Recovering Grandmother

Medical Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hi Austin and Jordan,

I have a query on how to proceed in this situation, or if what I am thinking of doing is the correct thing to do.

My Grandmother recently suffered an L2 compression fracture, as well as a fractured pelvis. She is 89, 5ft and 42kg, so is very fragile and frail. For her recovery, she has progressed from walking with a walker, to now being able to stand up from a chair using handles with both hands, one hand and then no hands.

I think her quality of life would improve drastically with the aid of strength training. Starting with body weight squats and building up. Is this an appropriate course of action? One thing to note is that she definitely doesn’t have access to a gym/barbell. Would putting weights in a backpack be helpful at all? I am interested in your thoughts on the best course of action with training, if it indeed is the right thing to do.

Thanks in advance!

2

Sorry to hear about your grandmother’s situation.

I would agree that her quality of life would improve with strength training. However, I would be shocked if she could get anywhere near a below-parallel bodyweight squat right now. I’d start her out doing bodyweight box squats to a height she can reach, and ideally stand up off of without using her arms if possible.

You should check out the recent video Alan Thrall made about training older folks - you might find it helpful for this situation.