Gait & Balance

At Hands-On Physical Therapy we provide gait and balance training for a variety of conditions. If an injury or illness has impaired your ability to walk normally, you may need gait training to improve your walking and safety.

Your physical therapist may diagnose your gait as abnormal after reviewing your medical history, discussing your symptoms and doing a walking gait analysis. All care is provided one-on-one for 60 minutes by a highly qualified, licensed physical therapist and treatment will involve teaching both the patient and/or caregiver/spouse/family member home exercises to complement formal treatments.

There are a variety of reasons for problems with walking and balance. Physical therapy can help with solutions. Many diseases/conditions don’t have a “magic wand” cure, rather the need to either compensate for or train back function. Potential causes of problems with gait and balance include:

Our approach:

• Aging: With a natural decrease in strength and flexibility comes impairment to your balance.
• Musculoskeletal Problems: If your range of motion, strength, endurance and/or mobility are impacted for any reason, your gait may be affected. , since you need a certain level of balance and strength to walk properly.
• Impaired Cognition: You are less able to adapt to a situation if your judgment or safety awareness decreases, your attention is poor or you process information more slowly than before.
• Impaired Neuromuscular Responses: Disruption in the signals between the brain and the muscles can affect gait and balance. The disruption can result from a variety of issues, such as a stroke, Parkinson’s disease or multiple sclerosis.
• Impaired Sensory Processes: If your body’s sensors are unable to collect information about the environment, it can lead to balance and gait issues. Sensory disabilities may be caused by glaucoma, cataracts or diabetic retinopathy, to name just a few possibilities.

Physical therapy can help by providing a detailed and specialized screening of your body’s systems that help maintain your balance, gait and prevent falls. Based on your individual needs and goals, physical therapy at Hands-On will include a combination of:

• Balance Training
• Walking and Moving
• Doing More Than One Thing at the Same Time—Safely
• Strength Training
• Aerobic Training
• Education
• Training beyond current abilities to maximize outcomes