Best Tips to Avoid Injuries When Caring for the Elderly
When you started caring for your elderly loved one, you may not have thought about your own safety. You may have put a lot of thought into your aging loved one’s safety. Maybe, you thought about how safe they would be while taking a shower, going up and down the stairs, or being in public areas. However, now it is time to think about your own safety, so you can avoid injuries as the family caregiver. A professional caregiver can be a huge help to you and your senior.
Recognizing Your Limits and Stick to Them
It is quite surprising how crazy everyday caregiving responsibilities can be when helping out your elderly loved one. When you are assisting somene who has balance issues, for example, you may be bending and stretching in ways your body doesn’t want to move. This can cause you to pull a muscle or fall and get hurt. When you are helping your loved one get out of the shower by yourself, you could slip and fall. This may cause you to drop them and they could get hurt, too. It is important to recognize your limits when caring for your elderly loved one and stick with those limits. This means asking for help and possibly even getting your elderly loved one home care services.
Learn Proper Caregiving Practices
Many injuries in family caregivers happen due to transferring or lifting without realizing someone isn’t in the correct position to move. Some tips to keep in mind when you are transferring or lifting your elderly loved one include:
- Lifting with your legs and not with your back
- Listening to your body (if you feel pain, stop what you are doing and get help)
- Utilizing adaptive equipment to help with transferring or lifting
- If you aren’t sure you can continue to lift or transfer your elderly loved one, you may want to get companion care at home services for your
- elderly loved one. That way, they can have senior care providers helping with these things.
Getting the Help You Need
It is quite common for family caregivers to try handling everything with their elderly loved ones on their own. However, when you are taking care of your aging family member, it is vital that you are able to delegate some tasks, especially the ones that could cause you injury. Allowing other people, such as home care providers, to support you and your elderly loved one, can reduce both physical and mental stress on your body.
Conclusion
Do you take care of your elderly loved one? If so, have you thought about all the ways that your elderly loved one can get hurt? Maybe, you have, but have you thought about the different ways you could get injured while helping your aging family member? If not, hopefully, the information and tips that you read about here today can be just what you need to help you stay safe.
Contact our team today to book companion care at home and senior care services.
If you or someone you know needs a Caregiver in Spanish Fort, AL, please contact the friendly caregivers at Hughes Home Care. We provide quality and affordable care for your elderly loved ones in our community. Call Us Today at 251-517-9901. Serving Mobile & Baldwin County.
Sources
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK2665/
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