Good balance? Might indicate a decreased stroke risk

I'm trying to catch up with all the interesting stories found in my Google alerts about stroke news after some time off.

As someone who is not particularly good at balance, I was intrigued by an article indicating that if you can balance on one leg? You may have lower stroke risk:

Difficulty standing on one leg may indicate that small strokes or tiny bleeds have already occurred, which means the risk for more serious strokes is high, the investigators reported online Dec. 18 in the journal Stroke.

Tai chi might help prevent falls

As a runner, and as a generally clumsy person, I've fallen before. It's no fun, and it seems that the older you get the more serious a fall can be.

So was interested in finding this article (which you should read entirely by clicking on the link) about how tai chi might help stroke survivors avoid falls:

"Learning how to find and maintain your balance after a stroke is a challenge," lead author Ruth Taylor-Piliae, an assistant professor at the University of Arizona College of Nursing, in Tucson, said in an American Stroke Association news release.

Taylor-Piliae's team tracked 89 people, who had an average age of 70 and had suffered a stroke an average of three years before the start of the study. Twenty-eight of the patients received usual care, 31 were assigned to a national fitness program for Medicare-eligible seniors called SilverSneakers and 30 practiced Tai Chi.

Tai Chi, an exercise routine that dates back to ancient China, includes physical movement, mental concentration and relaxed breathing.

(Photo from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke)

Yoga and you...

I've never had the patience for getting interested in yoga. But perhaps I should look at this again. Who couldn't use improving balance? And while my stroke didn't leave marked physical changes, many stroke survivors struggle in regaining balance.

WebMD, among others, reported recently that yoga improves balance after stroke:

"It's an exciting thing," says study researcher Arlene Schmid, PhD. "People can improve their balance years after a stroke. They can change their brain and change their body. They are not stuck with what they have."

The study is published in the journal Stroke.

Schmid is a rehabilitation research scientist at Roudebush Veterans Administration-Medical Center and Indiana University in Indianapolis. For the study, her team recruited 47 stroke survivors who'd had strokes more than six months ago. Seventy-five percent of them were male veterans, including veterans of World War II.

Yoga and balance

Personally, I'm not into yoga. Then again, maybe I should be. My own stroke didn't leave me with balance issues, but that is a very common occurrence. Stroke is the leading cause of permanent disability, and often, balance is affected.
 

WebMD recently reported that yoga may improve balance of stroke patients:

The study shows stroke survivors who participated in a specialized post-stroke yoga class improved their balance by up to 34%.

Researchers say the participants also experienced a big boost in their own self-confidence after their yoga practice and became more physically active in their communities.

"It also was interesting to see how much the men liked it," says researcher Arlene A. Schmid, assistant professor of occupational therapy in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis, in a news release.