This week I want you to start improving your balance. Working on your balance will both increase healing and also decrease pain!
If you are curious about the “why” behind this homework, read to the end! I’ll explain the basic neurology of why I am giving you this homework.
Balance homework:
First level:
- Stand in a corner, so that you can steady yourself against a wall with both hands if you start to fall.
- Position yourself so you are standing with your heel 1 inch in front of the big toe of the back foot, and 1 inch to the side of the back foot. Place your dominant foot (the one you would kick a ball with) in the front. If you cannot comfortably stand in that position, stand with your feet as close together as possible.
- If you feel unsteady with your feet close together, practice standing like that until you can do it for 30 seconds without touching the wall.
- Once you feel comfortable in this position, close your eyes. Practice balance until you can stand for 20 seconds without taking a step or opening your eyes.
- The best way to practice is to do the exercise for 3 minutes a day. If you need to open your eyes or brace against the wall, that is fine! Just re-steady yourself and get back to balancing. Over time, you will touch the wall less often.
- Once you can do this with your eyes open or eyes closed easily, move on to the exercises below.
Second Level:
Stand on one foot while brushing teeth or doing dishes. Work up to being able to stand on one foot for 30 seconds. You should be able to do this on either foot. Notice that your ability to do this may change from day to day. When you are stressed, it might be harder. That is normal! Doing it daily is a good way to help you stay emotionally grounded and also decrease pain.
Once you can easily stand on one foot for 30 seconds, close your eyes while on one foot. Your goal is to do this for 20 seconds. As we age, this gets harder. So if you are in your 60s or 70s, it will take a lot of practice to be able to do this. That’s ok! Be patient and keep practicing.
Once you are able to do this easily, practice both eyes open and eyes closed one foot balance at least 3 times a week. Maintaining balance is important to prevent future injuries and pain.
Extra credit exercise:
Walk on unstable surfaces. If you feel steady on your feet when walking on sidewalks, choose to walk on grass, sand or gravel when you can. This will challenge your brain in some really good ways.
On your next visit, let me know how far you got in these exercises. I can give you some targeted tips to keep improving.
Chiropractic energy medicine will help make these exercises easier to do. So if you are struggling with them, don’t worry! Staying on track with your care plan will help make these exercises easier!
See you soon,
Meggie
The WHY:
If you are curious about the neurology and theory behind these exercises, read on!
Balance is a complex neurological process that involves vision, proprioception and the vestibular system. Proprioception is also heavily linked to injury prevention (when your proprioception is good) and chronic pain (when your proprioception is bad).
Proprioception is your brain’s awareness of where your joints are in space. When you walk up stairs, you do not have to look to make sure your feet are high enough in the air to clear the step. You just look at how high the step is and your body then calculates how high to bend your hip, knee and ankle so that your foot clears the step. There are proprioceptors (proprio-receptors) in your joints that tell you where your body is.
If your proprioceptors are functioning well, your brain knows where your body is in space and you have better body awareness. Additionally, if your proprioception is bad you are more likely to get injured. You cannot catch yourself if you fall or moderate your movements as well if you don’t know where your body is. Athletes have incredibly good proprioception.
We also know that if you have poor proprioception, you are more likely to have chronic pain. The good news is that research shows that by improving your proprioception, you can decrease your pain! And so this is why balance is such an important home exercise.
