At FYZICAL Therapy & Balance Centers, fall prevention is the cornerstone of our mission; “Balance” is part of our name after all! September 22nd is National Falls Prevention Awareness Day, and every year we bring focus to this very important topic through our “Fight the Fall!” initiative throughout the whole month of September.
We are offering Fall Risk Screenings to identify individuals of all ages and conditions who may be at risk of falling. To set up your free screening, call your nearest FYZICAL Therapy & Balance Centers location to request an appointment today! Starting September 1st, 2023, we will be offering free Fall Risk Screenings all year round.
Falling is not an inevitable result of aging, and there are steps you can take to improve your balance and decrease the chances of falling. Keep in mind, early intervention is key. By identifying risk, future injuries can be prevented. Our skilled physical therapists will create a program specifically tailored to your needs, so you can begin your quest to regain your footing, your confidence, and your freedom.
Together we can Fight the Fall!
Important Fall Risk & Prevention Knowledge
Just about everyone has experienced a fall at some point after losing their balance or tripping over an object. Over 1 of every 4 individuals over the age of 65 fall each year. That’s over 25% or 14 million individuals. Falls are not talked about as frequently as they should be, and aren’t given as much caution and prevention either. Although common, falls can be dangerous and lead to many types of injuries, some of them long-term or even fatal. Fortunately, the most common causes of falling are also preventable.
Causes of Falls
Falling occurs because the body’s balance has been disrupted through the person’s sensory and/or motor systems. A person’s body can maintain balance because the brain receives and interprets information from several different types of senses:
- Vision (from the eyes), which helps orient you to your environment.
- Somatosensory/Proprioception or joint position sense (from your joints and muscles, telling your brain where your body is in space).
- The vestibular system (from the inner ear) senses motion, equilibrium, and the position of the head.
Based on these inputs, the brain sends information to different muscles of the body to help maintain balance. Sometimes, the muscles themselves can be weak, leading to a condition called Musculoskeletal Balance Disorder (MSBD®). For example, have you ever gotten off a treadmill, boat, or out of a moving car only to feel like you are still moving? This can be due to a sensory conflict and even muscle weakness leading to a dysfunction in balance.
Most of the time, the brain can correct conflicting information to keep a person steady on their feet. Occasionally, however, a person may become off-balance and fall.
Falling is both common and dangerous.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) reports that:
- More than 3 million older people are injured in falls and receive treatment in emergency departments each year.
- At least 300,000 older people are hospitalized for hip fractures each year. Of these hip fractures, 95 percent are caused by falling.
- Falls are the most common cause of traumatic brain injuries.
- Medical costs for falls in 2015 were more than $50 billion, with Medicare and Medicaid taking on 75 percent of these costs.
- A person who falls once becomes more likely to fall again, especially at an older age.
- People who have fallen in the past tend to become fearful of another fall, which can make them socially withdrawn.
Physical Therapy and How It Helps Prevent Falls
Improving your walking skills — technically known as your “gait” — and your balance are interrelated challenges. At FYZICAL Therapy & Balance Centers, we help you master these skills to decrease your risk of injury, while also increasing your confidence and independence.
Balance and gait are linked, and they tend to impact one another. Therapy that improves gait and balance works to help keep the body’s different balance and movement systems functioning in harmony.
Our physical therapists will also help strength your abdomen and lower extremities (i.e. your legs) as they both play very important roles in balance. Keeping up with your health and muscle conditioning is for everyone. Exercise plays a major role in overall health, but staying active does wonders for your balance as well as maintaining good core and leg musculature.
What happens in balance and gait training?
First, we’ll evaluate your gait to determine potential problems with strength and posture. Simple movements to test balance are also part of the screening. Together, these basic evaluations help us know what to focus on in terms of therapy.
Hip and ankle weakness often leads to balance problems, as does poor posture. Strength and flexibility exercises can help counteract these problems. These are often as simple as leg lifts while seated in a chair, or “knee marching.” We may also practice standing on one leg, walking heel-to-toe, or visual tracking exercises like following an object with just your eyes and keeping your head still.
The team at FYZICAL Therapy & Balance Centers knows how important balance and walking are for independent living, as well as for work activities, exercise, sports, and enjoying life in general.
We offer the following programs and therapies to help reduce the risk of falls:
- Assessment and Evaluation Programs
- Gait Training and Balance Programs
- Fall Prevention and Balance Retraining
- Manual Therapy
- Fitness and Wellness Programs
- Vestibular Rehab
- Functional Training
If you, or someone you know, has been struggling with balance, give us a call for a Free Fall Risk Assessment. After determining your risk, we can move forward with Physical Therapy and get you back to the activities you love. Life is worth Loving, so get yours back today, along with your independence.
Give us a call at 806-785-7900 to set up your appointment today!