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don wrote: > when you close your eyes do you tened to fall down or is it just > me? It's everybody. As I understand it, there are at least three senses involved in balance. Vision is one. Another uses a kind of gyroscope in the ears. Another is the perception of the activity and weight of our muscles. Take away one and it's harder to balance. I may be wrong, but I think vision is the strongest factor. I remember once being in a tilted room at an amusement park. After a short while you would see the room as level. But once that happened you would automatically try to stand parallel to the walls, and that made you fall down. Balance is not as good in older people in general, and worse for people with PD. And I've read that sinemet doesn't help that much with balance either, because balance involves a different part of the brain than the dopamine system. I notice that my balance has gotten worse over the past few years. I feel much less confident on ladders, for example. I have to remember to be more careful, because I tend to think I can still do with equal ease what I used to do, and then I get surprised. I would think that there are exercises to improve our ability to stay erect, but I haven't heard of any. Any physical therapists or exercise mavens out there who know about this? Does standing on one leg (while holding on to something when you need to) help? Phil Tompkins Hoboken NJ age 60/dx 1990