Day 137 of 365 - A Fine Balance

This morning I read an article online about 'fall prevention classes' geared to seniors.  This brought to mind the whole idea of balance and, doing what we can to prevent falls in the first place.  Many of the people going to these classes, which I think are a great idea, had already experienced injurious falls.  Apparently, broken hips and wrists as well as head injury are the most common injuries from falls.  We certainly want to prevent that if we can.

Balance is achieved through coordination of sensory, motor and central nervous system processing.  The sensory input comes from visual, vestibular and proprioceptive cues.  Visual signals map the environment (like depth perception).  Vestibular signals provide information about the position and movement of the head.  Proprioception collects information about joint position and movement (where your body is in space). Muscle strength, especially in the core and legs helps maintain control of balance.

Some basic tests of functional balance include the items below.  You could try them yourself to see where you stand in the balance department.

  • Standing, feet parallel, eyes open;  standing, feet parallel, eyes closed.  Be aware of sway or needing to step.
  • Balancing on one foot (ideally 30 seconds).  You can also try this eyes closed.
  • Four square step test, clockwise, then counterclockwise (15 seconds or less)
  • Up and Go - Stand from sit, walk 3 meters, turn, walk back, sit down.
  • Reach Test - Stand with arm forward at shoulder height, fist closed and reach forward without moving feet. (ideally 6 inches or more)
Of course, accidents sometimes happen, like slipping on ice, or in the bathtub but, doing activities to maintain or improve our balance responses can help our reaction time and perhaps allow us to protect ourselves from injury.

Any enjoyable activities that incorporate the components involved in balance are helpful.  You could simply practice the above skills on your own and see how you improve over time, or you could work with a trainer at a gym, or attend some kind of class that incorporates them.

Another amazing benefit of my NIA dance class is that every class incorporates most of these skills.  We are always practicing flexibility, agility, mobility and strength moves.  Moving in all planes, low, medium and high is encouraged.  We do lots of partial or full turns. We squat.  And, we get down to and up from the floor.

Since experiencing a form of sensory neuropathy in one lower leg and foot in the last couple years, kind of a sciatica, but just with numbness, not pain, my balance has certainly been affected.  My NIA classes have been a great venue to carefully practice and maintain my balance skills.  I also practice one foot standing balance at home on most days.  My one foot eyes closed balance is atrocious but I really want to improve it.

As you can imagine, if you think about your daily activities, balance is a big component of so many things which are part of our independence.  I, for one, would like to maintain that independent living as long as I can.  I expect you do as well.


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