Balance

Often a lack of balance sneaks up on us, even if we’re competing in sport. Have you recently checked how yours is going?  Try standing on one leg with your knee slightly bent and checking how wobbly you are. Then, carefully close your eyes and see whether the wobbliness increases.  You’ll probably find that your balance isn’t as good as it used to be.

Proprioception and how it relates to balance;

Balance is made up of many different components, one of which is proprioception. Proprioception is the feedback from the joints, muscles and ligaments to tell us approximately where in your body, the joint is.

For example, in the ankle the ligaments tell you to some extent where the ankle is so that you can balance without looking at your ankle.  This is a sense that we often loose if we don’t practice and it is obviously a sense that helps in our sport performance and helps to prevent injury and falls in everyday life.

Now, its your turn to test it…

Try checking your balance on one leg and see how you go.  If it is poor it could be due to a number of factors such as ankle stiffness, poor muscle strength, poor proprioception.  If it’s very bad it may be worth coming in to have it assessed and to start an exercise program to prevent it worsening and causing falls and injuries.

After your own analysis, if you need high level balance for sport, wobble-boards can sometimes be a fun and easy retraining tool. We have these in stock for our patients to assist.