At any given time, an estimated 6.2 million Americans report a chronic problem of balance, dizziness or both, according to federal data. The problem tends to increase with age, and with the aging population, specialists say the ranks of the unsteady are sure to grow.
The looming numbers of balance-challenged elders have inspired researchers in Massachusetts and Oregon to develop two different styles of belts that will either vibrate or beep and alert the wearer that he or she is tilting to one side and may potentially fall. The belts are expected to be marketed next year, initially to physical therapists who work with people with balance problems.
A person’s sense of balance relies on an exquisite interplay of three regions, your vision, a maze-like structure in the inner ear which includes microscopic cells that resemble little hairs, and the muscles and joints running from your feet, up through your spine, that sense your body’s position.
All three areas send signals to your brain, which processes the information, and helps give you a sense of spatial orientation - your balance.
As we age, eyesight fades, as do our muscles’ ability to sense surroundings. Meanwhile, the hair cells in the inner ear die off and do not regenerate. These declines combine to throw off the signals to your brain about your balance.
Victor only recently realized that the combination of advancing arthritis in her ankles, knees, and hips, and her gradual hearing loss, were likely related to her balance problems. Specialists believe hearing loss mirrors the degeneration of inner ear hair cells.
“All these things I took as separate issues,’’ she said.
