Freedom From Falls
- Do you feel like you are one fall away from a disaster?
- Are you having close calls and losing your balance?
- Do you have a history of falls and are worried about the next big one?
- Are you worried your friends and family will need to care for you if you are injured in a fall?
Freedom Rehab Aquatic Therapy & Balance Center has heard the calls of the community and we have rolled out our solution with our land-based balance program Freedom From Falls. Our Freedom From Falls Program is offered in our clinic and within our home-based Outpatient on Wheels program. It entails a cutting edge and scientifically backed balance training program that is designed to target the three balance centers of your body; your eyes, ears, and feet.
With the Freedom From Falls Program, you can…
- Stay home as long as you desire and age in place
- Stay out of the hospital and nursing home
- Give your friends and family peace of mind
- Restore your confidence and hope for a healthy future.
- Give you a stronger body, better balance and improved endurance for everyday activities.
When you are home safe and independent you can get back to the things you enjoy doing with strength and without fear!
The occurrence of falls in persons over the age of 65 is staggering…
- One in four Americans aged 65+ falls each year.
- Every 11 seconds, an older adult is treated in the emergency room for a fall; every 19 minutes, an older adult dies from a fall.
- Falls are the leading cause of fatal injury and the most common cause of nonfatal trauma-related hospital admissions among older adults.
- Falls result in more than 2.8 million injuries treated in emergency departments annually, including over 800,000 hospitalizations and more than 27,000 deaths.
- In 2015, the total cost of fall injuries was $50 billion. Medicare and Medicaid shouldered 75% of these costs.
- The financial toll for older adult falls is expected to increase as the population ages and may reach $67.7 billion by 2020.
Falls, with or without injury, also carry a heavy quality of life impact. A growing number of older adults fear falling and, as a result, limit their activities and social engagements. This can result in further physical decline, depression, social isolation, and feelings of helplessness.
What is Balance?
Balance is the ability to maintain the body’s center of mass over its base of support.1 A properly functioning balance system allows humans to see clearly while moving, identify orientation with respect to gravity, determine direction and speed of movement, and make automatic postural adjustments to maintain posture and stability in various conditions and activities.
Balance is achieved and maintained by a complex set of sensorimotor control systems that include sensory input from vision (sight), proprioception (touch), and the vestibular system (motion, equilibrium, spatial orientation); integration of that sensory input; and motor output to the eye and body muscles. Injury, disease, certain drugs, or the aging process can affect one or more of these components. In addition to the contribution of sensory information, there may also be psychological factors that impair our sense of balance. Freedom Rehab Aquatic Therapy & Balance Center Freedom From Falls Program addresses the three main balance centers of the body, sight, touch, and vestibular system.
The Freedom From Falls Program offers the following solutions:
- Improves balance, steadiness
- Reduces light headedness and dizziness
- Reduces the fear of falling
- Decreases pain associated with walking
- Increases independence with activities of daily living and makes your home environment safer
The Physical therapist will use a combination of hands on techniques, carefully supervised balance exercises and review home safety elements
The goal is to…
- Retrain and tune up the balance system
- Educate caregivers, patients and loved ones on home safety and home therapy
- Improve safety in walking to help make every step a safe and secure step.
Why do people have balance trouble and unsteady walking?
- Vestibular (inner ear problems)
- Stroke or brain injury
- Muscle weakness
- Joint stiffness and pain
- Decreased sensation in the feet (neuropathy)
- Eye disorders
- Blood pressure changes
- Certain medications
To learn more about our land-based balance program Freedom From Falls, contact Freedom Rehab Aquatic Therapy and Balance Center today!
