Gait Testing And Senior Balance Exercises

Daily Senior Balance Exercises Improve Gait

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

       Specific components that help improve gait for older adults include both gait testing and practicing senior balance exercises. Please see   http://www.exerciseforbalance.com/buy-now Healthcare professionals like physical therapists, doctors, nurses and care givers understand that aging individuals need both sides of the equation: testing for imbalance and rehearsing senior balance exercises to maximize  fall prevention. Medical researchers have found that in gait testing, right and left feet are evaluated separately for swing (step length) and clearance, and then compared. Each foot should completely clear the floor and should step completely ahead of the other foot. Comparison includes step symmetry and continuity. Additionally during walking, the path deviation, trunk stability, and stance (normal or wide-based) are evaluated. A score is determined for each section; the total score is the sum of the two sections. Points are lost to varying degrees for requiring assistance, using an aid (cane, walker, furniture), multiple attempts, staggering, asymmetry, sway, and deviation. At first, it seems inherently unfair to consistently subtract points for using an aid (cane, walker), which is used to prevent falls. However, considering that this test determines relative fall risk, and illuminates the potential etiology of this risk, it is understandable that the need for a walking aid demonstrates a patient already at increased risk. A score of 22 or less (total 28) indicates a patient at risk. The true value of this test to the practitioner, the healthcare team, and others is not in the numerical score but in the accompanying comments. These comments should list the individual items with deficiencies and the nature of the deficiencies. Tinetti isolates and tests each element of balance and gait, making it easier to create a differential diagnosis for each deficiency. This helps direct further evaluation to determine the etiology.  Once the etiology is identified, remedy, mitigation, and fall prevention can begin by embarking on a senior balance exercise program.

Key Factor For Stability: Senior Balance Exercises

      By performing senior balance exercises every day, medical researchers have shown that older adults can enhance their steadiness and limit their potential for a fall. Thankfully, now with the exercise for balance dvd there is an accessible home program to complete specific equilibrium routines developed by an experienced Physical Therapist. You can progress through basic stability exercises and advance to more difficult dynamic steadiness routines at your own pace and in the convenience and comfort of your own home. You do not have to worry about how to download a program from the internet onto your computer. You can load the DVD in your player and follow along with the equilibrium and strength exercises easily and simply. Consistent practice of stability exercises is the most effective way to advance balance abilities and minimize the risk of falling. get started today!

Senior Balance Exercises In The Exercise For Balance DVD

    For anyone who has difficulty with walking, please begin the best balance exercises with the Exercise For Balance DVD. The easy to follow Balance DVD is the perfect instructional DVD to use at home or in a group setting. The professionally filmed DVD complete with 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 playing tennis, dancing and hiking. In the Exercise For Balance DVD, you will learn how to improve stability, steadiness techniques and balance routines from a 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

   To improve stability with walking, start balance exercises today with the Exercise For Balance DVD to improve balance and prevent falls.
For more information see http://www.mayoclinic.com/health-information/