CSII - Community Seniors

Otago Exercise Program (OEP) in Bali. An Intergenerational Activity to Interact and Share the Smile: CSII Project

On Wednesday, February 23, 2022, as we are running the Community: Seniors Involved – International” (CSII) project, we gave the Otago Exercise Program (OEP) to the seniors or elder in Banjar Tandeg, Tibubeneng Village, North Kuta District, Badung Regency, Bali. The Otago Exercise Program is an exercise with simple movements and designed with the aim to reduce the risk of falls in the elderly. This exercise is important for senior citizens because it will help them to balance and strengthen their steps.

Act global with the help of Mellynia Putri, a young person from Bali and currently studying physiotherapy at the University of Dhyana Pura, Bali .in line with her education, Mellynia has a concern with the elderly wellness, with CSII activities involving senior citizens, Mellynia is very enthusiastic in participating in activities held by CSII and will guide this senior to do OEP and it should be a great example of how simple intergenerational activity can be done.

Three seniors agreed to join this activity, Mrs. Ni Wayan Rengkih who is 75 years old, Mrs. Gede Putra who is 70 years old, and Mrs. Wayan Edi who is 72 years old. Otago Exercise itself is carried out in simple steps or sequences, here are the steps of this OEP:

1. Warm-up is to prepare the elderly body so they do not get injured during the exercise and also aims to maintain the flexibility of the elderly.
2. Balance aims to optimize and improve the steadiness of the elderly, and it will make it easier to carry out functional movements and not easily fall when they are moving.
3. Strengthening aims to maintain healthy bones and muscles so that they can walk and perform daily activities independently.
4. Cooling Down is an easy exercise, done after a more intense OEP, this will allow the elder body to gradually transition to a resting or near-resting state. to return the heart rate and breathing back to normal, and help reduce the buildup of lactic acid in the muscles after exercise.
5. Walking, after all those series of steps, the final activity is the elder can do the walking to optimize the ability to walk and maintain the physical fitness of the elderly.

That is all the sequences and steps on how to do the OEP. And we are so happy because we found that the elderly are so happy with this exercise program, They think the movements of this exercise are simple and easy to remember and with this activity, it has taught me many things, such as the elderly really need a platform for them to gather with their peers so that they do not feel lonely and happiness for seniors can be created by which is simple lies in an interaction that we do as young people. They said,

“We senior citizens really enjoy interacting with young people, because seeing the energy of youth we immediately forget that we are old, and that is very fun.”

And for Act Global and Mellynia as the instructor, we learnt so much about new things. This exercise makes us realize how lonely the elder can be and it is so important that they have a platform to share their feelings together. The pandemic situation even makes it worse. Therefore, this kind of exercise is important for their physical and psychological condition.

As we mentioned above, this activity is part of the project of Community: Seniors Involved – International (CSII) run by Act Global. This project aims to create a special program where older people work with young people (or young people participate in activities in senior citizen centers). In this way, there will be an intergenerational talk between young people and senior citizens. Young people will understand how seniors live, seniors will know how different people’s lives are now and in the past, and we can exchange stories and give each other advice.

To understand it better, the elderly is a time when a person experiences a gradual decline in physical, mental, and social well-being. The percentage of the elderly population in Indonesia has doubled compared to before. In 2020, the percentage of the elderly reached 9.92 percent or around 26.82 million people according to the Central Statistics Agency. Associated with decreased physical function. Decreased muscle function and strength, will result in a decrease in the ability to maintain body balance and the risk of falling in the elderly will increase. Balance is the body’s ability to maintain the center of mass of the body by maintaining a limit of stability so as not to fall. Physiotherapy can play a role by providing exercises that will improve balance in the elderly so that the quality of life of the elderly will be good and they can enjoy life.

Written and Edited by: Mellynia and Harun