Support Us

Our Research Cluster is crucial for developing new tools, therapeutic interventions and technologies to reduce the likelihood and impact of balance instability and falls.

 

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Our team has developed one of the most comprehensive collections of cutting-edge balance measurement tools and techniques. Few other research groups have the capacity and expertise to study balance from the single-motor unit and primary sensory afferent level, all the way to whole-body postural responses, and measure all aspects of human balance control. Our research is focused on the following 3 areas:

 

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1. HEALTHY BALANCE CONTROL

To understand why and how people fall, it is important to firstly understand what the mechanisms are behind maintaining healthy balance. This involves testing healthy subjects without any balance disorders and examining the factors contributing to maintaining an upright posture. 

 

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2. MECHANISMS OF BALANCE CONTROL

What happens to disrupt the mechanisms controlling balance in people suffering from balance disorders? This is the question we ask when we compare healthy subjects with those experiencing conditions leading to balance deficits. Our research focuses on those with Parkinson's disease, stroke, MS, vestibular loss, traumatic brain injury, arthritis, as well as older adults. 

 

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3. BALANCE IMPROVEMENT & FALL PREVENTION

Using our knowledge gained from studying the mechanisms and components of maintaining healthy balance and the factors at play to disrupt the balance system in those with disorders, we can develop tools and treatments to prevent falls including wearable technologies and techniques such as exercise and training strategies. 

 

With your help, we can fund seed projects, innovative high-risk/high-reward pilot projects and larger clinical studies, and develop new portable technology to extend our research out into the community. These initiatives all contribute toward the aim to inform practice and policy in order to reduce the significant health, social, and financial burdens of falls on society.

To find out more about supporting our work, please email Mark Carpenter.

 

First Nations land acknowledegement

The UBC Point Grey campus is situated on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm.

Origins of Balance Deficits and Falls Research Cluster

Research Excellence Clusters at UBC Vancouver is a joint initiative of the Provost and Vice-President, Academic, UBC Vancouver and the Vice-President, Research and Innovation. Funding support for the clusters is provided by Academic Excellence Funds – UBC Vancouver.

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