Welcome to Balance Metrix
Balance Metrix is an Australian business established in 2022 to market the Balance Mat – a breakthrough in balance measurement. The Balance Mat was created by Ian Bergman, owner of the Balance Metrix business and managing director of the Balance Mat Pty Ltd company, which manufactures Balance Mat systems, owns the intellectual property, maintains the Balance Mat database, drives research & development (R&D) and provides technical support to Balance Mat users.
As the supplier of Balance Mat systems, Balance Metrix assists professionals in the exercise physiology, physiotherapy, medical, neurological, balance research and falls risk assessment communities to test balance in minutes using real-time Australian technology.
While the mission of Balance Metrix is to enable our clients to provide nuanced healthcare, the mission of Balance Mat Pty Ltd is to help community members live well longer through balance measurement combined with expert-led exercise and reablement interventions. Together we are team Balance!
Now you can measure people’s balance electronically
Our world-first Australian balance measurement system enables allied health and medical professionals and researchers to test people’s postural sway or “balance” in a sequence of 20 second tests. Clients are asked to stand as still as they can on a lightweight computerised floor mat with their arms by their sides.
Why measure balance?
The Balance Mat is an excellent outcome-measure, exercise-prescription and rehabilitation tool. It can help determine falls risk and assist in rehabilitation after stroke, heart attack and injury, particularly injury resulting in left- and right-leg balance asymmetry and concussion. It can also be used for monitoring the balance of people with medical conditions like diabetes and neurological conditions like Parkinson’s disease.
Results displayed in real time and stored online
Results are displayed in real time as a moving graph and score on a computer or laptop running Windows 10 or 11 or macOS and connected to the internet. At the end of each test the balance data is saved online in the Balance Mat test results system at www.balancemat.org for viewing, alongside patient biodata, known health conditions and other relevant notes for comparison over time.
How does the technology work?
The Balance Mat enables a series of 20-second balance tests in various well-known balance testing stances: normal (with feet apart), feet together, tandem, semi tandem, left foot, right foot. The photographs below are of the Multimetric Balance Mat, which does not have the feet together stance. A sensor in the Balance Mat uses fibre-optic cable and proprietary algorithms to sense and record the continuous postural adjustments (or postural sway) of a person standing on the mat: the higher the score the poorer the person’s balance.
The Balance Mat works on a computer or laptop running Windows 10 or 11 or macOS. It is a quick, easy and portable way of testing a client’s postural sway or “balance” – the higher the score the poorer the balance and higher the falls risk.
TGA approved
The Balance Mat is listed on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG). It received Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) approval as a Class 1 medical device in December 2021.
Easy to use and portable
The Balance Mat measures 500mm x 700mm and is only 6mm thick, making it easy, safe and non-threatening for older people to stand on and lightweight enough for practitioners to carry around with their laptop, especially if they run a mobile service.
University validated
The Balance Mat has been validated by university testing with high correlations against other balance testing devices such as force plates and inertial sensors.
Balance research currently underway
Current scientific research projects using the Neurometric Balance Mat are:
- a major population health study led by Professor Ecosse Lamoureux at the Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI). Professor Lamoureux is using the Balance Mat and other complementary mobility and falls tests to assess the balance and postural stability of 2,000 Singaporeans; and
- a study of the balance and fall risk of older adults being undertaken by University of Canberra PhD student and Balance Mat Pty Ltd electronics engineer Abishek Shrestha under the supervision of Senior Lecturer and human movement researcher Dr Maryam Ghahramani, Professor of Robotics Damith Herath and Associated Professor of Physiotherapy Dr Angie Fearon. Read more in this Hello Leaders story: Machine learning aims to transform falls prediction in aged care.
New concussion research in the pipeline
Sports scientist and former professional Rugby player Dr Trevor Clark and hospital emergency department clinical nurse specialist Dr Doug King – both prolific concussion researchers – have taken delivery of their BESS Balance Mats, conducted a feasibility study and lodged their Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) application with Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand for a concussion study that will compare Balance Mat (eyes-closed) test results with the traditional King-Devitt (ocular, card-based) sideline test results.
Congratulations to Dr Carol Flavell and team on ethical approval for balance research
Researchers from James Cook University in Townsville have received ethical approval for balance testing research scheduled to begin in New Year 2025. The team of physiotherapy and sports science researchers is led by Balance Metrix Innovation Partner Dr Carol Flavell (pictured, centre, with Prof. Anthony Leicht and Dr Moira Smith – Dr Kenji Doma not present). They will compare balance assessments made using the Neurometric Balance Mat, a force plate and traditional methods. To learn more see our blog.
SUBSCRIBE NOW from only $35 per month
Recently we massively reduced Balance Mat pricing on the basis of market feedback collected by Balance Metrix Biomedical Technology Advocate Catriona Watson-Kennedy. While our Shop page text has been updated to reflect the new pricing structure, upgrades to our e-commerce functionality are on their way (with the old prices still visible at the bottom of the page – please ignore them). The good news is that you can subscribe or purchase now at the new prices in the old-fashioned way – via email with an order form and invoice. Please contact margaret@balancemetrix.com.au.
You can purchase your own Balance Mat system or you can subscribe. Note that from 1 November 2024 there are no lock-in contracts on subscriptions. We now offer allied health practitioners, general practitioners, university researchers and academics a range of subscription options, all with a one-time setup fee of $180 ($198 incl. GST) and the first month free. Our cheapest monthly subscription is now $35 per month ($38.50 incl. GST). This is for the single-test Unimetric Balance Mat – a quick and easy falls risk assessment tool that is non-threatening for elderly people to stand on.
If you’re not sure about the feasibility of the Balance Mat for your practice, you might want to take out a two-month guest subscription around a special event like the one organised at Dee Why Beach by Danyel Miller from Rehab on the Road. You can read about what team Balance did on Ian Bergman’s blog and see photographs here (above & right) of Abishek Shrestha, Dr Sophie Scamps MP, and Danny Miller and her exercise physiology colleagues celebrating World Clinical Exercise Physiology Day on 23 September 2024. Incidentally, Danny Miller was the first clinical AEP to use the Balance Mat at the beach (see her video).
