Do Senior Balance Exercises Help The Visually Impaired?

Senior Balance Exercises For Those With Low Vision

By Suzanne Stoke, Physical Therapist @ Exercise For Balance via www.exerciseforbalance.com

       As people age, their vision and stability declines and performing senior balance exercises becomes more critical with each passing year. Please see  http://www.exerciseforbalance.com/buy-now Rehearsing equilibrium exercises can benefit older indivuals who have decreased visual capacity. Since part of a person's ability to see well revolves around having the capacity to stabilize the object they are looking at on the retina of the eye, then having good steadiness is essential for good vision. When a person has a combination of reduced balance and poor vision, they lack gaze stabilization. Lacking gaze stabilization means that whatever they are looking at seems to jump around and be out of focus. Furthermore, steadiness exercises have been demonstrated to help individuals improve balance and keep from falling as they age past 60 years old. In general, equilibrium exercises assist seniors to stay active and involved in their community.   Senior balance exercises can enable folks with musculoskeletal problems like back pain, hip and knee replacements and numbness in the feet maximize their balance abilities and keep going with daily living activities . Recently, steadiness exercises have been looked at by researchers to see if there is a correlation between balance problems and impairments with vision and hearing.

Senior Balance Exercises Help With Visual Impairments

     Medical researchers have proven that performing senior balance exercises on a regular basis can assist in improving balance abilities. To be specific, equilibrium exercises and balance problems have been investigated in the population of those with hearing and visual impairments.  Gerson L.W., Jarjoura D. and McCord G. in their study, Risk of imbalance in elderly people with impaired hearing or vision, uncovered some interesting statistics about balance exercises, balance problems and issues with hearing and vision.  The effect of impaired hearing and vision on balance in a sample of 977 elderly people residing in the community was evaluated. Of the sample, 21% reported balance problems, 27% vision problems, and 30% hearing problems. The increased relative risk for balance problems was 1.7 for each 10-year age increment. Women were 1.7 times more likely to report balance problems than were men. The relative risk of imbalance with impaired vision decreased with age from 2.8 in those aged 65-69 years to 1.0 in those over 85 years. There was no age-hearing interaction, the relative risk for impaired hearing is 1.6. It appears that impaired vision and hearing are important risk factors for imbalance and perhaps falls and injury. Consequently, older adults who also struggle with hearing or visual problems would be great candidates for stability exercises. Now you can practice senior balance exercises in the comfort of your own home with the Exercise For Balance DVD, developed by an experienced Physical Therapist.

Balance Exercises In The Exercise For Balance DVD

    If you have decreased vision, please begin  the best balance exercises with the Exercise For Balance DVD. The Balance DVD is an exceptional educational program to use at home or in a group setting. The professionally filmed DVD comes filled with all the best balance and strength exercises needed to enhance senior fitness and to perform basic activities like walking, standing, cleaning house, stair climbing or to advance to high level activities like dancing, riding a bike and hiking. In the Exercise For Balance DVD, you will learn how to improve balance, balance techniques and balance routines from a balance instructor ---licensed Physical Therapist--- who has worked with balance and dizziness disorders for over 20 years. Get your copy of the Exercise For Balance DVD by clicking on the BUY NOW button

     For those with diminished vision, start balance exercises today with the Exercise For Balance DVD to improve balance and prevent falls.
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