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Care home helps older people to find the right balance

A Shipley based care home has helped some of its elderly residents reduce their chances of having accidents through an innovative new developmental scheme to improve balance.

The Nymbl Balance System is a comprehensive system for measuring, tracking and improving balance, and seven residents from Czajka Care Group’s Brookfield Care Home took part in the four week programme, with some fantastic results.

Konrad Czajka, Managing Director of Czajka Care Group, says: “The Nymbl team were great. They worked with our staff to carry out pre-training evaluations, using the Nymbl app, with all seven residents, who are aged between 55 and 101, to assess their Balance Index. The residents then attended four weeks of group balance training classes with a coach.”

The Nymbl training follows a dual-task approach, which combines isometric exercises with cognitive tasks, so it works with both the mind and body to improve balance. Caroline Owen Jones, co-founder Nymbl, says: “Post-training evaluations were conducted to see improvements in balance, and the results showed that every resident who completed a post-training evaluation improved their Balance Index. The increases ranged from a 4% to 24% improvement, with those people who attended the most classes, achieving the highest improvement in their balance. Importantly, everyone who took part in the programme thoroughly enjoyed it.”

One of the participants said: “I just knew that my balance had improved and I found myself really interested in the science behind Nymbol, especially the dual-tasking. My balance is really important to me as it will help me to stay more independent as I age.”

Konrad adds: “We are always looking for new and innovative ways to make sure our residents feel confident and capable in their home environment. We were very impressed with the results of the Nymbl programme and plan to offer the training at another one of our homes very soon.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Emma Mortimer .