Trunk Balance - Please Help

[ADDABAD]

Hello,
My name is Adam Rogers. I’m new. Four years ago I was in a near fatal motorcycle accident. It happened on highway 1 just outside of Carmel, CA. USA. I was driving home when a family of 600 lb. wild boar decided to cross the highway in front of me. Anyway, I hit. I don't remember it or any of the two years prior to it for I suffered a traumatic brain injury. I do know that I was in a coma for 30 days. And herein lies my problem: I have no balance. I have plenty of strength and can stand easily but that is it. I just fall over. Can anyone help? Any suggestion for recovering my trunk balance would be greatly appreciated.

ADAM ROGERS
831-658-0775
ADDABAD@AOL.COM

[Fyzzio]

Hi Adam,
balance is such a big word. There is lots of different systems within your body that are part of creating the perfect balance. And each of these systems will have specific exercises to help you achieve your goals.
I would suggest for you to go and see a Physical Therapist and get a thorough assessment and then an exercise programme that is specifically designed for you.
It is important for you to have a programme that challenges your balance in just the right way and with just the right intensity and frequency, as after TBI, you might get too fatigued with the wrong programme. So, monitoring and adjusting the programme over time is vital.
With challenging balance, there is also a risk factor attached and you really want to be safe.
Good luck and all the best,
Fyzzio

[equiphys]

try hippotherapy with an accredited physical therapist

[rose]

hello adam
did you have any physiotherapy treatment befor..??
if its not you need to see physiotherapist to assess you and fined out whate is the main problem and giving you the exercise programm..becouse balance as fyzzio said its a big world..
i hope you will be ok and let me know if you get better.
good luck

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[Dr.Mansi]

hi Adam,
I would also suggest you to go for same thing ...that get urself examined by a physio. Because the information which you hav given is not at all enough to guide you also.
What structure in ur brain is involved? what is the stage of recovery right now?
what is ongoing therapy?...any more thing we need to now before giving a single word of suggestion.
So it will b better if u get ur exercise programme get ready through ur personal physiotherapist..........n remember it is needed.

[Geert]

Hello

I thought it might be interesting for you to know a little bit more about the parts of your body involved in balance. This will (hopefully) also help you in understanding what your therapist tells you and therefore will help you in selecting an appropriate therapist. So here is a brief overview:

- the eyes: the visual system provides information about the outside world through the eyes. Often, the visual system is used to compensate for deficits in other systems. If your balance problems increase when you close your eyes, this means that you use the visual system to overcome deficits in the other parts involved in balance.

- the skin, joints and muscles: we all take information from the outside world through these receptors. This information will then go to the centres in the brain and this information will then be processed in order to maintain balance. Touch, pain and temperature are important parameters here and they need to be assessed in order to get a picture of your deficits. Deep sensation is information coming from your joint and muscles. We all know when our big toe for instance is in an upward position or downward position when someone else hold the toe in this position (without looking!). This is one aspect of deep sensation that we need in order to have appropriate balance reactions.

- the cerebellum: this is the small part of the brain and the in-between centre between information coming from the body and interpreting this information, and information going from the small brain to the cerebrum (the 'big' brain) in order to adequately coordinate our movements. It is a very complex system with a lot of different connections between different parts of the body and nervous system. Impariments in the cerebellum give you problems with coordination (for instance when you can not clap your hands as fast as you could before but all the other aspects of movement like force/power etc. are ok).

- the vestibular system: this system is located in your ear and it gives information about your head movement. Problems here (like a severe ear infection or neurological damage) give you balance problems because the information coming from this system is contradictory with the information coming from other parts of the balance system. This then typically not only results in balance problems but also diziness, vertigo, pathological eye movements, or nausea.

As you can see, balance is a complex phenomenon and finding the real deficits is essential in providing you with the appropriate treatment programme.

Hope this helps and I hope you have (had) a good recovery.
Best wishes