It is quite common to feature loss of balance, especially in people with growing age. Balance is the ability for the person to maintain the center of gravity within base support. It is also stated to be the sense of equilibrium, which a person must maintain in multiple postures. Balance can be easily disturbed because of the normal aging process or pathologies affecting the ears, eyes, and joint receptors.
The balance issues affecting the given systems can be present locally. Some of the examples are trauma to the bones, ligaments, or tumors or lesions in the brain. Some of the neurological conditions can further lead to sudden loss of balance, like Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord injuries, and even stroke. If you end up losing your balance, it will cause difficulty in postures like walking, sitting, standing, and even the transition in between them. The loss of balance control can also lead to unwanted falls and fears of falls. It can also decrease the level of confidence to move independently and will affect life’s quality significantly.
Symptoms
It is mandatory to be aware of the loss of balance symptoms, just to be on a clear page and visit the physiotherapist right away. Some of those symptoms are:
- The feeling of lightheadedness or faintness
- Sense of spinning or motion also called vertigo
- Loss of unsteadiness or balance
- Feeling like you might fall or actually falling
- Feeling that floating sensation or the dizziness
- Some vision changes like blurriness
- Confusion
Causes
If you research thoroughly and think about it, there are various causes of dizziness and loss of balance. Vertigo is easily associated with so many conditions. Some of those are:
- Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV):
BPPV takes place when the calcium crystals in the inner ear are moved from their original position and elsewhere in the inner air. It is one of the most common causes of vertigo in adults.
- Vestibular neuritis:
This is one inflammatory disorder as a result of virus attack, where the nerves of the patients will get affected, located in the balance portion of the inner ear. The symptoms remain persistent and severe, with difficulty in walking and nausea.
- Persistent Postural-Perceptual Dizziness:
It is another form of vertigo disorder where you will feel unsteadiness or sensation of motion within your head.
- Meniere’s disease:
This disease can cause some serious fluctuation in hearing loss and buzzing sound, ringing, or that feeling of fullness within your ears.
Some of the other causes behind losing your balance are migraine e, acoustic neuroma, Ramsay Hunt syndrome, head injury, motion sickness, and so much more.
When to See Physiotherapist
If you think that walking or even standing from your sitting position seems to be a big ordeal, it means the time has come to visit a well-trained physiotherapist. Once you are aware of the causes of loss of balance and coordination, it is better to keep the number of physiotherapists handy. If walking in a simple straight line seems to be a risky endeavor, these physiotherapists are here to lend you their helping hands.
Risks
If you don’t get your loss of balance treated on time, then the basic dizziness can intensify into some serious risk factors within a short span of time.
- Loss of balance can easily cause nausea and vomiting.
- It will give rise to unsteady movement and standing
- The feeling of disorientation or confusion arises, making it difficult to concentrate on hands-on projects
- Issues with moving from one place to another and full of risks
How to Prevent
Once you are aware of the loss of balance reasons, it is time to focus on the ways to prevent this situation from taking place. Obviously, visiting a physiotherapist for the balancing exercises will help you out. But, there are some other ways in which you get to prevent the risk of losing your balance all over again.
- Try the one-leg stand. Stand straight and raise one leg and bend your knee to 45 degrees. Hold this posture for 5 to 10 seconds and repeat the procedure 10 times before switching legs.
- Even the heel to toe walking and sidestepping are some of the exercises to regain your balance.
Treatments
There are multiple ways in which you get to treat lightheadedness and loss of balance under expert guidance. Well-trained physiotherapists will hold rehabilitation programs, where the main focus will remain on the exercises to help improve the endurance, muscle strength, coordination, and flexibility that will help in recovering the balance control.
The training will always progress from static activities to somewhat dynamic ones. Depending on the current condition of the patients, the programs and loss of balance causes treatment will differ. There you have some core strengthening exercises available. The main goal is to improve balance during some of the dynamic activities like obstacle clearance, walking, and more.
Sometimes, physiotherapists will include exercise programs, which will include the use of equipment like wobble board and Swiss balls, for making the exercises more challenging for the patients. In some of the severe conditions, where the balance recovery remains limited or poor, physiotherapists might recommend some walking aids like walkers, wheelchairs, crutches, and canes for their patients.
If walking aids form a part of the rehabilitation, then the physiotherapy training must have the program talking about the care of the assistive device. Here, the experts will train patients in some ways to include these walking aids in their daily activities. These walking aids are perfect if you are suffering from brain dizziness, loss of balance, or other kinds of balance loss.