The Unknown Secret Behind the 5 Second Balance Test
Welcome to Living to 120 and Beyond, I’m Jeff Harrison. I’m here with …
Dr. Chein: Dr. Edmund Chein.
The 5 second balance test
Jeff Harrison: Now, Dr. Chein, we started a process of functionality being so important, and what we’re going to see now is a series of functionality tests that you do here in your office. We’re going to take them one at a time, and the first we were talking about is the 5 second balance test. You call it the five second balance test. Talk about that; why do you do that?
Dr. Chein: As we age, one of the things that ages with us is the brain, and brain-aging leads to dementia eventually. Whether it’s Alzheimer’s or conventional dementia, it doesn’t matter, loss of memory. That’s something we want to test very early, detect it as early as possible because it’s reversible, it can be cured. Brain can be regenerated. The problem can be solved. We don’t have to live eventually ending up, if we live long enough, with dementia.
You want to find out if you are starting the journey to dementia, so the balance test tests out the posterior part of the brain more than the other parts of the brain. That part of the brain is called cerebellum. The whole brain ages together, I mean there is no such thing as aging the cerebellum only, so when we detect aging in the cerebellum, you can imply that the rest of the brain is also suffering a problem. Balancing is very easy to detect because that’s what the cerebellum does.
We test it by having the patient standing with eyes open, because vision helps balancing, so that’s why old people with vision problems fall more frequently, because they can’t see, they don’t have the visual input, as we will demonstrate later on. The vision play a significant role in our balance.
When you have very severe brain degeneration, you won’t even pass the eye-opening test. On one leg, if I ask you to stand on one leg for five seconds, you will sway, even with eyes open. On the other leg, same thing, you will sway, even with the eyes open.
Jeff Harrison: Are you saying, Dr. Chein, even in those situations, you can do something to start helping that situation?
Dr. Chein: Absolutely. All brain damages are reversible now, today, and the most advanced ones are stem cell injection to the brain. Stem cells are called “stem” because they can change into any cells, when you put stem cells in the brain it becomes brain cells. That’s the most latest advance that we can have. I’m talking about stem cell as the first treatment, there are many, many nutrients that can reverse dementia and brain aging. It is reversible, that’s why we need to detect it. If it’s not a reversible thing, like cancer or whatever, cancer is reversible too, but I wouldn’t even do that as part of the screening test.
Jeff Harrison: The whole idea of this simple test, just this balance test, can tell you a lot, and maybe those people watching … I mean, if they tried this at home, they’ll get to see the test here in a second, but they try this at home, and if they notice they’re having challenges, then they’re already getting a precursor of what is already starting to happen, and they need to get a hold of you.
Dr. Chein: Right. Just stop the TV right now and stand up, stand on your one leg. One, two, three, four, five, I pass! Okay! Now, close your eyes, one, two, three, four, five, and I pass? Oh! Celebrate! I don’t have brain problem right now. It’s that easy. If you close your eyes and start swaying and before five you have to put the other leg down, you better see a doctor. You have brain problem.
Jeff Harrison: This is the first test that we’ve done, and it’s the five second balance test. We challenge you at home to do this, and then if you’re interested in this, get a hold of the office. What’s the information here to get a hold of the office?
Dr. Chein: 760-327-8939 or email me, edmundchein@yahoo.com.
Jeff Harrison: That’s great. Well thank you so much for joining us on this session of Living to 120 and Beyond, and we’ll be talking in the future about more of these tests that are done here in the office, and maybe other tests that you can do yourself.
Thanks for joining us, I’m Jeff Harrison.
Dr. Chein: Dr. Edmund Chein.