Can you stand on one leg with the other foot off the floor, eyes open, without holding onto something?
Count the seconds (one Mississippi, two Mississippi, etc) you can stand one leg. Then switch legs, count the seconds and compare your times for both legs.
I’ll wait.
How did you do?
Did your hand reach out for the wall, a table, a chair or did you tap your foot on the floor to steady yourself?
Are you better at standing on one leg than the other?
Balance is critical to health & fitness. If you are an older adult, you already know that “bad” balance, i.e. falling, can lead to terrible outcomes such as a broken hip, broken wrist, concussion or worse.
Having “good” balance improves your ability to move well, directly affects your quality of life and is a key component to staying independent.
But what is balance and how do we improve it?
Many of my clients say balance is not falling. To most of us, that’s plainly obvious as a lack of balance significantly increases the risk of falling.
Falling is a top fear among older adults and rightly so although injuries from falls affect all age groups.
If balance is not falling, what is it? Staying upright?
A quick search on PubMed reveals that “There is no universally accepted definition of human balance…”
That’s not very helpful.
The medical dictionary “Medicinenet” states that “…balance is a biological system that enables us to know where our bodies are in the environment and to maintain a desired position”.
According to this definition, balance has at least 2 elements: an understanding/awareness of our body in a physical environment and the ability to maintain a desired position.
Ok, we’re getting closer.
Can we agree that for most of us “… maintain a desired position” means standing upright against gravity?
Let’s also include walking and other forms of upright movement.
Staying upright against gravity depends on several factors with probably the most important being whether your body functions properly.
Balance is composed of multiple body systems: your brain, vision, vestibular system, muscles, ankles/feet all must coordinate, communicate and execute their roles properly for us to stay upright.
Stay tuned for part 2 which will examine external factors affecting your balance and ways to improve your balance.
In the meantime, make like a flamingo and practice standing on each leg with the other foot off each day and keep track of your time. Balance can improve with practice.
