Why Weight Shifting Is So Important

PREVENT FALLS WITH WEIGHT SHIFTING

Working with the older adult population means a lot of our clients have had falls or are at risk for falling. Most of the clients we treat have balance deficits, which potentially creates a greater falls risk.  

Balance

Standing balance is the ability to remain in an upright position without having to make significant postural adjustments or relying on external support. In order to maintain standing balance while performing functional activities, such as reaching into the cabinet, one must be able to weight shift.

Evidence-Based Practice 

We work on weight shifting activities and exercises frequently with our clients.  While using video footage in fall investigations, one group of researchers found that “results show that 41% of falls are due to incorrect weight shifting” (Woolrych, R, et al., 2015).

Weight Shifting Exercise

The goal of this exercise is for your client to keep his/her feet placed firmly in one position on a flat surface while having them move their body weight forward.  The colored spots were added to further promote anterior weight shifting with functional reach for facilitating item retrieval. Most of the movement in this exercise is from the ankles and hips, while cueing the client to maintain a strong core.  This client required an external support and was instructed to support unilateral upper extremity on the counter top while tapping the colored spots with the opposite upper extremity.

Reference:

The Gerontologist, Volume 55, Issue 3, 1 June 2015, Pages 483–494,https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnu053

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