Many of my older clients began training with me because they lost their balance. Sometimes they tripped while walking. Other times they bent down, became dizzy, and fell. They were right to be concerned. For seniors, falls frequently lead to serious injury. To enjoy life, such as traveling or playing with the grandkids, good balance is crucial.
Here are four exercises to improve your balance that you can perform while standing stationary.
Four Position Balance
Stand up straight and cross your arms over your chest. Focus on an object in front of you at eye height. When you can hold a position for thirty seconds, advance to the next position.
Position 1: Place your feet side by side so the sides of your feet touch each other.
Position 2: Move one foot slightly forward so that the heel of the front foot touches the ball of the back foot.
Position 3: Place one foot directly in front of the other so that the heel of the front foot touches the toes of the back foot.
Position 4: Raise one foot a few inches off the ground. Then hold this position with the other foot.
2. Single-leg Stance with Head Turns
Once you can stand on one foot for thirty seconds, turn your head to the right and left ten times.
3. Ankle Sway
Stand straight with your feet shoulder width apart. Moving just your ankles, lean forward as far you can go. You’ll feel your toes digging in and your heels starting to come off the ground.
Then lean backwards as far as you can. You’ll feel your weight shift to your heels and your toes starting to come off the ground.
Slowly sway forward and backward. Be sure not to bend at the hips.
Don’t be surprised if you have to take a step either forward or backward. That’s fine. As you get better at this, move the feet closer together until they’re right beside the other.
4. Clock touches
Stand straight with your feet close together. This is your starting position.
Imagine that you are standing in the middle of a big clock face with the 12 directly in front of you.
Reach with your right foot for the 12 as far as you can and lightly touch the floor while keeping your weight on your stance leg. Return to the starting position.
Repat for the 1 O’Clock position, 2 O’Clock position and so forth until you reach 6 O’Clock.
Repat with the other leg starting at 12, moving counterclockwise to 11 O’Clock, 10 O’Clock and so forth until you reach 6 O’Clock.
In the next post, I’ll show balance exercises to perform while you’re walking.