Maintaining balance and mobility is essential to aging successfully. In addition to making it possible to perform basic activities of daily living such as rising from a chair, getting in and out of a car or climbing a flight of stairs, good balance forms the foundation on which a healthy and active lifestyle is built.
There are many reasons that can cause a loss of balance and mobility, from taking a new medication, having low blood pressure, dizziness, dehydration, muscle weakness, poor hip mobility, poor posture and poor core stability, poor hearing, reduced vision, and reduced sensation in the feet, as well as reduced joint range of motion. You can see that balance and all its possible impairments is different for each person since health and medical status, medication and dosage, muscle strength, posture, joint range of motion, etc., is different for each individual. There is also a strong association with impaired balance and mobility with a greater risk for falling. I addition, low bone bone density or osteoporosis can affect fracture risk and severity of injury.
Balance often fluctuates daily, for example, a poor night sleep can affect your balance and increase fall risk. Balance generally deteriorates to an extent over a lifespan due to age-, physical inactivity- and disease-related changes in function.
Pre-exercise screening and fall-risk screening can identify possible impairments or weaknesses. These are risk factors for falling which allows the balance and mobility specialist to develop a physical activity plan and /or exercise program to begin to address the specific impairments that affect balance and mobility. Balance exercises are most successful when they target the specific impairment or weakness.
We develop tailored balance and mobility exercise programs for the older adult who is just beginning to notice or has experienced a change in balance or has increasing balance problems, may have had a Near-Fall, or experienced a fall with or without injury, and tailored exercise programs for the client who has moderate to severe decreases in strength and balance due to multiple risk factors for falling and is using an assertive device such as a cane or walker.
Remember that falls prevention is cheaper than treatment.
Question:
Are you at risk for losing balance?
Have you experienced a stumble, trip, slip, a fall or near fall with or without injury?
Do you have difficulty walking or trouble navigating through the home?
Are you holding onto the furniture while walking through your home?
Are you experiencing dizziness when getting up from bed or chair, dizziness while turning, have stiff muscles or joints?
Are you or a loved one avoiding activities because of a fear of falling and being embarrassed when losing balance?
Do you need additional training in appropriate use of a cane or walker?
Even minor changes in strength, posture, ankle range of motion, changes in vision, reaction time can make a little stumble lead to a fall-related injury and can cause a wrist-, shoulder-, or hip-fracture, cuts, scrapes and bruises or more.
Yes answers to any of these question indicates that you may benefit from balance and mobility exercises that target your specific balance impairment. Give us a call to get started and let our balance and mobility specialists help you be balanced .