Here’s how in the realm of postural sway or “balance.” The Balance Mat from Balance Metrix gives you real-time electronic postural sway measurements in the form of graphs and scores that you can use to help your clients achieve better balance. Clients can see the moving graph and score while they’re standing for a 20-second balance test and know whether they are in the high, medium or low falls risk category. Their results can be stored online in the Balance Mat test results system and also be printed out or emailed to the client or their medical or allied health professional.

Multimetric Balance Mat

The Multimetric Balance Mat is for exercise physiologists, physiotherapists, general practitioners and nurses. It is particularly useful in healthy ageing settings. It enables 5 tests in the normal, tandem, semi-tandem, left foot and right foot stances, all with the person’s eyes open.

Human movement researcher Dr Maryam Ghahramani from the University of Canberra and her PhD student Abishek Shrestha (both pictured in the UC Robotics Lab) are using the Multimetric Balance Mat as the centrepiece of a falls prevention project that ultimately aims to predict people who are at risk of falling. Abishek is the Balance Mat manufacturer’s (Balance Mat Pty Ltd) electronics engineer. Read about their work in this story published by Hello Leaders.

Neurometric Balance Mat

The Neurometric Balance Mat is for balance researchers and clinicians who are interested in falls risk, ageing and neurological conditions, as well as general practitioners, geriatricians and exercise physiologists. It enables 10 20-second tests in the normal (feet apart), feet together, tandem and semi-tandem stances, all with the person’s eyes open and then closed, as well as left foot and right foot tests with the person’s eyes open. Balance Mat inventor Ian Bergman (pictured) is currently testing the balance of patients at Hastings Medical Centre, Wauchope under the leadership of practice principal Dr Phil Ewart.

Between June and November 2024 Balance Mat Managing Director Ian Bergman and Electronics Engineer Abishek Shrestha have coordinated the collection of postural sway measurements via the Balance Mat from a total of 232 people – see accompanying graph for a results snapshot showing low (green), medium (amber) and high (red) postural sway, equating to low, medium and high falls risk.

While the 26 people who tested “high” (11%) were strongly recommended to seek medical intervention, the 109 people in the “medium” category (47%) were the ones who would probably benefit from exercise physiology or physiotherapy intervention aimed at improving their balance and reducing their falls risk. The remaining 97 people in the “low” category (42%) were strong, fit and healthy. These results gathered over a period of 5 months provide strong evidence of the benefits of balance testing combined with exercise therapy.

Thanks for this de-identified data collection go to Hastings Medical Centre and Bundaleer Retirement Village, Dr Phil Ewart and Practice Nurse Sarah King, Accredited Exercise Physiologist Lisa Lloyd, Principal of Ikigai Shift Andy Curry and Balance Mat Pty Ltd staffers Electronics Engineer Abishek Shrestha and Software Developer Binod Shrestha.

BESS Balance Mat

The BESS Balance Mat is used by sporting organisations and allied health professionals for the baseline screening and concussion monitoring of athletes. The system mimics the stances traditionally used in the manual version of the Balance Error Scoring System (BESS), enabling 20-second tests in each of three stances (normal, tandem and single-foot stances), all with the person’s eyes closed.

World renowned concussion experts Dr Trevor Clark and Dr Doug King have lodged an ethics application at Auckland University of Technology to research the incidence of injuries in female rugby league and roller derby participants using this model. Associate Professor Dr James McLoughlin from Flinders University (pictured testing an athlete’s balance at North Adelaide Football Club) has tested 427 athletes’ balance ability on the BESS Balance Mat for baseline concussion screening since December 2022.

StandSure – BalanceMore rehabilitation kit

When Balance Mat inventor Ian Bergman met StandSure sit-to-stand therapy tool inventor Ashley Shepherd they formed an immediate connection. Both inventions focused on the feet. Both could be used for neurorehabilitation. Together on 11 November 2024 (Remembrance Day) they launched the concept of the StandSure – BalanceMore rehabilitation kit, to be jointly marketed in the UK (Ashley is based in London) and Australia (Ian is based on the mid north coast of New South Wales in Australia). You can read about Ashley’s remarkable StandSure product results on her website. You can read the story of their partnership on Ian’s blog.

Ian is making a special Balance Mat for Ashley based on the tests she normally conducts with her neuromuscularskeletal physiotherapy clients. The BalanceMore is a 6-test Balance Mat that enables the first two tests in the normal and feet together stances with the person’s eyes open and closed and then a right foot and left foot test with their eyes open. Now, for the first time, Ashley is able to actually measure any balance changes. As she says, her motto is: “Intervene – measure – intervene – measure – intervene – measure and so on.”

The StandSure – BalanceMore rehabilitation kit retails for $1,511 ($1,691 incl. 10% GST + 20% VAT). This special introductory price is 40% off the regular price of a StandSure or BalanceMore product on its own. Terms of purchase are 50% up-front, 50% upon delivery. You can also subscribe. Please email margaret@balancemetrix.com.au for our prices and order form.

Balance Metrix is now taking orders for the StandSure – BalanceMore rehabilitation kit via special order (with a 12-week lead time to cover manufacturing and delivery times). You can order via email to margaret@balancemetrix.com.au

Unimetric Balance Mat

The Unimetric Balance Mat is a single-test Balance Mat that is useful for falls prevention in healthy ageing and aged care scenarios. It enables a single balance test in the normal (feet apart) stance with the person’s eyes open. It can also be programmed to add another test with the person’s eyes closed.

This simple Balance Mat model gives you enough information to understand if a person has a balance problem, then if you have access to a more complex off-the-shelf Balance Mat like the 4-test Multimetric Balance Mat or the 10-test Neurometric Balance Mat this will help you understand the root cause of the problem. The eyes closed functionality of the Neurometric Balance Mat is useful for managing neurological conditions, while the tandem and single-foot stances on the Multimetric Balance Mat are useful for establishing whether the person has a strength or weakness issue that can be fairly easily resolved by exercise prescription.

You can subscribe to the Unimetric Balance Mat for a one-time setup fee of $180 ($198 incl. GST) plus $38.50 ($42.35) per month. Alternatively, you can buy the Unimetric Balance Mat outright for $1,617 ($1,778.70 incl. GST). Terms of purchase are 50% up-front, 50% upon delivery.

Balance Metrix is now taking orders for the Unimetric Balance Mat via special order (with a 8-week lead time to cover manufacturing and delivery times). You can order via email to margaret@balancemetrix.com.au