Living a “Balanced” Life.

Has this ever happened to you? You are walking across the room, engrossed in conversation. All of a sudden something trips you. You look to see what the “something” was, only to see there is absolutely nothing there. It happens to the best of us. The point I want to make is that you caught yourself and didn’t actually fall down; you used your sense of balance.

If, like me, you are at midlife, you may think, “I’m too young to worry about falling, and I’m certainly not one of those people who falls down and can’t get up.”I understand that perspective, but in reality, we should always work on balance; if we don’t we are likely to have problems the rest of our lives.

Balance is an extraordinary and complicated task that we generally take for granted. On the other hand, balance is extremely important because we use it in most everything we do. Consider walking. We don’t actually think too much about walking because it comes so naturally. In reality, walking is a very complex process that requires total body coordination and cooperation—and, of course, balance. We also use our balance to get out of bed in the morning, to get into the car, to walk up the stairs, to sit down, to move ourselves across the room, and even to put on our pants.

There are several everyday activities that compromise our balance. When we sit for long periods of time we compromise our posture, which in turn can affect our balance. We walk on pavement and hard flat surfaces and don’t choose our shoes wisely, again affecting our balance. In general, we don’t use our body as it was designed; as a result, we lose our mobility, flexibility, coordination, and balance.

The situation compounds itself. In other words, when we feel off balance or we have some sort of injury we may overcompensate. The overcompensation can make matters worse. If you feel a twinge in your knee, you may start to put more of your weight onto the leg that doesn’t hurt. If you do this long enough, you will start to create other pains and imbalances.

Weak ankles can affect your balance as well. Try this simple ankle test on each foot: Stand barefoot, toes pointed forward, facing a wall. Place one foot about 2 inches from the wall, and without lifting your heel, bend your knee until it touches the wall. If you can do this, move back an inch and try again. If you can touch your knee to the wall when your toes are 2 to 3 inches from the wall, you’ve got a normal range of dorsiflexion.

Back to the issue of walking, one of the most fundamental activities for independence as we grow old. Aging naturally affects a person’s gait, changing it from a longer step length and narrower step width to shorter step length and wider step width. If you move into these changes already unstable, you may eventually not get around as well. Have you ever seen people shuffle instead of picking up their feet? Have you seen people that don’t get across the street before the traffic light changes? It is important to pay attention to your gait and your balance so that you do not become one of these people as you age.

There are several methods used to improve a person’s gait and balance. As a certified personal trainer I can work closely with your doctor or physical therapist to design a program for you to improve balance, increase your strength, and ward off further loss of function. Contact  me and have yourself a safer winter.