All Strength and Balance Classes are held at our Burleigh Heads Physio Clinic
Our strength and balance classes offer a safe and enjoyable form of exercise specifically designed to prevent falls. They involve small group classes of 5 people and are run by an accredited exercise physiologist. The small class format allows us to design programs tailored to the individual with close supervision for effectiveness.
The class duration is 50 minutes and is run in a circuit style. The components include body weight, resistance and balance specific exercises; all of which can be modified to your individualised requirements.
Benefits of our Strength and Balance Classes Include:
- Building strength in the legs and hips to prevent falling
- Building strength and to get up and down off the floor
- Improving your walking pattern to prevent tripping
- Increasing strength in the trunk and arms to help with moving around and doing task at home and outside.
In addition to the benefits of exercise, our exercise physiologist can assist in identifying other factors that may impact your balance and falls risk. These include vision such as cataracts and multifocal glasses, pain, some heart problems, hazards around the home and certain medications that may cause drowsiness, dizziness and lack of awareness.
Research has shown the exercise program needs to be:
- Regular 1-2hrs per week
- The balance challenges must be sufficiently difficult and gradually increasing in difficulty to maintain improvement.
The Process for Joining Strength and Balance Classes
- Book to attend a 1 on 1 session with our exercise physiologist for an initial assessment. This will provide a baseline measure to monitor your improvement. We will inform you if you need to see your GP before joining the class.
- You may also be covered for all or part of your assessment cost by DVA or under Medicare through an Enhanced primary Care plan (EPC). You would need to see your GP for these referrals prior to your assessment. (When you come to the assessment, bring your medications list and your EPC or DVA referral if you have one.)
- After successfully completing the above steps you are ready to join our class.
Class Times
Please contact us for further information (also below) or to book.
- Building strength in the legs and hips to prevent falling and help with getting up and down.
- Improving your walking pattern that keeps you upright and prevents tripping.
- Provides increasing challenges your natural balance system to keep it fine tuned
- Increasing strength in the trunk and arms to help with moving around and doing tasks at home and outside.
Importantly, research has shown the exercise program needs to be:
- Regular – one to two hours a week.
- The balance challenges must be sufficiently difficult and gradually increasing in difficulty to maintain improvement.
With our small group class format, we can design programs within safe limits tailored to the individual, plus you receive close supervision for safety and effectiveness.
Although active people have fewer falls, simple advice to be more active or simply walking more is not shown to be an effective strategy to reduce falls. However, we do recommend walking if it is safe for you, plus Tai Chi classes can help, if these are done in addition to specially designed strength and balance classes.
In addition to the benefits of exercise, our tip for you is that other factors that impact balance and falls may need to be addressed. These include vision such as cataracts and multifocal glasses, pain, some heart problems, hazards around the home, and certain medications that may cause drowsiness, dizziness and lack of awareness.
Who can benefit from Strength & balance classes?
All older adults can benefit from this specific exercise, especially those with balance problems, loss of confidence, slower or unsteady walking, and reduced strength and mobility in the hips and legs. Join our Strength and Balance class to improve your balance and confidence and have some fun at the same time.
You will receive some tips on exercise to do in addition to the class, and more information to reduce trip hazards around the home.
