balance test

hi all. I found a balance test on line yesterday it said to stand with both feet together and put your hands by your side and see if you can stand still. I was wobbling all over the place. I kept falling forwards it was so funny!

Try walking in a straight line toe to heel, like you see the American police do when they pull someone for drink driving.

I try to follow a line in the tiles on our kitchen floor .

It’s harder than it sounds to walk toe to heel in a straight line, its a good balance test, they do it at my physio class.

The Romberg Test is another one, stand still, feet together, close your eyes, see if you start to lean or wobble ?

If you do start to wobble one of the first things that your brain should tell your body to do is to “grip” the floor with your toes, it’s a natural process that is done without thinking, but with MS we sometimes lose this or it’s s slow/weak reaction, physios & neuros look for this when doing this test.

My Neuro usually tries this when I see him, sometimes he will give a gentle nudge to see how quickly and efficiently I can correct myself.

Sometimes when I have a shower and I close my eyes due to the water I start to lose my Proprioception.

“What is proprioception?”

Proprioception is the sense of knowing where your body and joints are positioned in space. Proprioception sensory receptors are located in the muscle, joints, and skin. Lesions along the dorsal columns of the spinal cord leading to the cerebellum, especially through the cervical area, can impair proprioception giving rise to sensory ataxia and a positive Romberg sign. Sensory ataxia (loss of proprioception from the feet) can cause the “sink sign” which is when the patient begins to fall forward immediately upon closing his/her eyes.

Hi jactack. I think the Romberg test was the one I tried. it also said to do it with your eyes closed but I think if I did that I would definatley fall over.

Yeah common amongst us MS’ers, but even people without MS can fail the Romberg, it’s not an indication of MS, just a symptom that is more common and more pronounced, a bit like your reflex tests can be ore pronounced with MS, but everyone wil have a certain amount of reflex action with or without MS.

My reflexes just below my knee are hyper sensitive when the neuro taps them, it’s like I’m trying to kick a football.

I had my reflexes tested a few months ago and my legs shot in the air as well.

I was given all these test’s by my neuro as a first sign of my MS, I couldn’t do any of them with falling over to my right side (this is my worst side) I thought it was just a matter of course that people had to do these.

I looked on the internet to find out how ms can affect your balance and found that test. I have started to lose my balance recently and started to feel like I was drunk (I am tea total)! I have been holding onto the furniture so I don’t fall over. Getting new symptoms all the time. My left arm has just started to go numb this morning! Going to see my dr after christmas so I will discuss all of this with him.

My balance to be fair isn’t that bad, I do get a vertigo sort of feeling sometimes, but more nausea rather than balance issues.

My biggest MS issue is mobility, my legs are like so heavy that I can hardly lift them, my feet, especially the right foot will only lift a couple of inches and then it just wants to drop back to the ground, I cant really hold it up in the air.

Trying to put socks, shoes trousers ect on is a nightmare because as much as I try to lift my foot and hold it there it just drops down with gravity, no power to hold it there, which is the same when I walk, the power to lift my legs is just useless, and the further I try to walk, and we are talking just a few mtrs, the harder it gets, to the point where I just cannot go any further.

Very often it feels as though my thigh muscles are solid when I’m walking, which sort of gives a robotic feel to my walking, and makes it hard to get any leg lift because they are already tense & heavy.

Its so hard to explain MS symptoms !!!

Yeah these are basic tests that are carried out by our neuro when trying to diagnose whats going on.

hi jactac. I know what you mean about the symptoms. I am making a list to show the doctor, there are so many weird symptoms. If I didn’t write them down I would forget something. The last couple of days my left eye has felt weird as well it feels like someone is trying to scratch it. Not sure what is going on there!

To save drawing attention to yourself. Use a Rollator when out and about. It’s something sturdy to hold onto with confidence.

I dont use a Rollator (yet), but I definitely agree that one would help.

If, very seldom these days, I go shopping with my wife I feel far better in my walking and confidence if I have a shopping trolley to hold on to.

As soon as the trolley is gone I have to get back into the car.