Balance Training
Since balance is a key predictor of recovery and is required in so many of our activities of daily living, it is often introduced into treatment plans by physiotherapists and occupational therapists when dealing with geriatrics, patients with neurological conditions, or others whom they have determined it to be beneficial.
Balance training in stroke patients has been supported in the literature. Methods commonly used and proven to be effective for this population include sitting or standing balance practice with various progressions including reaching, variations in base of support, use of tilt boards, gait training varying speed, and stair climbing exercises. The type of training should be determined by a physiotherapist and will depend on the nature and severity of the stroke, stage of recovery, and the patient’s abilities and impairments after the stroke.
Populations such as the elderly, children with neuromuscular diseases, and those with motor deficits such as chronic ankle instability have all been studied and balance training has been shown to result in improvements in postural sway and improved “one-legged stance balance” in these groups. The effects of balance training can be measured by more varied means, but typical quantitative outcomes are centre of pressure (COP), postural sway, and static/dynamic balance, which are measured by the subject’s ability to maintain a set body position while undergoing some type of instability.
Read more about this topic: Balance (ability)
Famous quotes containing the words balance and/or training:
“Both the man of science and the man of art live always at the edge of mystery, surrounded by it. Both, as a measure of their creation, have always had to do with the harmonization of what is new with what is familiar, with the balance between novelty and synthesis, with the struggle to make partial order in total chaos.... This cannot be an easy life.”
—J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904–1967)
“The area [of toilet training] is one where a child really does possess the power to defy. Strong pressure leads to a powerful struggle. The issue then is not toilet training but who holds the reins—mother or child? And the child has most of the ammunition!”
—Dorothy Corkville Briggs (20th century)