Hi everyone, this is Steven from Body Works Sports Physio. I’m here to talk to you about balance, as it is something that can be affected as we get older, putting us at risk of falls. This is a single leg balance exercise.

Balance is something we want to make sure that we’re keeping in check, and we’re continuing to work on here. Here are a few exercises.

Standing and balancing on one leg
What you want to focus on is keeping the knee in line with your toes
Keep your hips and belt line level, as well as keeping your shoulders level.
Make sure you’re not leaning off one way of the other.

Once you can hold that quite easily for about 20-30 seconds, you can start progressing it.

Progression One

Closing your eyes.

You can see as soon as I start to close my eyes, I get a little bit shakier. This is something I need to work on.

Progression Two

Varying the surface that you’re standing on.

Try standing on a pillow. That makes it a bit more unsteady. So I’ll take my shoe off for this one
If you don’t have this cushion at home, a sofa cushion works quite well as it’s just dense enough to support your body weight.
Again, the same principles apply.
Belt line level, hips level. Keeping the knee in line with the toes

Again, 20-30 seconds is your goal for holding all these positions. Make sure you’re performing these exercises near a counter or a sturdy chair. Something you can hold on to in reach, just in case.

If you find that you’re having difficulty with your balance, you’re more than welcome to come in for an appointment and we can continue to work on that. Thanks everyone, have a good day.