Exercise Your Balance!

We know that exercise isn’t just to help us lose weight.  It is essential to our overall health.  It benefits our heart, lungs, cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar, muscle and bone strength, and even our sense of well-being to name just a few.  One area most people don’t think about is your nervous system!  Did you know that by doing a few simple exercises you can strengthen your Dorsal Columns?  Let me explain:

The Dorsal Columns are the areas of your nervous system that control position sense.  This is the system that helps you touch your finger to your nose with your eyes closed.  The medical term for this is proprioception.  You use a combination of memory and proprioception (position sense) every time you drive your car.  How else can you look ahead at the road and still be able to find the pedals at your feet without looking?!  When this part of your nervous system is weak people have a greater problem balancing, have increased incidences of ankle sprains, and even run into doorframes!  Balance is an important issue, especially as we age, when falls can be deadly.

Enough about physiology, here’s how to help yourself:

Basic exercise:  Stand next to a wall or chair where you can reach your hand out to steady yourself if necessary.  Lift one foot off the floor, balancing on the other leg.  Hold this position.  Ten seconds is really good.  If you can only do a couple of seconds, that’s okay; it’s just like any other exercise and will take some time to build up strength.  Try not to rest the foot you lift on the leg you are balancing on (that’s cheating!).  Try working up to 20-30 seconds.  This simple exercise not only strengthens your proprioception (position sense) but also helps strengthen your leg muscles and the gluteal (butt) muscle that supports your hip while walking.

More Advanced:  Once you feel more comfortable with the basic exercise, try closing your eyes for a few seconds.  Remember to have something nearby to help steady you if you need it.  While this one is more advanced, it is the ultimate goal.  When your eyes are closed you are relying totally on your proprioception (position sense) and not using visual input for help (which uses another part of your brain).

Variations:  You can strengthen your proprioception and your muscles by making a few changes to some things you may already be doing for exercise. 

*If you do standing leg lifts to work your outer thighs, try not holding onto something while you do them (remember to have something nearby, though).  You can also bring your leg back at an angle instead of just to the side to work more of your gluteal muscles.

*Try not to look at your feet while performing exercises or walking (if you can do so safely).  A bonus here is that this helps your posture.  For a small cheat, look at a mirror instead of down at your feet!

*Faster isn’t always necessary.  Even I get discouraged watching “Energizer Bunnies” work out!  Try balancing on one leg and moving your leg in a circle; the wider the circle the greater the workout.  Slow movements help with stability and control and give a really good workout as well.  Besides, we don’t want to ever have to call the First Responders!

*Make up any exercise you want that will force you to balance.  Such as standing on one leg and raising your hands up in the air.  Moving around forces your muscles to work harder and further strengthens your proprioception.

As with any exercise, if you experience pain while performing any of the above, please stop or try changing what you are doing.  Pain is an indicator that something is not functioning properly.  It may indicate that your muscles and joints need some “tender loving care” to help them function their best.  Remember that taking care of yourself now will prevent problems in the future!

These are excellent exercises to compliment your workout program, but you can also do these at home (even while brushing your teeth!).  All ages benefit from balance exercises so don’t forget to help teach a friend, loved one, or child something new to increase their health. 

It can take time to build up strength in your muscles and your proprioception, so don’t become discouraged.  I’ve used these exercises myself and taught them to my patients.  We have seen great improvements.  Just as we have to continue to exercise our muscles, the same is true for our proprioception.