Losing ones balance prevents one from being independent. Luckily, balance is easily treated.

Good balance is the result of three healthy systems working together.

Our Eyes
Our Inner Ears
Our Joints

For the purpose of instruction, we will only consider our eyes and our joints because its here that we can effectively make a difference in our balance. Inner ear problems should be discussed with your doctor. Together, we can decide which one you have that is causing your balance problem.

Posture

First, we remember that balance must be addressed the same way we address back pain, by correcting the muscle imbalance between the front of our body and rear of our body. This will correct our posture. If we stand straight we have better balance. That’s good common sense. (refer to Services tab on home page)

Correct Bad Habits

After your posture has been addressed, we will begin a series of treatments that encourage you to change some bad habits. How many aging people do you see staring at the ground as they walk out of fear of falling. This is a dangerous habit that leads to falls and can be easily corrected. By making ourselves hold a better posture and holding our heads up we will begin using our eyes less and our hips, knees and ankles more.

Inside joints of our bodies there are little receptors, called somatosensory organs, that tell our brains much information about our position in space. For example, I can close my eyes and reach my arm behind my body. My brain knows exactly where my arm and hand are in space because of those receptors. Our hips and knees and ankles have those receptors that tell our brains much about our balance.

So, when we stare at the ground for balance our brains stop using those sensory organ’s information. Therefore, if something distracts our attention and we look away from the ground, we lose our balance. This is easily and quickly addressed in physical therapy by providing a safe opportunity to walk correctly. This recalibrates your brain to use your joints more and your eyes less for balance. A free consultation will be the first step toward much more information. Please refer to How To Become a Patient tab on our home page.