Losing your balance can lead to serious consequences if you’re older. For instance, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that one-fifth of all falls seniors have result in a broken bone or head injury. If you want to avoid becoming part of statistics like this, you should check out balance training for seniors. This type of physical therapy is intended to help seniors deal with several balance issues, including gait, muscle weakness and reflexes.
- Gait
Your gait is the way that your legs and feet move when you walk or run. If you have problems with gait, it can make you more unstable and more likely to lose your balance. Balance training for seniors can help you deal with joint issues that are affecting your gait. It can also focus on treating issues with your feet that are making your steps unstable, and this includes problems like plantar fasciitis.
- Muscle weakness
Muscle weakness in the legs, hips and core can make it much harder to feel balanced when you’re walking or standing. Weakness in these muscles can be the result of a lack of movement. For example, you may spend much of your time sitting because you believe this can help reduce the pain of arthritis and other issues. However, not moving can actually have the opposite effect. It can make your joints more painful and cause your muscles to weaken, too. Physical therapists can use balance training for seniors to help you get moving again. Not only can this help improve your balance, it can also help decrease your pain and help strengthen vital balance muscles.
- Reflexes
A third issue that balance training for seniors can focus on is poor reflexes. Reflexes are movements your body performs in response to an outside stimulus. For example, your brain can move your hands and feet to stabilize you when you feel unbalanced. In many cases, you don’t have to think about such reflexes; your body does them automatically. However, stiff joints, weak muscles and gait issues can all slow down your body’s reflexes, and this can make it harder for you to balance yourself with confidence. It can also increase your likelihood of falling and injuring yourself. By helping seniors work on issues that affect reflexes, balance training can also lead to better reflexes. In turn, this can help you regain your confidence when moving and may help prevent future falls.
Find balance training for seniors at Excel Sports & Physical Therapy
At Excel Sports & Physical Therapy, we offer balance training and many other services that can benefit seniors. We provide our patients with free screening to pinpoint the issues that are affecting their balance. Our team uses this data to create personalized treatment plans to meet your needs, and your plan may include therapy techniques such as:
- Manual therapy
- Balance training
- Joint mobilization
- Trigger point therapy
Take the next step to start getting our help with your balance issues. Contact our team today for more information or to schedule an initial appointment.
