Balance test might be a warning for seniors

By Lethbridge Herald on June 25, 2022.

LEAVE IT TO BEEBER
Al Beeber
Lethbridge Herald

As if we didn’t need more reason to worry about longevity while we age, here comes a new study that shows a simple balance test can give an indication when a person might die.

Being a guy for whom balance has never been a strong suit, I initially thought I was hooped but I passed – multiple times, to be safe.

According to the study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, folks who can’t stand on one leg for 10 seconds are nearly twice as likely to die within the next 10 years.

The study was limited to people who might be considered older with the average age of participants involved being 61. Experts from various countries analyzed the data from a long-running study in Brazil.

Women take note – and perhaps breathe a sigh of relief – most of the participants were men.

Because of the results, researchers are saying the test should be used by doctors during routine health checks for older people. I’ll warn mine to line his walls with bubble wrap if he ever decides to follow up on this, I being a guy who accidentally knocked off a steel footrest one day when I was in for an emergency stitching job at the now closed Bigelow Fowler Clinic.

Staff thought I’d passed out and came rushing to my aid. What they found was me trying to put the footrest back where it belonged with one hand because I had a gash in the other one from dropping a dumbbell on a finger at the gym the day of the Whoop-Up Days parade which meant a long detour for aid. Long story.

Anyway, this balance study – which I read about on Apple News – said after health conditions, age and sex were considered, a test failure was linked to a whopping 84 per cent increased risk of dying in the next 10 years.

So with Rio and Benson barking madly as I did my imitation of a drunken one-legged parrot in the living room, staying away from the flat screen TV and lamps, I did the test first standing only on my right leg and then my left.

Surprisingly being a southpaw, doing the test on my right leg was fairly easy. I did 22 seconds the first time and 31 the second. Trying to stand on my left was a different story – I had an incredibly difficult time balancing the first few times I tried but finally succeeded on my fourth attempt, lasting 13 seconds. 

According to the study, one fifth or 20.5 per cent of participants failed the test. 

The likelihood of failure increased with age.

 For those aged 51 to 55, the failure rate was five per cent and eight per cent for those aged between 56 and 60. 

In my category of 61-65 year-olds – that sounds so old it’s time to crank up the Hair Nation and put on some spandex this morning, which will raise eyebrows at the dragon boat festival where I’ll be shooting photos – the failure rate jumped to 18 per cent and more than doubled to 37 per cent for the group that were between 66 and 70. Do people that age listen to hair metal? If not, they should start while they have time to appreciate it because they’re missing out which is fodder for another column.

For older readers, I’m sorry to say that failure was pretty much a given among the 70 and older crew with a whopping 54 per cent of those aged 71 to 75 not being able to do it. And I guess that makes sense considering the average lifespan of a human being. 

The study said that 123 participants after seven years had died from assorted things including cancer and other diseases. 

But here’s a statistic that really merits attention: 17.5 per cent of those who failed the test had died within seven years while only 4.5 per cent of those who passed it had expired which the study says amounts to a 288 per cent higher risk for those who failed.

Time to start practising that balancing! Have a great weekend.

Follow @albeebHerald on Twitter.