How to Care for a Loved One With Mobility Issues

Pay attention to diet. Dehydration can lead to weakness, so make sure your loved one stays hydrated and limits their alcohol use.

If your loved one’s vitamin D level is low, the doctor might encourage taking vitamin D every day. Or to improve bone density, a suggestion might include eating more calcium-rich foods, such as milk and yogurt.

How to prevent loss of mobility

“The best and most robust data that we have is that even increasing your physical activity a small amount every day can really have very powerful effects on older people’s physical function and also prevent them from becoming disabled,” says Roger Fielding, a senior scientist with the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University.

It’s never too late to start exercising, says Fielding, who studies how skeletal muscle mass functions as people age.

“Even trying to walk 10 to 15 minutes, just at a comfortable pace, every day seems to help prevent mobility decline,” he says.

Add strength training. Your local senior center or YMCA might offer classes like resistance exercise or strength training.

“The biggest thing we know is that even in very old people, the capacity of your muscles, your skeletal muscle, to adapt and respond to exercise, it doesn’t appear to be lost,” Fielding says.

Try tai chi. “They’ve ... done studies on what kinds of exercises help, and the number one exercise is tai chi,” says Suzanne Salamon, associate chief of geriatric medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. “And a lot of senior centers have tai chi classes. It builds up your muscle, and it helps balance.”

Exercises that boost leg strength and balance are effective in helping prevent falls in older adults, confirms a 2024 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Use it or lose it. Whatever you do, keep moving, Caruso says. “Stay as active as possible, whatever that means for you. If that means taking a walk down your hallway three times a day and back, or if that means going out to a gym and working on cardio machines — whatever that means for you to maintain your level of functioning, stay active.”

Getty Images

Try a device. If your loved one already has mobility problems and function can’t be restored, it’s time to talk about using a cane or walker, Reuben says. It can be a difficult discussion.

“These are big psychological issues,” he says. “We’re used to being on two legs. There’s an old, very famous riddle from ancient times: What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon and three legs at night? And it’s man: All fours as a child, two feet as an adult, and with a cane as an elderly person.

“What I frequently try to do,” he continues, “is frame it with patients [that] the purpose of these is to keep you out, keep you active, keep you mobile, but doing so safely.”

Make it fashionable. If the idea of a cane is a hard sell, you can appeal to your loved one’s sense of style.

“It’s starting to be fashionable now to use walking sticks, the kind you use for hiking,” Salamon says. “And you can use either one or two, just like the hikers do. And I’ve had a few, not a lot, but a few patients who kind of perked up at the idea of using a walking stick instead of a cane. Somehow, it doesn’t have the same connotation.”

Consider a walker. Medicare covers medical equipment, including walkers. Modern walkers are both more attractive and more stable than older varieties, Salamon says. Some come with seats and baskets, four wheels and even hand brakes.

Make modifications at home to lessen the chance of a fall

You can make things safer around the house by getting rid of clutter and taking other precautions. For example:

• Remove tripping hazards from the stairs.
• Repair loose railings.
• Remove or secure loose rugs.
• Add task lighting.
• Put a nightlight in the bathroom, and keep the floor dry.

“My mother and father were very smart,” says Hallisey. “They took out the tub and put in a walk-in shower with a bench years ago. They put up grab bars. I put up a higher toilet because she was struggling even with the grab bars. We did a lot more task lighting.”

Remote control. “One of the best things I ever did was buy [my mother] an Alexa because we have smart plug-ins. She can turn things on and off at will,” says Hallisey.

Get a medical alert system. Salamon tells her patients that their best insurance may be to get a medical alert device that they can wear on their wrist or around their neck.

The devices are waterproof, so they even work in the shower. And if the wearer falls, the person can at least call for help. They come with a monthly fee, but “it’s extremely reassuring,” Salamon says.

Smart tools. There are new devices on the market that can help your loved one stay safe at home. And if they use a smartphone or tablet, there are medical alert apps available for both Apple and Android devices. They often have additional features, such as fall detection and GPS tracking.

In case your loved one does fall and their device isn’t within reach, teach them a few safe ways to get up from a fall.

Don’t be afraid to use scare tactics. If other approaches aren’t working, Salamon isn’t afraid of using scare tactics with her patients, who range in age from 65 to 104.

“I say, ‘Don’t you know anybody that’s broken a hip?’ And they almost always do. And, you know, it can be really devastating.”

So she appeals to their desire to say on the safe side.

“Most people, even if they’re 90 on the outside, they’re 40 on the inside, and they like to think of themselves that way,” Salamon says. “I think all of us think that we’re younger than we actually are. So I just try to appeal to their staying independent more than anything else.”

Editor’s note: This article has been updated with recent studies.