A few months ago, I fell and fractured my hip. The surgery was successful, and now I can put my full weight on it. However, I've lost my sense of balance and I don't know how to get it back. I'm stuck with a walker and I hate it. I signed up for a class and all they did was lead me through a regimen of exercise.

I had balance issues for a long time, probably due to an old head injury. Learning Aikido improved the situation massively. The downside is that it took 4 years.

I can’t help with your balance problem, but I’ve had four Reclast infusions, at yearly intervals, to increase bone density. That helps lots of issues for seniors. E.g., reducing the probability of broken hips.

My doctors say I don’t need anymore infusions now, but I take a calcium citrate supplement to help maintain bone density. My GP says calcium citrate is the best calcium supplement.

After my stroke I have some balance issues. I found doing anything helped. I began walking around the neighborhood. Then I moved to bikes.

Seems like some type of structured physical therapy could be helpful.

quote:

Originally posted by sourdough44:
Seems like some type of structured physical therapy could be helpful.

Could you expand on this?

Seems after many setbacks that affect mobility, the hospital will schedule physical therapy of sorts, I see it with my relatives.

Besides walking & the big stuff, could be using an injured arm, hand, whatever.

I order physical therapy for patients in this situation all the time. Ask your medical provider to order gait and balance training. Works for most of my patients.

As a start, maybe try focusing on a point on the ground as you move, it helps give a frame of reference.

I've had physical therapists help with balance issues. Mine might have had a different cause than yours.

In my case, the problems were related to crystals in my inner ear balance fluid being where they shouldn't have been. The physical therapists had some maneuvers that got the crystals to move where they wouldn't cause problems and get them stuck there.

My EENT physician prescribed the visits. Thus my advice is, see an EENT and find out if your issues could be helped by physical therapy.

quote:

Originally posted by synthplayer:

quote:

Originally posted by sourdough44:
Seems like some type of structured physical therapy could be helpful.

Could you expand on this?

I'm not sourdough, but long story short: You need to find a place with higher goals than the place you tried

Full length version:

Here is my personal example. 10 days after I moved to Houston in 2016 (i.e. house not fully unpacked), I tore my left knee's meniscus and had to have surgery. My knee surgeon was a sports medicine guy and recommended their sister sports medicine physical therapy center. However, it was 50 min round trip to a part of town I had no other reason to be in. On my way to work, I was driving within 100 yards of one of the largest hospital's physical therapy centers so I asked for my PT prescription to be there.

What a huge mistake that was. After my 3rd PT session, I'm still limping and the MF'ers are wanting to graduate me from PT (i.e. end my PT). In other words, they had ridiculously low expectations.

I called the knee surgeon's office and they wrote me a PT prescription for their sister sports medicine PT center. I'm doing PT alongside high school athletes, college athletes, and former pro athletes. They had seriously high expectations for me and pushed me. I went there 2x or 3x per week for 3 months where I achieved all of my modest goals (e.g. swing a golf club) and way more.

Ask your surgeon's office for PT prescription to a PT center with high expectations.

Have a PT guy check your flexibility. I'd read that the body's physical impingement/decreased range of motion and the brain's misunderstanding that when it sends a signal, the body is no longer accomplish it, can lead to imbalance. Essentially, the brain wrote a check and committed to torso weight shift and the remainder of the body can't cash the check. I think this was in relation to falls. But the message rang true, that sometimes balance is as simple as restoring full range of motion.

Not all PT therapists are created equal. Interview and audition them. I believe strength, range of motion and balance training will help you leave your walker behind.