We don’t think much about fine motor skills until we lose the ability to use them. For many elderly, it can be a slow process such as worsening arthritis or it can be a sudden change in health such as a stroke that takes away their ability to use their fine motor skills to remain independent and perform everyday tasks. A 24-hour home care provider can also help with some of the activities listed below by preparing the materials for your loved one or assisting them until they can do it on their own.
Consistency is Key to Improving Fine Motor Skills
To keep muscle strength where it should be, fine motor skills need to be practiced each day. This is true for normal aging, as well as for those seniors with arthritis or those recovering from a stroke. When recovering from a stroke, repeated movements help stimulate the brain, restoring function more quickly to affected areas.
As always, before your senior begins any plan, have him check with his primary physician to ensure all of these activities are safe for him to perform.
Six Activities that Can Build Fine Motor Skills.
Sort small items of multiple sizes. It might be a box of buttons and sorting them out by color or size. It could be coins and sorting them based on value. Sorting improves the pincer grasp of the thumb and forefinger or middle finger.
Shuffle a deck of cards. Shuffling requires some serious coordination. Both hands need to be in unison as they grip, separate, and release the cards into one combined pile of cards.
Put together a puzzle. Those small puzzle pieces can work fine motor skills as your loved one picks them up and then twists them into the correct position to place into the puzzle.
Fold paper. Whether it’s being creative and making beautiful origami animals and flowers or simply taking an 8.5 x 11 piece of plain paper and folding it down as small as possible with all of the edges lining up, folding paper can be a great exercise for your loved one’s hands.
Learn to play an instrument or pick up that old instrument and play it again. From tapping the keys on a piano to strumming chords on a guitar, many techniques to play an instrument require fine motor skills.
Make some jewelry. Threading beads onto a cord or string can be a great exercise for motor skills. Choose the right size beads for your loved one to practice with and improve her pincer abilities as well as her grasping skills.
24-Hour Home Care can Cover the Gap until Fine Motor Skills Improve
If your loved one has limited fine motor skills that restrict his ability to live independently, it may take a while of physical therapy as well as daily exercises until he can regain his muscle strength. A team of 24-hour home care providers can help him bridge that gap while remaining independent by being at home with him and helping him with daily tasks that may be too difficult at this time.
A 24-hour home care provider can help him with grooming responsibilities, preparing meals, and any home chores that he cannot complete on his own.
If you or an aging loved one are considering 24-Hour Home Care Services in Lexington OH, please contact the caring staff at Central Star Home Health today. Call 419-756-9449
Central Star Home Health is a Trusted Home Care Agency in Ohio including Ashland, Bellville, Bucyrus, Crestline, Galion, Lexington, Mansfield, Marion, Mt. Vernon, Ontario, Shelby, and Willard.
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