Residents at Balhousie Pitlochry have been keeping fit from their armchairs by participating in a series of exercise sessions run by students from the University of the Highlands and Islands in Perth.
The second year students, all studying for a BSC Hons in Sport & Fitness, have been visiting the care home every Monday to run a range of indoor activities designed to help residents with mobility and maintaining as much independence as possible.
A typical session has included chair exercises which involve simple functional movements to improve mobility, stretching exercises to improve movement and low intensity aerobic movements to music.
The link up with students at UHI was organised by Balhousie Pitlochry Activities Coordinator, Pavlina Pajorova who graduated from the same course last year. Pavlina said:
“I’m delighted to have been able to work with students from UHI to help our residents’ improve their mobility and offer them an activity which gets them really exercising in a fun and relaxed environment. The sessions have proved to be a big hit and the residents have enjoyed participating as well as meeting and spending time with the students every week.”
The students are recording the residents’ progress week-to-week with the hope of seeing a measurable improvement in their mobility after several weeks of the exercise sessions.
Here’s some videos of the residents in action:
