Conference provides advice from experts

By Sam Richards

Staff writer

Monday, September 29 (5:00 p.m.): Alice Gavin came to last week’s Fall Prevention Conference at the Event Center because she’s tired of feeling like a walking time bomb.

She’s fallen twice recently ‒ once while out walking, the other time getting out of her car to pop the trunk. Both times, she said, she was upright one second, and down the next.

“Nobody can tell me why, and that’s what bothers me,” said Gavin, who sustained several cracked teeth in the first fall. She’s looking to learn how to avoid any more repeats: “I feel like a time bomb.”

India Cox came looking to achieve balance, in the most literal sense.

“As we age, we need to be able to stay on our feet and not land on the floor,” Cox said.

Both women were among the 170 or so attendees at the sixth annual Fall Prevention Conference, sponsored by Rossmoor Counseling Services. Penny Reed, Counseling Services’ manager, said it’s no coincidence the conference is scheduled just ahead of National Fall Prevention Week (which began Monday, Sept. 22). Nor is it a coincidence, she said, that so many people show up at this event each year.

“Falling is the thing seniors are most fearful of; it can change your life in a minute,” Reed said. “We started doing this to help address those concerns.”

The first of four speakers at this year’s conference was Lauren Masi, a physical therapist and owner of Lafayette Physical Therapy and Bay Area Physical Therapy. She addressed balance, and the many factors that can affect it.

One is the health and strength of the fascia, a thin sheath of fibrous tissue that encloses muscles and other organs. “It’s the mystery tissue that holds you together,” she told the audience.

The fascia, she said, creates bodily stability using tension; when there are “sticky spots” over which the tiny layers of fascia no longer glide over one another smoothly, hampered movements are often the result. Problems in one area can cause “overcompensated movements” that can adversely affect balance, she said.

“You can’t have a problem with one part of your fascia that doesn’t affect another part,” Masi said.

Keeping hydrated, and knowing which medications directly affect hydration, is one key to fascia health and fall prevention, Masi said. Some medications (including many blood pressure meds) not only work against hydration by causing more urination, but can interact with each other, sometimes affecting balance.

“If you’re taking more than three medications, you’re at greater risk of falling,” she said.

Regular exercise, Masi said, can make for healthier fascia, and much more. Doing at least 50 hours of balance exercises, she said, is essential to meaningfully decrease fall risk.

Also, “When exercising, you want to challenge yourself by ‘losing your balance,’” Masi said. A good indicator that someone is doing enough reps, Masi said, is that they’re tired enough to feel like they’re losing their balance about 30% of the time. (Having a stable, non-moving surface like a counter to grab onto is essential for doing such balance exercises, she said.)

Also, Masi added, don’t be afraid to push yourself.

“You’re never too old to get stronger,” she said.