This outreach effort is a part of national health promotion effort to keep our aging adults living independently and out of the hospitals and nursing homes. The Center for Disease Control & Prevention put together a statistics sheet on the threat of falls.

Take note of some of these startling facts:

• One-third of people 65 and older fall each year.
• Every 29 minutes an older adult dies from a fall.
• One out of 5 falls causes a serious injury such as a head trauma or boney fracture.
• Direct medical costs for fall injuries total over $28 billion annually; two-thirds of which accounts for hospital costs.

The good news is this. Physical therapists play an important role in the health care team effort for injury prevention.  To this end, Alpine PT is offering free falls risk consultations. Please call any of our three offices to schedule a free consult.

• Alpine South: 406-251-2323
• Alpine North 406-541-2606
• Alpine Downtown 406-549-0064

There is a great deal of helpful information on fall prevention, assessing your fall risk, and improving health and safety in the home and community. Consider visiting the following web resources for more information.

http://www.cdc.gov/HomeandRecreationalSafety/Falls/WhatYouCanDoToPreventFalls.html

http://www.cdc.gov/homeandrecreationalsafety/Falls/steadi/about.html

Listed below are several ongoing local community exercise programs available throughout the Missoula community.

* Active Aging Week – Missoula Public Library
http://purl.library.usyd.edu.au/sup/9781920898755

* PEAK Health and Wellness –  Silver Sneakers, Tai Chi, Gentle Yoga, Senior Water
http://peakmissoula.com/programs/classes

* YMCA Adult & Senior Health & Wellness Programs
http://www.ymcamissoula.org/index.php?page=health-fitness-2

* Stepping On: Building Confidence and Reducing Fall – Missoula Public Health
http://www.co.missoula.mt.us/HealthPromo/FallPrevention/index.htm
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* Arthritis Management Community Exercise Classes – Grizzly Peak, UM, Arthritis Foundation
* Walk With Ease (Group Cardio Walks), Down the River – Missoula Senior Center, UM, Arthritis Foundation
* Senior Exercise Classes – Community Medical Center
http://www.communitymed.org ​

This year’s Mountain West Cross Country Classic is set for September 28th and once again, Alpine Physical Therapy will be there to help staff the medical aide tent.

Last year saw over 1,800 middle school and high school aged racers take to the trail, and this year we should see about the same number.
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Once again, Alpine PT’s Doctor of Physical Therapy, Jamie Terry, will help out with this year’s race. Kalyn Fairbanks, DPT and Alpine Aide John Prugh will also be assisting with proper post-race management advice!

Introducing Missoula’s first-ever indoor soccer arena and the first of its kind in Western Montana! Missoula Indoor Soccer Arena, or MISA (www.MissoulaIndoor.com), swung its doors open on Saturday, September 14th. The place was packed with happy smiling faces from 10 AM to well beyond 4 PM. Several soccer groups competed throughout the day, all the way from younger teams to men’s 5 on 5. Alpine Physical Therapy is a proud and major sponsor of MISA!
No matter where you are in the facility, you get a great view of the playing field. Notably, the turf on the field is the same used in Washington-Grizzly Stadium! Way cool.
You can pretty much see our huge 4 x 8 dashboard logo from everywhere within the MISA facility, which boasts our major sponsorship of this incredible Missoula venture. Take a look in the pic below to see that we captured the best possible spot for our dasher board logo.