How's your balance?

One thing I always do when I get athletes coming in my office with lower limb injuries, is to check there balance. Balance is an essential function of the locomotor system. It is often ignored but no less important than flexibility, strength, endurance, or aerobic fitness. Balance is an important part of the rehabilitation of certain injuries. It is also important part of injury prevention programs in runners. Balance training has been shown to improve strength in the hips and legs and is less time consuming than strength training programs. It’s also important to note that in the past few years research has shown that people with weaker hip muscles tend to get more leg and low back injuries.

Poor balance in otherwise healthy individuals may be due to previous injuries that were not properly rehabilitated, muscle imbalance, poor sensation coming from the sole of your feet, or other causes. Balance depends on the somatosensory, vestibular and visual systems. The somatosensory system gets sensory information for balance from the soles of the feet, the neck, and the lumbar spine for inputs. If two of the previously mentioned systems are not working properly, our balance will be affected.

Do the following test at home. Stand on one leg. Begin with eyes open and practice once or twice on each side. Then by looking straight ahead close your eyes and try maintaining your balance. If the foot touches the opposite leg, hopping occurs, the other foot touches the floor, or the arms touch something for support the test is stopped. You have 3 chances on each side to reach your best time.

Depending of your age you should be able to stand on one leg, eyes closed for a minimum of the following length of time.

20-49 year of age→ 24.2 seconds
50-59 year of age→ 21.0 seconds
60-69 year of age→ 10.2 seconds
70-79 year of age→ 4.3 seconds

If you can’t reach these times it may be important for you to get assessed to determine the cause of your poor balance and prevent injuries.

One easy exercise to work on your balance is to try holding your balance on one leg for 30 seconds. Perform the routine three to four times per leg twice daily until you can comfortably keep balance for 30 seconds. After that proceed with your eyes closed until you reach 30 seconds again.