A story from a nonprofit senior living organization
When C.E. arrived at the senior living organization, standing up, walking a few steps, turning, and sitting back down took nearly 47 seconds. On the Sit-to-Stand assessment, he rose from a chair three times before he had to stop. Based on his results, he was classified at very high risk of falling. In March his care team walked him through the Fear of Falls questionnaire. Asked how worried he was about falling, he answered five out of six.
A five out of six is not a small worry. It is the kind that decides what a person is willing to try. With C.E being past ninety years old, numbers like his are easy to read as a floor rather than a starting point. The risk was never just another fall. It was a slow narrowing of what he still did on his own.
His therapists set the plan and the cadence. Every month he completed a walking assessment, a Timed Up and Go, a Sit-to-Stand, and the Fear of Falls questionnaire. Each one added a point to a line they could follow. They read his strength in how many times he could rise from a chair. They read his balance in how much of each stride he spent on both feet. OneStep supplied the measurements. What to do about them was their call.
The gains came steadily, month over month. By spring he could rise from a chair eleven times instead of three. Standing up, walking, turning and sitting back down went from nearly 47 seconds to 18. His walking speed nearly tripled. None of it arrived in one leap. Each month's assessment showed his therapists exactly what was improving. All that work moved his fall risk classification from very high down to low. In June they asked him the same question about falling. This time his answer was near the bottom of the scale. Less fear, and more independence to go with it.
OneStep did not make him stronger. It made his progress impossible to miss.