Help with regaining your balance

[wayne-c]

Hi everyone, i'm trying to put together a fact sheet made up of the different method's and techniques which different people have used to help restore their balance following a head injury. I've wrote about my experience but I would like to hear from others who have shared a similar experience, to make the fact sheet more varied and beneficial. I found during my long recovery there was no one who I could compare or refer to and hopefully a fact sheet would help. Thankyou Wayne

[cat3]

Hi wayne. I'm two+ years on and my balance hasn't improved, in fact it's worse now than ever. I was determined to correct it by daily walking, and even cycling, to try to re-educate my brain but to no avail.

Even before I was discharged from hosp. I

decided I was going to buy a new bike & a month after coming home I bought a funky yellow one. But it was all bravado and the bike now lies unused.

I practiced walking a chalk-line down the lawn for months and playing computer dexterity games thinking that mind-over-matter & perseverance were the key, but not so.

So I now just accept that I wobble & weave a lot & occasionally fall over, but that doesn't stop me from being a 'top goalie' according to my grandson.

The only thing which helps (slightly) is Prochlorperazine (Stemetil).

But I do still continue with the walking & computer games..........just in case !

[RogerCMerriman in reply to cat3]

I had bought a new full suspension MTB just a week before my accident, I had rather unrealistic expetations of what i'd be doing.

took me 2 months to ride and bike and another month to ride the new one, I'm rather slower than before, and I'm a bit nervy about some things, some of that is just fitness I could ride with mates on a charity ride to Brighton, and once finished just ride home, ie 120miles, with out much effort.

my walking has improved from when I was in hospital but pratically once tired I do make mistakes and trip or walk off/into things, I find getting off buses quite hard work, and I find it nia on impossible to walk in the pitch dark such as a cinimar my wife has to help me to my seat.

I'm being refured to a balance clinic who hopefully will help.

[Stardrop]

I was given some exercises with a gym ball. You stood with one foot on the ball and tried to balance, or stood on one leg and rolled the ball around the wall. It helped when I did it a lot. I try to have an upright in my sight, the lamp post, the door, helps me line up. I'm really hopeless if the floor is uneven, my dentist has a very shallow incline up to a treatment room, and I always feel really off balance.I'm much worse in the dark.

[sospan]

Do you mean general balance or balancing when walking?

[SAMBS]

Thanks Wayne - that sounds a really good idea! Are you likely to share results when completed?

I was prescribed BETAHISTINE MYLAN to to help with balance issues when my head ears felt very under pressure like I'd just taken off/landed in an aeroplane, the pressure was there for many weeks after the car accident (8 months after BI)

I am still a bit wobbly when walking but not as bad as before since taking the drugs to clear the head/ears. Cannot wal well carrying things at chest height and find stairs a problem, now always have to hold on to something going both up and down.

[Danslatete]

I had stemitil, I still have it now. I went to aqua aerobics in the local pool and I went to the gym walking on a treadmill in front of the mirror. I needed help getting off the treadmill because it felt like I was still moving, so I sat on a chair till th world stopped moving. I tried the cross trainer but could only manage it going backwards.

I bounce into door frames and such still but I'm kind of used to it now.

[Danslatete]

Oh and I can't do spiny rides either. I climbed a ladder last weekend but I got very wobbly so won't be doing it again any time soon.

[wayne-c]

I had a serious head injury back in 95 and my balance had pretty much gone altogether, it was a long and difficult recovery as I was 29 years old with a mental age of 14 and a lot of the techniques I used to help with my balance I worked out for my self .And looking back I think if I was thinking more clearly my balance would have progressed a lot further,i've spoken with Richard at Headway and we both think it would be a great idea to put together a factsheet to go on to the Headway website. I've written about the thing's which benefitted me but I would like to hear from anyone else who's experienced similar, my idea is to make the factsheet a help for anyone with a severe loss of balance. Many thank's Wayne

[Negeen]

So when your balance is effected, is it your cerebellum that's injured?

[RogerCMerriman in reply to Negeen]

I'd assume so, but equally not everything simple ie our understanding is still quite poor.

[Dorsetcharlie]

Great idea!

Jake has cerebellum damage and therefore massive balance problems. His neuro physio has told us that he needs to build and maintain strength, particularly in his core. He does this by walking on different, challenging terrains (challenging to Jake is very different to challenging to most people!), gym work 3 times a week, walking around the block without his stick every day (0.4 miles) and swimming.

Recently Jake has decided that he wants to ride a normal bike again, so his physio is creating a tailored daily programme to improve his core even more specifically for this task, so I am happy to share this with you once I have it.

[StephanieCB]

Robin has balance problems but I haven't been told if it's going to improve or what has caused it directly. He tends to lean more forward (as if he is top heavy) and often bumps into things, particularly door frames. He's very unsteady on his feet, will this improve?

[meowrie]

I have meet many other TBI survivors. Most claim they do not have balance issues. With me balance is a major problem I have injured my ankle, arm and even flipped and hit the top of of my head due to falls since my TBI. I had my TBI in 2006 and still need to walk with a cane to steady myself.