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You cannot force him to do physical therapy, so leave him alone, that's my suggestion. Remain on good terms with your dad at this time in his life and avoid the fights by suggesting he do things "for his own good". At 93, he's probably tired and in no mood to do what he's in no mood to do. My mother is 94.5 and a huge "fall risk" having taken 77 falls over the past 4 years or so, the most recent one tonight. No matter how much I bugged her, she insisted she "didn't believe in exercise" and fought off PT fiercely, so she went into a wheelchair fulltime in June of 2019. She still falls...37x since becoming wheelchair bound, so there's nothing anyone can do about it but keep sending in the team to pick her up. I quit talking to her about exercises and PT a while ago and leave all those decisions up to her. It's her life, after all, as wretched as it's become. Sigh.

All we can do is be there for them. It never feels like quite "enough" either, but we have to remember they get to make their own decisions, too, good bad or indifferent. It's not worth fighting with your dad because you'll lose this battle ANYWAY, as will I.
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againx100 Aug 2021
How challenging. I have backed waaay off on pushing my mom to be active but just can't keep from bringing it up at times. She does maybe 1/10th of what she should. The less she does, the less she can do, the more pain she is in, etc. Hard because she lives with me and it becomes a "the less YOU do, the more I have to do" which leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. Oh well......
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My mom is crabby about PT also. Very annoying since obviously the more they move, the better. She just doesn't seem to give a hoot. How often does he get PT? I like the other post about making a game out of it. "Dancing", if he likes music? Playing catch. Kicking a ball. I bet there are websites talking about how to make movement more fun!
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My mother's nursing home got my mother to participate in hitting a balloon back and forth. She would never do anything deemed to be actual exercise, but for some reason this one activity she would do.
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LittleOrchid Aug 2021
So true! Exercise is a chore, but games are for fun! It is really difficult for the overworked caregivers to invent activities disguised as games, but they are so much more effective!
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