As we age, our ability to maintain balance decreases, thereby increasing the risk for falls, injuries and even disability.

Poor balance can result from decreased muscle and joint flexibility and strength, reduced core muscle stability, visual defects or inner ear dysfunction. Other health conditions and medications can also affect our balance and ability to prevent falling. For many healthy older people, the loss of balance is simply due to disuse due to a period of inactivity, and can be helped with home exercises to retrain strength and balance reactions.

When a younger adult falls, their bones might withstand the occasional tumble. However, in older adults who may have other pre-existing medical concerns such as osteopenia and osteoporosis (conditions which cause a weakening of the bone structure), the risk for fracture, disability and reduced independence is much greater.

A single fall can have many long term implications:

– hospitalization and even death
– decreased mobility and the ability to perform every day tasks
– changes in living arrangements
– changes in social and community participation
– expenses related to the above

At Go! Physiotherapy, we focus on preventing falls and helping you to maintain your independence and quality of life. We assess your joints and muscles by using the Berg Balance Scale, a special evaluation tool, to predict the risk of falls.

You will be given strength and balance exercises to do safely at home and be provided with many valuable tips to assist you to prevent falling. You’ll then be invited to come back for follow-up re-assessment and review. You will be surprised at the degree of improvement in your balance that you can achieve with simple training exercises!

Vestibular rehabilitation: Within the inner ear, there is an organ which controls balance reactions to the movements that we undertake daily. Any disruption to the function of this organ can result in dizziness and sometimes altered hearing capacity too. There are many causes of inner ear disruption such as viral or bacterial infection, Meniere’s disease or circulatory disorders. Manual therapy, specialized exercise (to co-ordinate how the inner ear is influenced by the upper neck and eyes), gait, balance and postural muscle re-training can help resolve this condition.

Call us at 604 568 4628 for more information on any of our physiotherapy services. Even if you don’t see a treatment on the list, give us a ring and we’ll be glad to point you in the right direction!