Healthy balance, brains & bones, part one: balance training gets wet by Mary E. Sanders, PhD, FACSM

Millie is 63 years old with a history of being active. Last year, Millie had a right knee replacement—which her healthcare providers considered successful—and she completed all her physical therapy sessions afterwards. Yet she reported feeling “klutzy and unstable a lot.” When we measured her body composition, we learned that Millie’s total muscle mass was greater in her left leg compared to her right. Her scores for static balance (defined below) showed that she was within healthy norms while standing on her left leg, but beneath normative scores for her age while standing on the right. In addition to these issues, Millie was recently diagnosed with osteopenia (lower-than-normal bone density), putting her at risk for osteoporosis.