Balance between evidence, norms and discourse

Vollständiger Abstract

Worum geht es in dieser Arbeit?

Abstract Balance training is a core component of physiotherapy. Despite extensive research, education, practice, and guidelines continue to be dominated by the assumption of a general balance ability that can be improved through non-specific training and measured using standardized assessments. The empirical evidence consistently shows that training effects are largely task‑specific and concentrate on the trained demands, while transfer to other tasks remains limited. Building on this evidence, the present paper adopts a discursive-analytic perspective to reflect on how the notion of a general balance ability nevertheless remains professionally stable. It illustrates how standardized assessments, guidelines, and curricular frameworks promote particular interpretations of balance and become guiding-action in practice. Balance thus emerges not only as motor performance but as a normatively framed category of professional action. Finally, implications for assessment, training, and research are derived from a context-specific understanding of functional ability that aligns with the World Health Organization’s vision of healthy ageing.