balance Part 1⚖️
PART 1
Have you ever wondered what contributes to your good (or poor) balance?
It's not as simple as you might think. There are more than 3 systems that contribute to your balance.
1. Your Vision: Input from your eyes about what you are seeing.
2. Your Proprioception: Input from your muscles, joints, and tendons about where your body is in space.
3. Your Vestibular System: Input from structures in your inner ear about which direction and how fast you are moving.
All the sensory information from each of these 3 systems is received by your brain stem for Sensory Integration. The brain interprets the incoming data, then sends signals back out to your body to produce movement, Motor Output.
Did you think all of that was happening as you stepped off a curb or landed from a jump shot?
Can you hold all 3 balance positions for 30 seconds - on both sides?
For each test position, stand on a flat surface with your eyes open without holding on for support.
1. Romberg: Feet together: can you stand tall for 30 seconds with your feet close together?
2. Tandem: Heel to toe: can you stand like you're on a tightrope for 30 seconds? How about with the other foot in front?
3. Marcher's: Single leg: can you hold a march pose with your pelvis level for 30 seconds? Try both sides!
⬆️ Feet together for this balance drill👣 ⬆️
Grab a pillow or folded blanket to stand on.
Romberg Position
1. Step onto the pillow with your feet together. Start with eyes open and arms crossed at your chest. Aim for 30 seconds.
*The uneven surface with challenge your proprioception.
2. If that's easy, follow Jill in the video and close your eyes!
*This will challenge proprioception more without having vision to help keep you steady.
3. Step onto the pillow with your feet together. Find a target to focus on in front of you. Now, turn your head side to side as quick as you can while still maintaining your balance. The target should stay in focus the entire time. Aim for 30 seconds.
4. To make this harder: make QUICKER head movements, BIGGER head movements (saying yes is harder than saying no), or BOTH. Aim for as hard as you can without losing balance for 30 seconds.
*The uneven surface combined with changing head movement and speeds will challenge your proprioceptive and vestibular systems respectively.
5. Same stance as above, this time close your eyes as you do the head turns. Aim for 30 seconds!
*By removing your vision, this increases the challenge on your proprioceptive and vestibular systems.
⬆️ Tight Rope Balance Drill 👣 ⬆️
Grab your pillow or folded blanket to stand on.
Tandem Stance Progression
Goal: challenge all 3 systems that play a role in maintaining your balance - proprioceptive, visual, & vestibular.
1. Step onto the pillow with one foot in front of the other Eyes Open and maintain your balance. Aim for 30 seconds.
*The uneven surface challenges proprioception, or the feedback you're receiving from the muscles/joints/tendons of your lower body.
2. Step onto the pillow with one foot in front of the other with your Eyes Closed and maintain your balance.
*Removing your vision increases the demand on your other 2 systems (proprioceptive and vestibular have to work harder!).
3. Stand on a pillow with one foot in front of the other with your eyes closed while turning your head side to side as quickly as you can while still maintaining your balance.
*Moving your head makes this harder by challenging the vestibular system which detect direction and speed of your body's motion.
⬆️ Notice that one leg is easier to balance on then the other? Try this drill ⬆️
Single Leg Stance with Head Turns
Setup: Stand on one leg with your pelvis level.
Movement: Focus your eyes on a object while turning your head side to side as quickly as you can while still maintaining your balance and keeping the object in focus.
Progression: Use quicker and bigger head movements.
TIP: You can perform this again with your head moving up and down or even on diagonals.
Try it! It’s amazing how much harder it gets when you turn a different direction.