How Adrianne Regained Her Balance and Strength
Adrianne Kuhar, now 26, was doing toes-to-bar exercises at her local gym in April 2022 when she fell from the bar. The intense fall led to a skull fracture, brain bleed, and concussion.
“I sat up and couldn’t see or hear well. Everything was blurry and muffled. It was scary,” Adrianne says.
After an emergency visit to UPMC Altoona and a visit to a concussion specialist, Adrianne was referred to UPMC Rehabilitation Institute: Ebensburg for outpatient vestibular and exertion therapy to treat her concussion.
There, she worked with Kim Todaro, PT, DPT, OCS, facility director and physical therapist. Kim has specialty training in vestibular and exertion physical therapies, which are often used to treat vestibular concussions. Vestibular concussions cause trouble with balance, motion, and vision, so Kim and Adrianne worked together on an individualized treatment plan to restore her balance and strength.
“My first day at PT, Kim asked me what my goal was, and I told her I wanted to get back to the gym,” Adrianne says. “She gave me confidence and said, ‘we’re going to make that happen.’”
Adrianne attended physical therapy for about six months. To push against her symptoms of dizziness and exhaustion, Kim would have her run down the hallway navigating cones, stand on a half exercise ball for balance, turn quickly to catch a ball, and perform several other balance and exertion-related exercises, eventually building up to burpees and box jumps.
With her time at clinic, as well as doing home exercises, Adrianne says she feels about 90% back to how she felt before her fall.
She did get back to the gym just three months after her fall and now goes four days a week. She keeps in touch with Kim and other staff, having grown close to them during her treatment.
“Having faith, as well as my wonderful physical therapy staff, my fiancé, family, and friends was key,” Adrianne says. “I wouldn't have healed so quickly if it weren’t for them.”
Read more stories from balance and vestibular rehab patients.
Read more about the Balance and Vestibular Rehabilitation Program.
