Above left: Dr. Peggy Trueblood (right) and physical therapy graduate student Banks Lam help client Johnnie Stokes on the "Balance Master," which helps clients learn how to step on and off curbs without falling. Above right: Graduate student Mike Engbretson assists Joan Contino on the SMART Balance Master.

Balance Clinic aims to reduce falls

by April Schulthies

Many of us take our ability to balance for granted, but for those who have problems falling, there's the Balance Clinic.

A program offered through the Division of Extended Education, the Balance Clinic offers a course that helps people with no particular pathology - as well as those with a known diagnosis - who are having a problem keeping their balance.

Those who suffer falls, or have a fear of falling, usually benefit from the course, said Dr. Peggy Trueblood, a professor in the Physical Therapy Department whose research spawned the clinic.

Assisted by physical therapy graduate students, Trueblood oversees the program with Toni Tyner, also a physical therapy professor, and Carol Roope, a clinician in the community.

The program began with a free balance screening clinic that assessed the needs for a fall prevention program in the community, said Trueblood.

"Over two-thirds of those who responded - 170 out of 200 - had a significant balance problem based on our screening assessment. More than half of them had a reported self-history of falling," Trueblood noted.

The clinic teaches people new "postural strategies" that help them improve their balance, Trueblood said. "We take a very structured but aggressive approach, something not all conventional clinics can offer," she added.

Trueblood and her students use equipment like the computerized SMART Balance Master to evaluate clients. The equipment helps determine where a person's center of gravity is and measures "sway," or how well a person can balance under progressively more challenging conditions. It also helps patients learn not to rely on just one sensory input for balance control.

Balance training also includes functional activities to challenge balance, like walking on grass and other uneven surfaces while catching a ball. There are also home exercises that help.

"Each person has individualized needs," Trueblood said. "That's why we give our clients ideas on how to help their specific problems."

The clinic, described by Trueblood as "an individualized balance re-training program," is partly a graduate research project in the Department of Physical Therapy.

Trueblood hopes her research will show that the training reduces falls, findings that may help the program get a grant to defray tuition costs. But for now she is proud of the success her program has had in helping people regain their confidence.

People over 65 are eligible to enroll in the class, as well as people who have had a stroke or suffer from other conditions that create balance problems.

The next clinic will begin in February. For information on enrolling in the Balance Clinic, call ext. 8-2528.