Spring and summer are the perfect seasons for getting outside, especially for golfers, hikers and other outdoor enthusiasts. However, if you suffer from vertigo or are concerned about your stability while you’re standing, it could make these hobbies incredibly dangerous. Starting balance exercises are an action you can take now to hone your strength and balance before the golf season really begins in earnest; here are some you can do at home.
How Balance Exercises Help
Falls are a major public health concern for adults over the age of 65; they are not to be taken lightly. Some of the primary risk factors of falls are impaired balance, reduced muscle strength and gait difficulty. Balance exercises are movements that specifically target these risk factors, boosting your sense of balance, muscle strength, endurance and stability. They toughen up the parts of your body that can physically help you avoid a fall.
Strengthening yourself in this manner is especially beneficial if you enjoy outdoor hobbies. Often, these activities will have you walking quite a bit, potentially on uneven terrain. Golfing requires a good sense of balance to carry you through your swing, and hiking needs it for climbing over obstacles on the trail.
The Exercises
Below are some common balance and strength-building exercises to help you maintain your balance. Start slowly. Practice one or more of these moves every day. Over time, you may gradually do them for longer, for more repetitions or with your eyes closed. We also strongly recommend having another person present for safety, as well as a flat surface or a chair in front of you to grab onto if you feel dizzy.
Romberg Exercise
This is a beginner-level balance training technique often used to help with vertigo. It may seem simple, but it is more complicated than it sounds, as it reduces your base of support and eliminates visual cues, causing you to rely more on your sense of your body’s position. Here are the steps.
- Stand with your feet together and your arms at your side.
- Hold this position for 30 seconds.
- Once you feel comfortable holding the pose, do it with your eyes closed for 30 seconds.
Sit to Stand
We often stand up and sit down throughout the day, but if you have diminished strength in your legs, you may rely on your arms to pull yourself up or lower yourself down. Target your leg strength with this move and challenge yourself to do it without using your hands at all.
- Sit in a sturdy chair (no rolling or rocking chairs, no soft armchairs or couches; you want something firm for support that won’t move).
- Engage your thigh muscles and push yourself up into a standing position. Focus on driving your body up from your heels. Note: when starting out, you can use your hands to help you push up, but the goal is to stand using only your leg muscles.
- Lower yourself down with control using your glute muscles, core muscles and thigh muscles. Try not to drop back down into the chair.
- Repeat five to ten times.
Marching in Place
Another exercise whose simplicity masks its complexity. Transferring your body weight from one side to the other requires more strength than we realize. Additionally, the higher you bring your knee, the more you engage your core, a key muscle group for maintaining balance.
- Stand up straight with your feet a comfortable distance apart and your arms at your sides
- Take a step in place: lift one knee up, then lower your back down. Try to lower your foot back down with control, rather than just letting it drop to the floor.
- Repeat on the other side and continue marching in place for 30 seconds.
Standing Sway
This exercise may be especially beneficial for golfers, as it targets several axes of human motion, which is necessary for your golf swing. You want these movements to occur mostly in your waist; don’t bend deeply at the hips, and don’t bend your knees. Try not to lift your heels or toes.
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and your arms at your sides
- Gently lean forward, as if bowing. Then lean back.
- Continue this back-and-forth sway for 30 seconds
- Next, gently lean to the left, then to the right.
- Continue this side-to-side sway for 30 seconds
Your Balance Specialists
We at Audiology Associates of Redding want you to enjoy your favorite outdoor hobbies without fear of falling. We encourage you to try these exercises at home. We also would recommend that you get a balance screening. Call us today to learn more.