Balance Intensity Scale ~ Objectively measuring balance exercise intensity
A new website has been launched to support the promotion of the Balance Intensity Scale (BIS).
Our research team from the Department of Physiotherapy developed this world first interval rating of balance exercise intensity over a six-year period. The BIS is a clinical measurement of balance exercise intensity used to rate exercises performed by adults. The BIS has a component rated by exercise prescribers (e.g. physiotherapists, exercise physiologists) and a component rated by the exerciser.
Balance exercises are routinely prescribed to improve balance to prevent falls in older adults. To determine the optimal intensity of balance exercises in rehabilitation, a valid measure of intensity was previously lacking. The validation of the BIS in a series of clinical research studies conducted at Monash Health has laid the necessary ground-work for future investigations of exercise intensity dosage recommendations as they apply to balance exercise training.
The BIS website will be used to promote awareness of the BIS, provide clinicians and researchers with standardised training on how to use the BIS to support their balance exercise prescription practice, and disseminate exerciser information on how they can use the rating scale to monitor the difficulty of their balance exercise programs. Ongoing research into the applications and properties of the scale such as reliability testing is currently underway, with the aim of conducting balance exercise dose-response studies in the future. Dose response studies would be used to determine the optimal intensity for balance exercise training to improve exercise recommendations to prevent falls in older adults. People interested in news and research opportunities related to the BIS can subscribe to updates through the website.
More information in the BIS can be found here, or you can contact Dr Melanie Farlie directly at melanie.farlie@monash.edu.
