Falls prevention and balance in North York.

No — and this is the most important thing on this page. Falls become more common with age, but they are not an inevitable feature of it, and risk factors that contribute to them are among the more modifiable things in medicine. Treating falls as simply what happens now is the belief that most reliably stops people doing anything about them.

That is arguably the best time. Unsteadiness, holding furniture as you move through a room, or a near-miss you did not mention to anyone are all worth acting on before there is an injury to rehabilitate. Prevention is a great deal easier than recovery from a broken hip.

Walking is genuinely good for you and it is not the same thing as balance training. The programmes with the strongest evidence behind them deliberately challenge balance — narrower stances, less hand support, controlled weight shifting, movement in different directions — alongside real lower-body strengthening. If a balance exercise feels completely comfortable, it has stopped being balance training. That progression should be set by a practitioner rather than guessed at.

Quite a lot, which is why a good plan is not only exercise. The number of medications you take and how they interact, vision and out-of-date glasses, blood pressure that drops when you stand, foot pain and unsuitable footwear, hearing, and hazards at home all contribute. Medication review belongs with your physician or pharmacist, and eyesight with your optometrist — we will tell you what we noticed and who to raise it with.

Extremely, and it deserves attention rather than reassurance. Fear after a fall leads people to do less, doing less costs strength and balance, and losing those raises the risk of the next fall. It is a loop, it is common, and breaking it is an explicit part of the plan — usually by rebuilding confidence through activities that are genuinely within your capacity rather than by being told not to worry.

Yes, and it is often useful. A spouse or adult child frequently remembers a near-miss or a change at home that would otherwise not come up, and they are usually the ones who will help with anything that changes at home. Come together if that suits you.

Under most extended health plans, yes, and we direct bill the major insurers. If the fall happened at work it may go through WSIB, and if it happened in a collision it is billed to your auto insurer. Coverage is confirmed before treatment begins.