their elderly application, especially given the amount of kneeling involved in Rei-Ho.
Furthermore, similar results have been achieved in sit-to-stand exercises in a study that actually did include elderly adults, so there probably isn't any need to turn our senior citizens into Samurai at all.
In fact, it sounds like seniors can reduce falls by getting up and getting moving more often, and according to my parents, that can be achieved with a simple diuretic.
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