Whether you are trying to pounce from rock to rock hiking down a mountain, maximize your glide on your ultra narrow skate skis, hopping off your truck while carrying a box of nails, or walking to the bathroom in the middle of the night, there is one common denominator…Balance. It is a skill we use and often wish we used more, every day. If we step back and ponder the mechanics of walking on two feet, the ability of our system to control our limbs without falling over is really amazing. Like all systems in our body, the more we stress it, the better it becomes; or the less we use it, the worse it responds. Use it or Lose it!
How does our body keep its balance?
- Muscle Strength: The ability of your muscle to exert a force on an external object. Can your legs support your body weight?
- Proprioception: Sense of body position, movement, and force. The ability to tell where your body parts are in space. The body’s “sixth sense”. Wow! that uneven grass was hard to walk on because I had a hard time finding my footing.
- Vestibular System: Sensory system located in the inner ear that provides the brain with information about balance, motion, and head and body position. Do you feel like you are going to fall over when you turn your head quickly?
- Sensation: Nerve impulses carrying feeling and information from the skin and body to the brain. Is it sometimes hard to feel your feet in your shoes? Or the ground under your feet?
Among others…its complicated! And amazing!
Healthcare discussion frequently references balance due to the role it plays with falls and resulting injury. And more importantly, the physical, emotional, and financial effects those falls can cause. The CDC estimates the cost of falls by older adults to be about $50 Billion annually!
Declining balance with age may feel on some level to be inevitable and felt personally by all. But, that does not mean it is a lost cause. Due to its multi factorial contributors, Physical Therapy has many tools in its toolbox to improve balance. This will result in improved performance in sport, working safely on a busy jobsite, and safely navigating your house and community.
How would Physical Therapy help improve Balance?
- Identify which contributors to your balance abilities are most impaired. Do you have a lack of muscle strength in specific muscles? A strength imbalance between sides of your body? Are you easily fatigued? Is pain affecting how you use your body?
- Develop an exercise program that addresses those areas and tailor it to the activity you would like to improve. Walking and coordination exercises to improve your balance and safety with walking. Dynamic single leg activities for your ability to hop mogul to mogul while skiing or walking rafter to rafter while building a house.
- Assess your improvement and progress the program as needed to make sure your body can meet the demands of the task.
The ability to improve your skills with walking, standing, skiing, hiking, and working are the goal, but the feeling of comfort and safety with these activities is the real benefit. Let us help you feel good again! It’s not worth the worry!
Written by: Matt Odachowski, PT, OCS