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Researchers Are Getting One Leg Up on Fall Risks 11-2-24 · OneLegUpAlex Media

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  Speaker 1: Here's your host, Alex Garrett. All right, well, it would
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  Speaker 1: be a dereliction of duty here on the Alex Garrett
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  Speaker 1: One Leg Up Network if I didn't tell you a
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  Speaker 1: study that predicts your fall risk when you stand on
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  Speaker 1: one leg and how long you stand on one leg
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  Speaker 1: could predict your fall risk. I'm scrolling through the Newark
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  Speaker 1: Star Ledger and of course they're going out of print
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  Speaker 1: business soon, and I see this story how long you
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  Speaker 1: can stand on one leg may predict your fall risk,
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  Speaker 1: And I said, it would be a dereliction of duty
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  Speaker 1: if I did not report that one Leg Up could
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  Speaker 1: actually help figure out whether or not you will and
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  Speaker 1: are a fall risk. Teddy Amenabar of the Washington Post
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  Speaker 1: actually reported on this research about the length of time
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  Speaker 1: you can stand on one leg or your non dominant leg,
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  Speaker 1: And what I find fascinating about this is the quote
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  Speaker 1: itself from Kenson Kaufman, a musculo skeletal research professor at
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  Speaker 1: the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota and senior author of
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  Speaker 1: this recent study put out on balancing on one leg,
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  Speaker 1: and he says this, if you can't stand on your
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  Speaker 1: leg for five seconds, you're at risk of falls. If
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  Speaker 1: a person can stand on her leg for thirty seconds,
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  Speaker 1: they're doing really well, especially if they're older. Well, Professor Kaufman,
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  Speaker 1: at the age of thirty three, I feel like I've
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  Speaker 1: stood on my leg for thirty three years, not just
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  Speaker 1: thirty seconds, and so I guess I'm doing pretty damn good.
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  Speaker 1: And this is such a very interesting study because as
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  Speaker 1: people get older, I think the fall risk concern, especially
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  Speaker 1: for those who are loved ones, is a stressor, right,
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  Speaker 1: is a stressor. It takes not only the physical health
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  Speaker 1: of the older but also our mental health. You know what,
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  Speaker 1: we get a call in the middle of the night
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  Speaker 1: or something that our loved one is falling. So to
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  Speaker 1: determine that on one leg is very It's interesting to
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  Speaker 1: report because this study truly shows, truly shows that if
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  Speaker 1: you have one leg up in the air in this case,
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  Speaker 1: for more than thirty seconds, you're doing pretty good. And
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  Speaker 1: I'm wondering if they can do a study on these
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  Speaker 1: people with actual one legs, because look, as someone who
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  Speaker 1: has won the whole life, there have been instances of falling.
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  Speaker 1: I mean it's been not often, but when it happens,
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  Speaker 1: it's a bit of a shock to the body. And
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  Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't ever, I've never really felt
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  Speaker 1: like a fall risk, especially on my rollerblade. I've only
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  Speaker 1: fallen what two or three times over the last twenty
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  Speaker 1: five years, major times. One time I ended up in
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  Speaker 1: my arm in a sling, So I've been lucky enough
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  Speaker 1: not to be a fall risk. But even myself, this
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  Speaker 1: kind of brought out one of the biggest fears I have.
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  Speaker 1: And I want to tell you that fear here on
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  Speaker 1: one leg up that I don't want to say my
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  Speaker 1: lego rot, but it might weaken and the day my
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  Speaker 1: leg is not as strong will be a hard day
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  Speaker 1: and it will be like taking the keys away from
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  Speaker 1: Grandpa or something like that, if I'm never ever able
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  Speaker 1: to rollablade. And so this study made me feel like, Okay,
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  Speaker 1: I'll be okay for maybe thirty more years, or forty
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  Speaker 1: more years or fifty more years. And it kind of
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  Speaker 1: alleviated that fear of what if I can't stand on
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  Speaker 1: this leg or roll a bit on this leg, What
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  Speaker 1: about what happens when that day comes? Well, I've proven
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  Speaker 1: the day is. I've proven that, you know, people with
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  Speaker 1: one leg can stand on it for a long time
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  Speaker 1: by just rolling on it for a long time, and
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  Speaker 1: I hope maybe even my story can inspire others of that.
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  Speaker 1: You know, what they're doing good too. They're not a
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  Speaker 1: fall risk yet. Of course, life happens, but if this
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  Speaker 1: study is accurate. In twenty twenty two, they studied another
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  Speaker 1: seventeen hundred and two adults where they found the innability
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  Speaker 1: you stand on one leg for ten seconds was associated
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  Speaker 1: with the higher risk of death from any cause within
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  Speaker 1: seven years. Studies show people start to lose their balance
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  Speaker 1: at about sixty years old. And I've kind of seen
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  Speaker 1: movies where they do those tests right where they do
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  Speaker 1: the balancing tests literally on TV and on film and
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  Speaker 1: the silver screen. I've seen those kind of things demonstrated.
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  Speaker 1: So maybe my thought today is go out there and
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  Speaker 1: try it. Just stay on your one leg, your non
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  Speaker 1: dominant leg, and see how long you can go. And
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  Speaker 1: if there are issues, maybe see your doctor about it.
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  Speaker 1: Because if we can determine fall risks just from this
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  Speaker 1: movement alone, could be a breakthrough in research, because hey,
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  Speaker 1: if we can have one leg up for a long time,
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  Speaker 1: it could lead to more and more prevented in measures.
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  Speaker 1: If you will, If people find that their balance on
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  Speaker 1: their non dominant leg is less than thirty seconds. They
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  Speaker 1: also did this based on participants using a platform where
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  Speaker 1: they had to shift their weight and they sit on
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  Speaker 1: both feet with eyes open, then eyes closed on their
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  Speaker 1: dominant the non dominant leg with eyes open from up
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  Speaker 1: to thirty seconds. Researchers toll partans to balance on one
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  Speaker 1: leg and whatever they prefer. Those also include how long
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  Speaker 1: they could stand on one foot and how much they
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  Speaker 1: shifted their weight. You can find the study in Plos
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  Speaker 1: one plus one from October twenty third. Now there are
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  Speaker 1: others who agree with me that this is a really
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  Speaker 1: breakthrough thing. Jay Hotel, the chair of Kinesiology at the
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  Speaker 1: University of Virginia, said the reason a decline in balance
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  Speaker 1: among older adults is a concern is because falls can
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  Speaker 1: be dangerous, and yes, that is true. He goes on
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  Speaker 1: to say this is a great study because researchers don't
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  Speaker 1: often assess balance, gait, and strength at the same time.
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  Speaker 1: But he said it would have been interested in seeing
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  Speaker 1: more challenging gate assessments for the participants. Okay, Professor j
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  Speaker 1: You and I Jay Hotel should do a study where
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  Speaker 1: people sell on one leg while wearing a rollerblade on
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  Speaker 1: the other or however, you want to do it. See
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  Speaker 1: if you will can balance on one rollerblade? Now, that
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  Speaker 1: could be interesting on a platform, and see how many
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  Speaker 1: people can balance on just one foot while on their rollerblade.
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  Speaker 1: That's a new tech nique in a new study. And
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  Speaker 1: maybe we just came up with a breakthrough idea here.
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  Speaker 1: But if we can do more preventive research and incorporate
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  Speaker 1: those who actually have one leg, that could go for
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  Speaker 1: a while. Ask people who have one leg, how do
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  Speaker 1: you balance? I've been told my whole life, what incredible
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  Speaker 1: balance you got? You must have great balance? How do
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  Speaker 1: you rollblack with great balance? Blah blah blah. Well, then
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  Speaker 1: maybe bring us into, get us involved to help coach
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  Speaker 1: researchers and get real answers from those who have either
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  Speaker 1: been born with one or unfortunately amputation, let them have
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  Speaker 1: one leg or whatnot. Bring us in and we can
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  Speaker 1: get more data, more information, more I guess statistics, even
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  Speaker 1: though we don't like to be statistics, right, but more
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  Speaker 1: of a body of work that can lead to more
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  Speaker 1: and more research. And if they can do more of
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  Speaker 1: these tests where we can prevent falls. I wouldn't say
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  Speaker 1: we're going to put out I'm not saying we're putting
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  Speaker 1: Life Alert out of business here. But the more we
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  Speaker 1: see now people being tested in this study who are
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  Speaker 1: older than sixty five saying they can only stand on
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  Speaker 1: it for seventeen seconds or eleven seconds, I should say
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  Speaker 1: then this can then lead to maybe even study of
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  Speaker 1: the brain. I feel like the brain has a lot
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  Speaker 1: to do with the balance. There's just a lot of
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  Speaker 1: connections that can be made based on this one test.
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  Speaker 1: And I'm glad the NIA National Institute on Aging is
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  Speaker 1: doing this. See we talk about accountability and adaptability. Hey,
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  Speaker 1: that National Institute of Age, and we're paying for that
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  Speaker 1: as taxpayers. This is a study that's going to go
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  Speaker 1: a long ways thanks to plus one and NIA, and
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  Speaker 1: could reduce that number of one in four people following
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  Speaker 1: every year and causing stress for families just because this
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  Speaker 1: study of balance has been done. Now, this is a
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  Speaker 1: preventative study, and I encourage more research. I encourage more
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  Speaker 1: people who have one leg themselves to teach the researchers
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  Speaker 1: how they do it and how maybe balance is just
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  Speaker 1: second nature to us. And then for those who have
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  Speaker 1: had amputations, get the insights on how they had to
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  Speaker 1: retrain themselves to balance after losing one leg. There's so
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  Speaker 1: many variables here that this study can go to, that
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  Speaker 1: can add more information that can at the end of
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  Speaker 1: the day, improve this stat of one in four people
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  Speaker 1: falling every year. It's time for the adaptive community, the
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  Speaker 1: folks with one leg, to come out and say, hey,
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  Speaker 1: here's my story. And it's fitting to kick off November
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  Speaker 1: twenty twenty four with this story because the way I
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  Speaker 1: balance on my rollerblade has been truly something. And I'll
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  Speaker 1: tell you my story real quick. I was lacing up
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  Speaker 1: outside of Chase Stadium in November nineteen ninety nine and
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  Speaker 1: the first hurdle I had was I had a curb
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  Speaker 1: cut to jump, and I even see the curb cut.
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  Speaker 1: I just basically rolled off the curb, kept on my
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  Speaker 1: foot and just kept rolling. And I knew from there
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  Speaker 1: this could work. And I was eight years old the time.
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  Speaker 1: So researchers who did this study, we can go further.
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  Speaker 1: We can go way further to ask those who have
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  Speaker 1: one leg, how do you balance? How do you do it?
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  Speaker 1: How many times do you spend without the crutches with
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  Speaker 1: the crutches. In science they talk about variables and constants
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  Speaker 1: and all that fun stuff. All the variables are there
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  Speaker 1: and those variables that we go through as someone who
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  Speaker 1: wears crutches, someone who has one leg can add to
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  Speaker 1: this study, but more than those who have two legs
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  Speaker 1: and a dominant versus non dominant leg. So let's bring
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  Speaker 1: us in more and I hope they do. I hope
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  Speaker 1: if I can email this to doctor Hurdle or I
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  Speaker 1: guess Professor Hurdle or a others, we get more on
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  Speaker 1: the ball with this, We get more people to get
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  Speaker 1: one leg up on the fall risks before it's too late.
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  Speaker 1: Bringing the health section to life today on the One
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  Speaker 1: Leg Up Network, I'm Alex Garrett