The benefits of good balance
Improving your balance should be an integral part of your fitness routine. That’s because good balance is essential to health in a variety of ways. It helps prevent falls, which can have serious long-term impacts on health, and is also an important aspect of healthy aging and staying mobile.
Balance is a fundamental aspect of movement. Practicing and maintaining balance through targeted training exercises can help keep your vestibular system limber and protect against age-related decline. Incorporating balance training into your regimen can also help you recover from injury more quickly, improve coordination, increase muscle strength and stability (which can improve outcomes for people living with health conditions such as Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis), and even heighten cognitive function.
For Fall Prevention Month, we present tips for improving your balance.
Why you may be having balance problems
There are many reasons why balance issues occur.
Balance can decline due to age-related causes. Other reasons include disorders like benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), labyrinthitis, Ménière's disease, and vestibular neuronitis. Arthritis, head injuries, low blood pressure, and medications such as benzodiazepines, SSRIs, blood pressure medications, opioids, and sedatives can also cause dizziness and affect balance.
Improve your balance by building core strength
Strengthening core muscles is at the heart of balance improvement. A strong core also makes it easier to perform a wide variety of physical activities, from picking up a child to playing golf. Strong core muscles can help reduce injury and fatigue, increase endurance, and improve athletic performance.
Here are some of the top ways to build core strength.
- Standing on one foot.
Simple as it sounds, doing this every day can help improve balance and equilibrium. Standing with your feet together or a few inches apart and holding on to the back of a stable chair, lift one foot off the ground slowly and bend your knee back at a 90-degree angle. Hold for 10 seconds. Lower your foot to the floor, and repeat on the other side. Do this move 10 to 15 times on each foot. - Heel-to-toe walking.
This exercise improves balance and stability. Stand with your arms out at your sides. Tighten your stomach muscles, and hold your shoulders back. Walk in a straight line, placing one foot directly in front of the other, heel to toe. When you take a step, your heel should touch the floor first and then your toes. You can also try heel-to-toe walking alongside a wall, using the wall for support if needed. - Climbing stairs.
This heart-healthy exercise also works lower body muscles, contributing to better balance and stability. - Yoga.
This ancient exercise technique includes a variety of approaches that stretch and strengthen muscles essential to core stability. Bridge pose, plank pose, camel pose, and boat pose are just a few that help build core strength while stabilizing the spine and pelvis. As an added bonus, stretching poses that are integral to yoga help increase flexibility. - Pilates.
Developed by Joseph Pilates in the early 20th century, this approach synchronizes the breath to target deep stabilization muscles. Core strengthening through Pilates exercises improves circulation and relieves low back pain in addition to helping with balance. - Stretching.
Simple stretching exercises improve both flexibility and range of motion while contributing to better balance. Include both dynamic stretches that warm the body (arm circles, bodyweight squats, jumping jacks) and static, whole-body stretches in the cooldown phase (seated butterfly, toe touches, overhead triceps stretch, kneeling hip flexor stretch, and supine hamstring stretch) for the safest and most effective combination. - Stability ball, balance board, and BOSU (“Both Sides Up”) ball.
These fitness equipment items can be part of your home gym for easy access to balance training any time you want. And they’re fun to use!
Many of these exercises help improve proprioception, strengthen joints, and contribute to overall body strength while helping improve balance.
Incorporate balance training into your everyday routine
Fyzical Therapy and Balance Center of Lanham offers balance training to help improve stability and confidence. Schedule an appointment for a free fall risk assessment. We’ll analyze your balance, posture, and strength and recommend the best program for your needs. Get in touch today. We look forward to seeing you!