Arm Yourself to Fight the Fall
September 20, 2021, is the first day of fall. So it’s a good time to remember just how serious of a threat falls are to seniors.
That’s why we sat down with Bruck Sack, an experienced physical therapist, former instructor at UF, and owner of FYZICAL Therapy & Balance Center on 34th Street in Gainesville, to find out what can be done about it.
“For people over the age of 65, the likelihood of falling this year is one in three,” Bruce says. “If you’re over 80, it’s one in two.”
The statistics are startling, but behind each one is a senior—perhaps someone you know—who is about to fall or has fallen and now lives life in fear of falling again. And for good reason.
Falls are the second leading cause of unintentional deaths. And they’re the leading cause of emergency room visits each and every year, accounting for nearly 8 million trips to the emergency department.
Consider this chilling information from U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
- The risk of falling increases proportionately with age.
- Falls are the leading cause of fatal injury and the most common cause of nonfatal trauma-related hospital admissions among older adults.
- Every 11 seconds, an older adult is treated in the emergency room for a fall, and every 19 minutes an older adult dies from a fall.
Can anything be done about this?
“Yes,” says Bruce with enthusiasm. “At FYZICAL Therapy & Balance Centers, fall prevention is one of the cornerstones of our mission. We believe Balance is Core to Your Wellness!”
It’s a simple thing, really—balance. But when you think about it, it’s literally central to everything we do in terms of movement.
“Each year, hundreds of thousands of Americans in communities across the US are injured due to falls,” Bruce points out. “By raising awareness and offering fall risk screenings, we are educating the members of our communities AND saving lives.”
FYZICAL uses a conceptualized framework of exercises called the FYZICAL Balance Paradigm. It was developed using NASA-based force plates and is designed to identify a patient’s Sensory Mismatch/Conflict. As a result, they see a significant reduction in dizziness and falls in those patients who have gone through their program and for many months after even in their patients in their upper 90’s.
Which is great news for any aging senior who’s worried about falls.
To learn more about Fyzical’s balance program, call them to set up an assessment or visit their website.