At the age of 37, Fran suffered an acquired brain injury which left her physically debilitated and made performing simple activities of daily living difficult.
After engaging in rehabilitation after her stroke, Fran regained enough functionality to be independent in her day to day life, however, 5 years on she still lacked the confidence to engage in physical activity and her quality of life was suffering. Fran was initially referred to me for Exercise Physiology services to aid in weight loss, yet on initial assessment her case wasn’t as straight forward as it seemed. Although she managed to walk unaided, Fran presented with an ataxic gait and was very unsteady on her feet. Fran reported that she was embarrassed to go for walks in public because people thought she was drunk due to her staggered walking. Fran also stated that she had a fear of falling which further contributed to her physical inactivity. Accordingly, Fran’s initial goal was to improve her gait pattern to give her the confidence to be physically active out in the community. With this in mind, her exercise program focused on increasing her lumbo-pelivc strength and performing dynamic balance activities.