Jan 8, 2016
In October 2015 we brought Move With Balance® with music to Touchmark, a CCRC in Bend, OR. The Life Enrichment Assistant had this to say about our visit:“Overall the residents really enjoyed this workshop. Many were disappointed that some of their friends did not attend. There were around 40+ people and I think due to the design of the class we would have needed a bigger room if there were more. I feel there was something for everyone-it was different, challenging, fun, and inspired community. We had a full variety of residents present including: independents, assisted living, and memory care. All enjoyed and all can truly benefit from this type of program. However, I think the ones that enjoyed the most and is Memory Care as it was quite therapeutic at the end.
Full Group involved with Move With Balance Activity and Music
Dec 4, 2015
Member Spotlight
Move with Balance
Paia, Hawaii
Karen Peterson founded Move with Balance, an exercise program designed to help prevent falls and falls-related injuries in seniors in 2005. Upon receiving a grant from Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, Peterson set about creating a version of Move with Balance designed specifically for individuals with Alzheimer’s disease.
For this program, Move with Balance teamed with Maui Adult Day Care, to recruit 10 seniors who have Alzheimer’s or a related dementia and also recruited 10 loving and compassionate fit seniors to serve as their mentors. Each class begins with a 10-minute icebreaker. Mentees arrive and sit at a coloring table with their mentors participating in activities such as writing with both hands at the same time. This gives mentees a chance to connect with their mentors before heading into the classroom setting for the main program.
The mentees feel safe with their mentors and have formed warm and caring relationships. Many recognize their mentors week after week.
Nov 28, 2015
Training for Caregivers and Group Leaders on Kauai’i, Hawai’i
On November 19 and 20, Karen Peterson, founder of Move With Balance®, and Bill Fuller, musician and songwriter, led a training for Professional and Family Caregivers and Group Leaders on Kauai’i. Karen and Bill recently completed very successful Move With Balance® with Music for Alzheimer’s/Dementia program on Maui. They have integrated original music into the entire Move With Balance® program.
WOW!
On November 27, one week after the training on kauai, physical therapist, Noreen S. wrote to us about her experience of using Move With Balance® Clock Face with two of her clients.
“Aloha Karen,
I wanted to thank you for coming over to Kauai and sharing your excellent program with us. I have used the clock face with a number of clients I have been seeing and wanted to report back.
1. A 76 y/o woman, with cognitive deficits, not using her R arm from humeral fx (back in May 2015) happily used the clock and started patting the top and back of her head with no complaints of pain.
2. A 57 y/o with brainstem infarcts- I started his session with the clock to get his attention switch activated. His attention had been about 30 seconds for activity. Following the clock exercise his impulsivity decreased and was able to attend for a few minutes for motor activities. Big change.
Thanks so much for all your efforts in developing “Move with Balance”.
Noreen”
Sep 5, 2014
Baltimore County, MD is hosting Move With Balance® classes in September. Little Rock, AK is having a Move With Balance® training on September 5! More information can be found here.
Apr 10, 2014
April 10, 2014. Neal Howard interviewed Karen Peterson on Health Professional Radio, an internet-based radio stream tailored and targeted exclusively for the health professional. The “More” link will take you to where the audio can be played, as well as a complete written transcript of this interview.
Apr 7, 2014
Republished from American Society on Aging website: April 7 2014
Move With Balance, which won the ASA 2012 MindAlert Award, has several exciting developments to share. Receiving the award gave us a hefty push to write a book, Move With Balance®: Healthy Aging Activities for Brain and Body,and create 60 online videos so others could easily replicate our program. And we published an evidence-based study in the November 2013 issue of Hawai’i Journal of Medicine & Public Health.
Now our program is available to group leaders, caregivers and individuals. The brightly illustrated book, which links to 60 online demonstration videos, is loaded with dozens of movements and exercises that even the frailest elder can accomplish. The payoff: increased coordination, sharper cognitive skills, better vision and enhanced self-confidence.
Since publishing Move With Balance®: Healthy Aging Activities for Brain and Body, the book has won two national awards. In September 2013 the Jenkins Group awarded it a bronze medal Living Now Book Award, which celebrates innovation and creativity, while encouraging better living. In March 2014 Foreword Reviews selected Move With Balance®: Healthy Aging Activities for Brain and Body as a Finalist in its Book of the Year Award. This award is for the best Independently Published books of 2013. Winners will be announced in June 2014. More info.
Our evidence-based study, called “An Exercise Program to Prevent Falls in Institutionalized Elderly with Cognitive Deficits: A Crossover Pilot Study,” was published in the November 2013 edition of the Hawai’i Journal of Medicine & Public Health. Study results demonstrate that the Move With Balance program is 66 percent effective in preventing falls. Dr. Lorrin Pang, study author and Maui District Health Officer, is now working on a cost-benefit analysis of Move With Balance. More info.
Move with Balance Founder Karen Peterson has developed a program with a therapeutic approach that integrates the motor, sensory and vestibular systems of the brain, and is particularly beneficial to older adults.
“By building on the reality of neural plasticity and the brain’s ability to be shaped across the lifespan, Move With Balance understands the positive outcomes of caring for our cognitive, motor and spiritual selves,” says Dr. Paul Nussbaum, clinical neuropsychologist and adjunct profession of Neurological Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Dr. Nussbaum hosts the Brain Health Forum each year at the American Society on Aging conference.
We would love to help you start Move With Balance, with its unique combination of balance, strength training and cognitive skills training, in your community. Visit www.site.movewithbalance.com for information on our book, videos and recent study.
In October 2015 we brought Move With Balance® with music to Touchmark, a CCRC in Bend, OR. The Life Enrichment Assistant had this to say about our visit:“Overall the residents really enjoyed this workshop. Many were disappointed that some of their friends did not attend. There were around 40+ people and I think due to the design of the class we would have needed a bigger room if there were more. I feel there was something for everyone-it was different, challenging, fun, and inspired community. We had a full variety of residents present including: independents, assisted living, and memory care. All enjoyed and all can truly benefit from this type of program. However, I think the ones that enjoyed the most and is Memory Care as it was quite therapeutic at the end.
