Since balance is a key indicator of a person’s fitness the Multimetric Balance Mat can assist healthcare professionals and fitness instructors to better manage the health of their clients.
Health and fitness are particularly important for older Australians. As we age our sensory systems may decline, contributing to poor balance.
Now for the first time healthcare and fitness practitioners can perform a multimetric analysis of a client’s static balance using a single device.
The Multimetric Balance Mat measures a person’s balance ability, giving four different graphs and scores from four different standing positions. Importantly, the device has the advantage of being able to measure differences in a person’s standing ability on each leg.
The device offers a unique way of measuring balance for fitness instructors and yoga, Pilates, tai chi and Feldenkreis practitioners. It also taps into a worldwide fascination with personal fitness metrics such as body weight, heart rate and number of footsteps taken.
In physiotherapy practices the Multimetric Balance Mat provides accurate and reliable outcome measures for a range of purposes including pre-employment screening, post-injury treatment, exercise rehabilitation and work fitness evaluation.
In fitness centres the product assists instructors to tailor-make programs to suit the needs of their clients.
The standard protocol is for the client to stand comfortably with their eyes open and hands by their side.
• Helps clients gain a better understanding of their bodies
• Identifies balance weaknesses for tailored exercise programs
• Enables benchmarking of individual scores against the scores of other cohort members
• Gives real-time feedback on balance ability in different standing positions including separate results for each leg
• Novelty value creates a buzz among fitness centre patrons
• Provides a more accurate, richer result than time-based testing alone
• Uses an objective measure to confirm professional judgement based on observation, knowledge and experience
• Positions practitioners as balance experts
• Acts as a referral generator
• Improves the health and fitness of the practice
• Creates potential research opportunities
• Improves the health and fitness of the practice
The first test measures the balance of a person standing still on the mat with their feet side-by-side. A score of zero indicates excellent balance. A score between zero and 0.6 indicates good balance. Any score of 0.6 or above indicates poor balance, a falls risk and possible abnormal medical condition that needs investigating.
This test involves the person standing with one foot in front of the other, heel to toe. It tests lateral postural stability by narrowing the base of support and gives valuable information about the person’s sense of positioning, or proprioception, and motor coordination. Although many people find the stance difficult to maintain someone with excellent balance can achieve a score of zero. A score of between zero and 2 indicates good balance, between 2 and 10 indicates fair balance, and a score above 10 indicates poor balance.
Sometimes called the Stork or Flamingo, this test requires the person to stand on their right foot on the centre footprint guide. The time they can stand one-legged is an important indicator of balance ability. The dynamic graph and score give an extra and more nuanced reading. A score of between zero and 3.0 indicates good balance.
This test requires the person to stand on their left foot on the centre footprint guide. The ability to measure static balance on each leg independently and compare the results is unique to the Balance Mat. A score of between zero and 3.0 indicates good balance.