The News & Observer

October 8, 2007

An exercise in utility
Senior center offers fitness test for patrons to screen for balance problems

Thomas Goldsmith, Staff Writer

CHAPEL HILL - For the agile young people sweating it out in most gyms, a workout means tapping into the natural vigor of youth.

For older people, doing the right kind of exercise can be a matter or life and death.

"It's a much more serious thing," Hillsborough resident Maureen Kunz, 66, said Friday at Orange County's new Robert and Pearl Seymour Center.

Kunz had gone along with her husband, Robert, 67, to the fitness screening the center requires before members can use its exercise room and machines. The research-based strength and balance testing turns up areas of weakness that can result in falls, a leading cause of death in people over 65.

"When somebody goes through these six different tests, the results of how they score are entered against that database against other people their age," Orange County wellness coordinator Myra Austin said at the center.

The center uses a Senior Fitness Test designed at California State University, Fullerton, and customized by UNC-Chapel Hill professor Carol Giuliani to add more information on balance.

"The center wanted to require all seniors to have this fitness test," said Giuliani, a professor in the human-movement science program.

"One, to make sure people are safe on the machines. Second, they wanted to give people a baseline of their abilities."

Robert Kunz, still not as strong as he'd like after heart-valve surgery two years ago, was put through tests under Giuliani's experienced eyes.

"Now, stand up and we'll check your balance," Giuliani told Kunz. "You're not here to sit down."

The retired chemical engineer had to stand on one leg, waving his arms at first to keep his balance. Then he settled down to last the prescribed 30 seconds with one foot in the air.

"I didn't think you were going to make it there for a while," Giuliani said, smiling.

Diana Cash, a researcher in UNC's Sheps Center for Health Services Research, was observing the testing Friday. She'll be doing similar screening in adult-care homes as part of a UNC study to identify older people who are likely to fall.

"We are going to ask about their health and pain level, their experiences with falling, and we'll look at their charts," Cash said. "We'll do a follow-up with them on falling and be able to speak to fall risks."

The program at the Seymour Center is part of a trend in senior centers -- in essence, becoming a preventive-care provider as well as a place to relax and find companionship. The screening allows therapists to design exercise programs for people who go through it.

"It shows if you are with the norm or below it or above it," said Maureen Kunz, who was screened the previous week and found that her balance was lacking.

Later the same morning, Tiffany Shubert, who holds a doctorate in physical therapy, led a class of about 20 older people through research-tested exercises aimed at improving balance.

"You want to challenge your balance but not over-challenge your balance," Shubert told the class.

Ruth Oppold, 86, was among those doing chin tucks and muscle stretches. She also performed lifts and bends while standing on one leg.

"I broke my arm after a fall, and my therapist told me about this," Oppold said.

Nearly 300 people have gone through fitness screenings at the Seymour Center. The tests were offered as early as 2003, but most of the participants have come since the new center and its exercise room opened this spring.

Members will get annual updates on how they are doing compared to their baseline performances.

"People say, 'I'm fit,' " said Orange County aging department director Jerry Passmore.

"But if you don't know your numbers, how do you know you're improving?"