How long can you balance on one leg?

Did you know balance is used as an indicator of life expectancy for those aged 50+?

Take your shoes off, put your hands on your hips and and stand on one leg. If you are over 50, can you do it for at least 10 seconds? If you’re younger, you should be able to balance for longer.

If you found balancing easy with your eyes open, test with your eyes closed.

Single leg balance

How can balance predict life expectancy?

Activities such as walking up stairs, getting out of a car, getting out of a bath require you balance on one leg. The inability to balance for at least 10 seconds means you are more likely to lose balance and fall. Falls are a major health risk for older adults.

So how is your balance? Test both legs.

Balance is not solely about muscle engagement, we also rely on feedback from our eyes and ears, hence balance becomes more of an issue later in life. Our vision deteriorates and our hearing goes. Hearing loss can be related to issues in the inner ear, which is responsible for balance.

Did you find it harder to balance with your eyes closed?

If you can no longer rely on your eyes or ears, what can you rely on?

Regardless of age, you can improve balance through better core muscle engagement and feedback from your feet.

Your foot is made up of 33 joints, 26 bones, and over a hundred muscles, tendons, and ligaments. Your feet support you and help you with balance, they also transmit force and help you move.

They play a demanding role, so their health is of great importance - do you ever exercise the muscles in your foot?

Feet are often neglected.

If you can't do the movements in the video, it's time to get started....

If you spend all day in shoes, take them off and walk around with bare feet.

What other muscles do you need to engage?

Strengthening your core and glutes will also help with your balance as will improving your ankle mobility.

Is your ankle moving freely or does your ankle move too much?

I am a Personal Trainer, Movement Coach, Soft Tissue Therapist who helps people reduce their muscular aches and pains so they can live active, enjoyable lives. As with everything, prevention should always be a priority, so I work with clients to reduce or resolve their issues whilst looking at how they can prevent reoccurrence and prevent future issues.

Mobility and movement can be improved regardless of age, the earlier your start the better though, so if you would like to discuss this or anything movement or fitness related, please book your complimentary exploratory call now.

Afraid to bend to put your socks or shoes on?

Fear bending to put on shoes?

Constantly being fearful of bending is not a great way to live.  Did you know that soft tissue therapy can help ease the tension in the muscles so they are less likely to spasm? 

The unfortunate part of this is, for many it only provides a short term solution.

Why is it only short term?

If you've been living with back pain for a long time, your body will have changed to help you avoid the painful positions. Your body will have learnt new ways of moving resulting in muscular imbalances, so a simple soft tissue release will only provide you with short term relief. 

To avoid reoccurence of your spasms, you will need to restore the balance in your muscles and learn healthy movements. Resestablishing your core engagement and developing awareness of how you are moving and standing are key.  I've had clients who I've treated complain of continued back ache straight after their treatment, however as soon as they engage their core muscles, they say the pain goes.

Did you know that muscle groups can switch off when you have an injury?

Core engagement should come naturally, however, if you have had a sore back for a long time, your core muscles will likely have switched off. Did you know muscle groups switch off when you have an injury?  This happens to protect the injured area. It’s a good thing! It stops you from making movements that will cause further injury.  The problem is it doesn't always switch back on again once your injury has recovered and that's when long term problems arise. 

So how do you switch muscles back on?

For some, this will be like learning how to drive, You have to start at the beginning - thinking through every movement you make. Others may have good muscle memory, so it’s easier…like getting back on a bike after having not ridden one for years.

If I engage my core now, why does my back still spasm?

Because you have developed muscular imbalances. You will have tension in areas that shouldn’t be tight, so your muscles no longer work in the order they are designed. This could be because they don’t have the capacity or because they have become inhibited.

Soft Tissue Therapy helps create the balance meaning your muscles redevelop the capacity to stretch and contract as they are needed or become accessible because their partner muscle has relaxed. This makes going on to reengage your core muscles much easier.

What is Soft Tissue Therapy (STT)?

Is it massage? Yes and no. STT covers everything that involves manipulating your muscles, tendons and ligaments. Massage is just one of those techniques.

I use a number of different techniques, including massage, neuromuscular stretching, Soft tissue release, EMMETT Technique amongst others. Each play their own role.

If you have back pain and you’re fed up of not being able to put your shoes or socks on without spasm or pain, then it’s time we discussed how I can help you move forward.

Book your complimentary call to find out how you could soon be back to putting your socks on with ease.