Why it’s harder to stand up as you age

Flexibility may be the most important physical quality when it comes to accomplishing day-to-day activities. As we age, our bodies tend to get less flexible. Movement becomes stiff and restricted. Our muscle mass also reduces, especially muscles such as the quadriceps (around the front of your thighs), hip flexors, glutes & hamstrings which are all needed to help us stand up from a chair. Muscles need to be stimulated by physical activity in order to maintain strength and mass.

There are lots of reasons why standing up gets harder as we age. One of the reasons is the loss of muscle strength and function tendons getting tighter around the joints. The cartilage between our joints deteriorates, and there is a “reduction in synovial fluid within the joints.”

Bones, are a living tissue which act as a frame, carrying body weight when standing, sitting, or moving. Specifically, long bones in the legs and the spine (vertebrae) are crucial for bearing this weight.

That’s why it’s important to apply stressors on our bones and muscles.

These stressors can be:

Weight-bearing exercises
Activities where you are on your feet, working against gravity (e.g., walking, jogging, dancing, jumping, climbing stairs).

Resistance/Strength Training
Using weights, bands, or machines to create tension on the bones.

Impact
High-impact activities (like jumping) or, in some cases, high-intensity, controlled, and short-duration, high-force, low-impact loading, are most effective for improving bone mineral density.

Movement: Walking, gardening, household chores, bending, reaching,

Our diets also play an important in our movement and mobility; particularly when it comes to nutrients like protein, amino acids which builds muscles, and calcium and vitamin D, which helps with bone density.

So yes, you definitely get less flexible with age and it’s harder to stand up and move, but there are things that you can do to maintain both your muscle strength, flexibility and bone mass both through exercise and diet. The most important action we can take is to move, and be conscious of our eating habits on a consistent basis. If my Mam at 94 can do this, so can you.

Research Links

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9445096/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3010667/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10303436/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37764784/