AN 81-year-old gran from Paisley who suffered a string of serious falls says special training has changed her life.

Mary Findlay says a five-week class, run by Glasgow Caledonian University researcher Shane Seeley and the Roar charity, helped her avoid disaster when she fell recently.

Alone in her garden, she toppled backwards into the mud from a box she uses while weeding, but managed to roll herself over to a sturdy plant pot and pull herself up off the ground to safety.

“Months before I did the floor-rise training I was quite immobile,” said Mary. “My legs were pretty bad and I had had quite a few serious falls where I ended up in hospital.

“I can honestly say that the training has changed my life. My daughter, who is a yoga teacher, said the difference in me is like night and day.”

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She added: “I don’t think I would have had the confidence or strength to pull myself up off the ground if the fall in the garden had happened before I had the training.

“I feel like a different woman and it’s all thanks to Shane and Roar. I would urge others to do falls prevention exercise and practise getting up off the floor.”

Shane, who is a physiotherapy researcher in GCU’s School of Health and Life Sciences’ Research Centre for Health (ReaCH) Ageing Well group, has been exploring the effectiveness of the floor-rise exercises for older people, in partnership with Roar, with the hope that it will be rolled out across Scotland.

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Shane, who is also a personal trainer, said: “Mary is an amazing woman and the floor-raise exercises gave her the confidence to get up off the ground when she fell in her garden.

“As part of my study, I ran a five-week class with older people where they practised getting up and down off of the floor. At the end, the group was better able to independently rise from the floor and confidence to complete this task was also significantly improved.

“This is important as when older adults fall and cannot rise for over an hour, there are many harmful physical and psychological consequences.

“Also, the cost of NHS ambulance crews picking older adults off the floor following a fall when they do not require any further medical assistance was £75.5 million in 2012 and that figure is rising each year.”

Shane shared his top tips for getting up after a fall in a self-help video for older people  which is available on YouTube.

Roar-Connections for Life is based in Paisley. Its aim is to empower older adults to stay resilient, socially connected and physically active.

Roar CEO Cassie Forbes said: “Floor-rise training can literally save your life. We encourage everyone to participate in this training and to regularly carry our strength and balance exercises and practise getting up off the floor.”