Your legs are important, so take care of it.

As a result of an improved lifestyle and better health facilities, people are living longer now. A consequence of this is that most of the industrialized countries are aging. It is a serious situation and it calls for remedial actions to be taken. As an example, Japan, where the birth rate has been declining since the seventies, the number of young and able person who are available to take care of the elderly is declining fast. The situation is so critical that there is a need to design robots to take care of the elderly.

In the US and, the life expectancy rate has risen to 78 from 72 and continued to go higher, the problem of finding enough health care people to attend to the sick and infirmed older people will reach crisis point in 2020. We all know that the elderly requires more medical attention as compared to the younger set, but there has been no corresponding increase in the number of medical wards specializing in the taking care of the older patients. Other more glamorous industries also draw away people from entering the health industry. To compound the problem, the number of geriatricians specializing in treating older folks has actually declined considerably in the US, partly due to declining interest and partly to unattractive salaries. As elderly are being saddled with a lot more health problems as compared to the younger sets like heart, blood, lung, diabetic and bone joint diseases, doctors are finding it extremely challenging to administer the right dose of medication. Elderly patients have broken bone injuries sustained either from falling down or tripping while walking. When the elderly are immobilized you, they will need another person to help out, further exerting pressure on limited human helpers. The question arises when we are 64, who can we turn to for help? Governments don't seem to have an answer either!

We should take some proactive methods to alleviate these problems before the situation becomes acute. We should seek solutions that can help rectify the situation. Can we do anything on our part?

Yes, we all can. Let me focus on the issue of those elderly that due to some misfortune had landed them with broken bones (the elderly has brittle bones that can break easily, especially women) from a fall. Can you imagine how inconvenient it could be if you can't walk or move around? The solution is very simple and everyone can do it. Whilst you can, take up exercises like roller skating, inline skating or even ice skating in your younger ages. The main reason is that our medical doctors highly recommend it. And here are the other reasons.

* Effectively burns up calories.
* Doctors recommend it for strengthening the heart.
* Effectively exercises every part of the body.
* It gives less stress to bone joints.
* Leg and calf muscles are strengthened.
*A cool family get together plan.
* It enhances body balancing.

In order to reduce the tripping over, it is important to improve our body balancing skills. You see, when you begin to walk, you put one foot forward at a time. Now, suppose you trip on that foot, or some thing block that foot of yours, you can't find a landing with that foot. Unfortunately, the other foot of yours will begin to move forward autonomously and the next thing you know, you will fall because your first foot has not got a proper and stable landing.

Now, take a look at a guy doing regular roller skating movements. Unlike the normal stance, a roller skater has to widen the angle between his two legs and also having his legs slightly bent to stabilize himself on the rollers. Constant practices with such a leg stance will greatly improve body balancing skills, such that if one were to experience a trip, he will automatically move his legs to stabilize himself in split seconds. A skater will have experienced tripping himself on objects and holes often and would have learned how to get up righted. He will then have added skills in body balancing, which will be an advantage in later years. Understandably, a person putting in a little bit of exercise during younger days will be an insurance of not getting hurt and breaking bones when later. If more people have such balancing skills, the pressure on the younger generation to help take care of elders will not be that great! Is it not good reason enough to put on the roller skates now?