Brains and Balance Class Participant with Multiple Sclerosis Improves Dynamic Balance by 4 seconds!!!

In my latest Brains and Balance Training session at the Woodland Community and Senior Center, a 78-year old class participant improved her dynamic balance and agility score by 4 seconds!  In other words, she was able to get up from a chair, walk around a cone that is eight feet away and return to her seat four seconds faster than she did on the first day of class!!!
 

This quick-on-your-feet skill can save your life if you're walking across the street and the light turns before you're all the way across the intersection.  Dynamic balance can help you get a pot of boiling water off the stove or answer the phone or front door in a hurry.   We need dynamic balance to get through life safely andbeing agile can save your life in an emergency.

Her exceptional improvement is amazing in several ways.

First, she is 78 years old!  Yay Kate!  On the first day, her scores were 12. 5 and 11.8 seconds to get up, walk eight feet around the cone and return to her chair.  On the last day of class, her scores were 8.8 and 7.8 seconds; both were consistently faster and her walking gait was stronger and more stable. It's never too late to improve your balance and mobility!!!

Second, the class is only four weeks long and Kate missed an entire week of training due to travel.  She kept doing her homework exercises while away and when she came back, she jumped right into the new material as if she was there the entire time.

I urge people to attend all eight sessions but Kate is proof that you get out of the class what you put into it; she did her homework drills as prescribed and her body was ready for more!

But the main reason her four second improvement was so awesome is because Kate has multiple sclerosis.  That's right; she has been living with multiple sclerosis since 1995.  For twenty-three years this woman has been exercising and trying to stay ahead of the disease process.  She came into class with a smile on her face and left with an even bigger smile!

When I told her the score improvement, she was thrilled and said, "I'm still improving!".  She improved her lower body strength by two chair stands and knocked four seconds off her Eight Foot Up and Go test.  Excellent job for 78 years old; OUTSTANDING performance for someone living with multiple sclerosis.

Next Brains and Balance Training session at Woodland Community and Senior Center is
August 7th-August 30th.  Tuesday and Thursdays.  1pm-2:30pm.  $125 for 8 sessions.

ABCs of Balance workshop at Woodland Senior Center

Last week I presented my "revamped" ABCs workshop at the Woodland Community and Senior Center to a group of about sixty mature adults who wanted to know more about aging and balance from a brain perspective.  Well, at least I hope that's why they were there because that's what they got!

Center Director, Dallas Tringali not only welcomed my progressive workshop about brains, balance and fall prevention but also provided a nice-sized room for my presentation.  For the first time in a long while, I was nervous.

As I prepared my notes, I realized that I couldn't talk about aging and balance without mentioning the brain and the nervous system due to the fact that everything we do and how we move through life all begins in the brain!

People packed into the room and I asked them several times if they were ready to learn something new about the brain and balance.  I was answered with smiles, nods and  Yes, yes, we sure are, I hope so.  One lady joked, is that what you're going to talk about?  LOL.

Over the next 90-minutes, I tried my best to interpret and explain neuroscience in easy to understand words and concepts.  I think I did pretty good but I know that I spoke ENTIRELY too fast; especially after a kind woman told me, "I believe in all my heart what you're doing but you need to slow down for us old folks.  You can't talk as fast".

I appreciate honest feedback because we're all in this together and I'm learning, too!  Honestly,  I think I came up for a breath about forty-minutes into my presentation.   The audience nodded, smiled, did the drills, smiled some more.

As I checked the time, I realized that I would finish my 90-minute workshop in 70 minutes if I didn't slow down!  I took a deep breath and realized I did it; I explained an entirely new way of looking at training in a decent flow of relate-able terminology.

If talking too fast is the only critique, I'm happy!  That means that they understood or at least appreciated the content.

Woodland Senior Center is a great group of people who are genuinely interested in learning how to take control of their body and mind through brain activation.

Brains and Balance with Coach Kelly classes start the first Tuesday in April.  Every Tuesday and Thursday in the month of April we will meet for 90-minutes from 1-2:30pm.  Classes are progressively challenging so participants should plan on making all eight sessions.  Class size is limited to 15 participants.

There will be more classes!

Fall Prevention 101 at Woodland Senior Center

Happy Fall!?!   Of course I'm talking about the season and not the "official definition" of the tragic event of 'unintentionally coming to rest on a surface lower than originally started' (Dr. Rose, 2001).

If you know me, Kelly Ward, "The Fall Prevention Lady™at all, you know that I have been teaching older adults about things that cause falls and how to reduce that risk since starting my graduate studies in 2003.  Although we can prevent (or substantially reduce the risk of) a physical fall, we cannot prevent the season!

Ironically, the National Coalition on Aging (NCOA), the largest government agency geared to the safety and well-being of older adult, has deemed September as National Fall Prevention Awareness month, with the third week as Awareness week and the first day of fall as National Fall Prevention Awareness Day.  This year's motto was "Ready, Set, Balance: Preventing Falls in 2016".  

Today I was honored to be the keynote speaker at a fall prevention event hosted by Comfort Keepers of Yolo County, organized by Cindi Unger and hosted by the Woodland Community and Senior Center.  There was a great turnout (100+ older adults and IHHS workers) as well as community vendors including the Woodland Rotary Club.

I have been presenting my Fall Prevention 101 workshop since 2011, have been blessed to speak to audiences across the country and recently updated my copyrighted material in order to keep current with fall prevention research and supplement with valuable training skills I recently acquired.  

Regardless of how long I've been speaking to groups of older adults, family members and professionals who work with older adults, I grow more passionate about the message I deliver with each presentation.  Today, I was on fire!  I absolutely love what I do and there isn't a shadow of a doubt that I am living God's purpose for me; to empower older adults to make lifestyle changes to reduce the risk of falls.  

The gratitude of the audience was humbling and even though I am not a "Physical Therapist",  I do have God's favor and ability to present a dynamic presentation that I researched, wrote and created.  

Thank you to all who attended.  I hope you are empowered to make at least one change to remain independent and on your feet in your home.  You worked hard for where you are and you have the ability to prevent a (another) fall.

Consistent, not seasonal!
Your friend and coach~

Kelly
The Fall Prevention Lady™

Pacific Chapter of the Neuropathy Association presentation

I am preparing for tomorrow's presentation for the Pacific Chapter of Neuropathy Association at the Woodland Community and Senior Center.  I will be speaking from 1:30-2:30 and I am excited about educating members of this support group about how to reduce the risk of an accidental fall.

As part of the natural aging process, we lose the ability to feel the ground under our feet.  A person living with (peripheral) neuropathy has lost that ability times ten.  Imagine how difficult it must be to remain balanced if you can't feel the ground under your feet?

The good news is that there are balance training techniques and fall prevention exercises that can significantly reduce the risk of a fall, especially for people with neuropathy.  I am looking forward to this presentation;  education is empowering and hope is my message.

The Fall Prevention Lady,
Kelly Ward