Rock around the clock

I’m fit and healthy. I don’t want to deny someone else a bed in hospital just because I’ve been clumsy. Balance exercises are an important part of my routine, and here’s a fun way to do them.

I hope it isn’t tempting fate or the law of Sod to say that, nearly two years since my Parkinson’s diagnosis, I have a 100% no-falls record. I do have daily ‘oooh-err’ moments where I wobble from side to side and put my arms out for balance. I’ve learned how to step gracefully into them. Then I stop and stand still and tall till I’m ready to move off again. People give me funny looks – I don’t care! These moments have comedy value, but they also remind me not to stand up or change direction too quickly.

In 2013 the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence estimated that falls cost the NHS £2 billion a year. So it’s up to all of us, Parkinson’s or not, to stay upright. We should all be practising balance exercises throughout the day, like standing on one leg waiting for the kettle to boil. Walking heel-to-toe in a straight line, or as the police politely call it, a Field Impairment Test* is another challenge.

Stepping out

My favourite balance activity is volitional stepping – stepping in random directions at speed, literally thinking on my feet.  It’s been shown to improve reaction time, gait and balance and to reduce falls in older adults by as much as 50 per cent. (Okubo et al, 2017).

I don’t need any mats or sensors, Wii or XBox to do this – just my smartphone and a handy little £1.99 app called ClockYourself. (available on Apple and Android).

Devised by Australian rehab physio Meg Lowry and her (very patient) developer friend Dave Wallace, the graded exercises are based on a 12-figure clock face.

I imagine the clock face on the floor and stand in the middle of it, with plenty of space around. The voice calls a number, and my task is to step to that number and back again to the centre. To begin with the numbers are 1–12 around the clock and they are called out in English.

Stepping up

If I want to make it harder I can:

• change the numbers to symbols, for example, signs of the Zodiac.
• set the calls in another language, for example, Mandarin or Spanish.
• add extra movement, like bicep curls or punches.
• toggle between different clock faces.
• speed up the step rate.
• all of the above!

The additional cognitive tasks help to train my brain, too.  Regular readers may recall that I shout out lists like the Shipping Forecast or the Piccadilly Line while doing big powerful movements to develop neuroplasticity (the brain’s ability to re-wire itself).

A glance at my heartrate data shows that ClockYourself is also a good cardio workout. And fun.  What’s not to like?

Play > (We’re gonna) Rock around the clock > Bill Haley and His Comets

I’m a child of the fifties – black and white television and Uncle Mac’s Children’s Favourites on the BBC Light Programme.  This was the first song I ever remember being broadcast.   If you’ve time, listen to the rest of this album, there are some real corkers like Shake, Rattle and Roll and Birth of the Boogie.

*I’m sure there is a slang term for this, something like ‘walking the Glasgow tightrope’, but I can’t find it anywhere.

Main photo: Pixabay