About

Find out more about Penny Sablove by clicking here.

CUSTOM DESIGNED THERAPEUTIC EXERCISE

Penny Sablove is a registered physical therapist who specializes in helping older adults to maintain optimal mobility.

At Maintaining Mobility, we conduct functional fitness evaluations in order to customize our programs for your needs and abilities, whether you plan to work with us privately or in a group format.  When we design programs for organizations, we will screen the prospective participants.

We start by learning about your goals, for yourself or for your organization – e.g. climb stairs better, walk longer, carry things, get up and down from the floor, etc.  Our evaluation will then focus on the component capacities of the goals you want to achieve, and design a therapeutic exercise program to get you there.

Step One – ASSESS Functional Fitness

We use functional fitness tests validated for older adults.  What is functional fitness?  It has a very specific meaning, and refers to levels of strength, endurance, flexibility, agility and balance required for independent living.  Some people may have very high scores in one or two areas, but what really matters is meeting the basic standard in each area.  These are the capacities that are included in evaluations:

• BALANCE
• STRENGTHENING AND FLEXIBILITY
• ENDURANCE
• AGILITY
• FINE MOTOR ABILITY

Step Two – DESIGN an Individualized Therapeutic Exercise Program

Based on the results of the functional fitness testing and any other important considerations, we design a program targeted to achieve your goals.  The emphasis of your program will be on building capacities in areas of need.  In those areas where your capacities are high, you will only need to do a little work to maintain those capacities.

Step Three – TRAINING in Performing Therapeutic Exercise

In order to get the full benefit, it will be important to perform the therapeutic exercise program accurately and safely.  We will work with you to achieve precision in the movements, and we will also teach you about the rationale for the exercises – how they relate to the capacities you need in order to achieve your goals.

Similarly, when we work with an organization, we can train your staff or help you recruit the qualified personnel you need.

Step Four – RE-ASSESS Functional Changes

We will set a date for re-testing of functional fitness, to see what has improved and what may still need work.  At this point, we may revise your exercise program for maintenance in some areas, and for further improvement in others.