Staying on Your Feet:
How to Keep Your Balance and Prevent Falls
- More than one third of older adults fall each year and fall rates increase with advancing age.
- Falls are the leading cause of injury deaths, the most common cause of non-fatal injuries, and the most common reason for hospital admission due to trauma in older adults.
- 20-30% of people who fall suffer moderate to severe injuries such as lacerations, hip fractures, or head traumas.
- Falls are the most common cause of traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and more than 95% of hip fractures are caused by falls.
- Many people, who fall, even if they are not injured, develop a fear of falling. This fear may cause them to limit their activity, which in turn increases their actual risk of falling.
Risk Factors
- Muscle Weakness
- History of Falls
- Gait Deficit
- Balance Deficit
- Use of Assistive Device
- Visual Deficit
- Neurologic Deficit
- Multiple Medications
- Impaired ADL’s
- Depression
- Cognitive Impairment
- Arthritis
Balance Rehabilitation at Bird Physical Therapy
- Balance Retraining: Controlling center of gravity (COG) over base of support (BOS). Challenge regulation of balance and postural stability specifically engaging visual, vestibular, somatosensory and cognitive systems. Elicit postural reactions and ankle, hip and step strategies by altering stimuli, surfaces, and secondary tasks to mimic functional activities, resistance, direction, and velocity of movement.
- Exercises: Concentrate on strengthening legs, especially the ankle, and trunk/core musculature affecting motor control. Reduce joint pain/instability, and correct postural defaults
- Gait Training: Appropriate and accurately adjusted assistive devices. Challenge and advance with changes in surfaces/terrain, elevation, time/rhythm, distance, physical load, attention, postural transition, and amount of support.
New Patients!
Please download, print and complete the forms below before your first visit.