Is Your Brain Helping Your Balance?

What is good balance?

Having good balance can be simply thought of as the ability to maintain your body’s centre of gravity over your base of support with minimal sway and a sense of ease.

What are we training when we do balance exercises?

We often work with a series of exercises to help us “control” our balance in an upright body position to stop us from falling over.

What are the hidden benefits of having good balance?

• marked improvement in your ability to perform daily activities
• ability to improve your skill in your training program
• prevention of musculoskeletal injuries at all levels of sport

Are you tapping into your sensory system?

You can do many challenging balance exercises standing on one leg or balancing on uneven surfaces, but balance is more exciting than controlling postures and we must avoid training rigid muscle patterns.

Bringing your brain on board by sensing where your body is, enables you to feel comfortable with movement and to take command of what you want to do.  This enables you to maintain your balance while you are moving and gives you the ability to respond to external forces and regain your balance. This lets you go places.

Start by becoming aware of your breathing pattern and discovering where you can be to feel the most relaxed and yet agile and robust.

Find what it feels like to softly land right on top of your foot.

Find what it feels like to connect with the ground and use the ground to push off.

And can you recover from a shift in balance with grace and purpose?

Having these skills gives you options to both maintain your mobility, strength and fitness as your body ages and improve your skill level with many sporting activities.

Let us help you enjoy balance in your body

Talk to us about home exercise options or our in-clinic balance and agility exercise programs, including our very popular FitBones classes designed for people over 50.