New Research & Data
Physical Fitness and All-Cause Mortality in Older Adults
JAMA Network Open · August 12, 2026
A JAMA study found older adults who could stand longest on one leg were significantly more likely to survive the following seven years than those with weaker single-leg balance.
UpRight POV: Direct validation of our core thesis—a simple, quantifiable balance test predicts mortality risk years out. Findings like this are exactly why single-leg stance time deserves a place alongside blood pressure and weight as a routinely measured vital sign.
Study: Grab bar installations nearly halve number of ER calls among older adults who have fallen
McKnight’s Long-Term Care News · August 12, 2026
A new study found that installing grab bars in homes nearly cut in half the number of emergency calls following falls among older adults.
UpRight POV: Affordable, low-tech interventions still move the needle, but knowing who needs a grab bar most requires an objective balance assessment first, not guesswork.
Maintaining Your Balance: Health Tips & News
Hop! Skip! Jump! How fast exercises prevent falls and improve your balance
LA Times · August 18, 2026
Trainer Trina Altman argues balance training should include plyometrics like pogo hops and squat jumps, not just static holds, since falls come from sudden missteps that require fast reactive power (a trait called dynapenia) rather than steady balance alone.
UpRight POV: A great reminder of the nuances involved in catching ourselves when we fall—muscle power and bone mass. We’re thrilled to see this article highlight exercises to help strengthen reactive muscle, but we’re dismayed by the positioning of stationary balance versus reactive muscle. All is important—the human body works together as a system.
By the time a resident falls, we’ve already missed something
McKnight’s Senior Living · August 13, 2026
The piece highlights that sleep fragmentation alone can roughly double a senior living resident’s fall risk, alongside other early warning signs that routinely go unmonitored.
UpRight POV: This is a powerful argument for continuous measurement—balance and fall risk change day to day, and only ongoing tracking catches the warning signs in time.
The most useful exercise advice after 60 is not about doing more of one thing
Science Blog · August 15, 2026
The article summarizes current exercise research recommending that adults over 60 treat balance and strength as first-class training goals alongside aerobic fitness, not afterthoughts.
UpRight POV: Balance finally getting billed as a primary training goal—not a bonus—is the cultural shift that makes measurement-driven balance tracking a natural next step for consumers.
Helping seniors stay balanced
Santa Fe New Mexican · August 14, 2026
The piece covers efforts to expand fall-prevention classes in rural Northern New Mexico, where a shortage of trained instructors limits access.
UpRight POV: Access, not just awareness, is the real barrier in rural communities. Technology that can bring a standardized balance assessment to places without a trained instructor on-site has great potential here!
Also In the News
Health advocacy group sues AMA to make billing codes public
Healthcare Dive · August 17, 2026
A patient rights nonprofit is suing the AMA, arguing CPT billing codes—required by law for medical billing—should be publicly available without copyright restriction.
UpRight POV: Anything that changes how billing codes are accessed or governed is worth keeping an eye on as we work toward standardized reimbursement codes for balance assessment.
New White Paper from Secretary David J. Shulkin, MD, Outlines Strategy to Prevent 10,000 Veteran Hip Fractures a Year
PR Newswire · August 13, 2026
A new white paper outlines strategies to protect veterans, who face elevated hip fracture risk, extending care from fall prevention to the moment of impact.
UpRight POV: Scale like this—10,000 preventable fractures a year in one population alone—is the kind of number that should be driving balance measurement into standard VA and Medicare care pathways.
XZent Solutions Launches BedExit: AI-Powered Predictive Fall Detection
openPR.com · August 10, 2026
XZent Solutions launched BedExit, an AI-powered system designed to predict and flag fall risk before a patient leaves their bed unassisted.
UpRight POV: Predictive, sensor-based fall detection is a fast-growing category adjacent to UpRight Science. We’re on a mission to get people ahead of these technologies so they live long, healthy lives.