Ways to Improve Your Balance

Let’s talk about balance. Not work-life balance, although that’s pretty important, and not your bank balance, but that’s also worth keeping an eye on. We’re talking about regular old balance-balance. Poor balance as we age can be dangerous. A recent study conducted in June by a team of Brazilian researchers found that some 20 percent of the 1,700 older adults they tested could not balance on one leg for ten seconds or more. The study also indicated that an inability to balance is associated with a twofold risk of death (from any cause) within ten years.

Causes of poor balance, AKA balance disorders, are many and varied. Balancing is a complex operation, involving multiple systems in your body: eyes, bones and joints, muscles, heart and blood vessels and the balance organ in our inner ear (the vestibular system). Older people are more likely to have balance problems than younger people.

How do we balance?

The process of balancing is really like an ongoing conversation between your brain and the organs and systems above, specifically your ears, eyes and the touch sensors and muscles of your legs. Here’s a simplified version of how that works: parts of the vestibular system (semicircular canals which contain a trio of ducts filled with fluid), work because a structure called a cupula, which flexes or billows like a sail as the fluid moves, stimulate sensory hair cells beneath the cupula. They protrude into the cupula and send signals to tell your brain when your head turns or rotates, and which way. 

A pair of other structures, called otolithic organs, tell your brain the position of your head with respect to gravity. Otolithic organs’ job is to tell your brain if you’re leaning back, sitting up, lying down or whether you are moving your head and in which direction. These mechanisms work kind of like a level, only instead of an air bubble, they contain tiny grains of calcium carbonate. When you move your head, gravity pulls the grains, which activate sensory hairs, which tell your brain what your head is doing. When all of these mechanisms are working together as they should, your balance is fine. But when one tiny grain lands in the wrong place, for example, things can go (or at least feel) sideways pretty quickly.     

Symptoms may arise suddenly, last for a long time or they may ebb and flow over time. You’ll know if you’ve got a balance disorder because the symptoms are no fun. Balance disorder symptoms can include:

• Feeling as though you’re going to fall or falling
• Disorientation or confusion
• Blurry vision
• Floating sensation
• Spinning sensation or dizziness (vertigo)
• Stumbling or staggering when walking
• Panic, fear, anxiety
• Vomiting, diarrhea, nausea
• Changes in heart rate
• Changes in blood pressure

Some causes of balance disorders include:

• Medications
• Low blood pressure
• Ear infections
• Arthritis
• Eye muscle imbalance
• Head injuries 

If you think you may have a balance disorder, we’ve assembled a handful of easy ways to test your balance:

• Stand with your feet touching one another, side by side. Close your eyes for 30 seconds. Are you swaying? Did you lose your balance and have to peek? You should be able to stand this way for 30 seconds or longer.
• Stand with one foot in front of the other. Set your timer for 30 seconds, close your eyes and hold the pose. Seems simple enough but if your balance isn’t quite up to snuff you may find yourself swaying.
• Stand nice and straight. Now reach forward, with your arms outstretched, and reach as far forward as you can. You should be able to reach forward by ten inches with confidence and ease.
• Stand on one foot. Can you do it for 30 seconds or more, without losing balance or teetering?
• Close your eyes and stand on one foot. This one’s harder, so being able to do it for 20 seconds with no bobbles or wobbles is the goal.    

Types of balance disorders

There are more than a dozen unique balance disorders, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). A few of the most common include:

Labyrinthitis. An inflammation or infection of the inner ear, often associated with the flu or other upper respiratory infections, which can cause dizziness and/or loss of balance.

Mal de Debarquement syndrome (MdDS). If you feel like you’re still on a boat (swaying, rocking) after you get off of a boat, you may have MdDS. It’s that feeling of continually bobbing or swaying, usually experienced after sea travel (but some folks experience it after long treadmill runs). In most cases, symptoms abate after a few hours or a couple of days, but severe cases can last months or years and it’s unclear why.

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV).  This is an intense, but brief, bout of vertigo triggered by changing the position of your head. For example, you might have a spinning sensation when you bend down to look for something under the couch, or when you tilt your head to look back over your shoulder. What’s happening? Those tiny grains of calcium carbonate fall into one of your ear canals and affect the normal workings of the cupula. BPPV can be triggered by a head injury, or just from aging.  

Ways to improve your balance

Balance and muscle strength are a team. The stronger the muscles in your core, legs, feet and glutes, the better your balance is likely to be. Exercise will help your balance – but some types of exercise are better for balance than others. For example, if your main form of exercise is walking – but you only walk on a smooth surface or treadmill – you’re probably not going to improve balance by much. 

Add these exercises to your routine a few times a week to increase your strength and balance:

Tandem stance. Stand up nice and tall and place one foot in front of the other, heel to toe. Like you’re standing on a tightrope. Keep a slight microbend in your knees and keep your weight equal on both feet. Hold this pose for 30 seconds and switch feet. Do each side three times. For a little extra support, use a chair for balance. For a little more intensity close your eyes.

Stand on one leg. Stand behind a chair for this one if you’d like a little extra support. Lift one leg off the ground, bending the knee in toward your chest. Stand for five seconds and repeat for a total of five times. Now do the same on the other leg. As you gain confidence, try holding the chair with only one hand, no hands or with eyes closed.

Lateral leg lifts. Stand behind a chair for support if you’d like. Now, with feet hip distance apart, stand nice and straight. Lift one leg to the side while keeping the rest of your body as still as possible. Repeat five times. Now do the other leg. Increase your intensity by holding your leg out for a count of five, or by not holding onto the chair.

Bird dogs. On your hands and knees, with a flat back, carefully lift your right leg straight behind you while also lifting your left arm. Hold that pose, balanced on one knee and one hand, for ten seconds. Or, start with five seconds. Now do the other side. Place a folded towel under your knees for cushioning if this is uncomfortable. Try for five repetitions on each side.  

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