Every week she adds a few more exercises that you can add to your programme. Incorporate them into your daily routine and feel the difference!
Fine motor skills refer to the ability to make small accurate movements with the small muscle groups of the hands, wrists, fingers, feet, lips and tongue. Motor skills are actions that refer to the movement of the muscles in the body. Gross motor skills are the large movements of the legs, arms or the entire body such as crawling, running and jumping. Fine motor skills are smaller movements such as grasping, writing, drawing and playing a musical instrument.
Fine motor skills can be affected by disorders such as a stroke, Parkinsons disease, osteoarthritis, tremors, slowed movements and ataxia causing poor coordination.
When fine motor control slows down with time, senior adults often just learn to get buy without using specific fine motor movements. By relying on the remaining limbs to do the required activities fine motor skills in the elderly can deteriorate rapidly.
Do these basic movements to improve motor skills.
Ball trace: Make a figure 8 on the floor using tape. Use the feet to trace the ball all along the figure. Repeat 5 times with each foot.
Ball tension: Use a tennis ball. Grip the ball with both hands by placing pressure on the ball from the sides to squeeze it between the fingers. Move the ball from between the two index fingers to between the two middle fingers and then to between the two ring fingers and finally to between the two pinky finders. Move the ball back the same way. Repeat 5 times in each direction.
Ball roll: Place the ball on top of the hand. Roll the ball from the one hand to the next. Keep rota-ting the hands so that the empty hand goes in front of the hand with the ball. Keep rotating for 60 seconds. Speed up the rotation when you are familiar with the movement.
