Vote Balance
If you can stand on one foot without touching the ground for 2 minutes, congratulations you are normal!
Now I challenge you to attempt standing on 1 leg barefoot, but this time close your eyes. (Make sure something stable is around to grab onto just in case you get wobbly.)
Can you make it to 1 minute? I
If so, congratulations that’s what normal should be. Most of us are lucky to make it 10 seconds. Why is this? One of the biggest reasons is because many of us have lost proprioception. Proprioception is our body’s awareness in space. In other words, it’s how your body knows it is raising its right arm without seeing it.
Our balance controlled by the brain of course but the major systems that work keep us on our feet are: sight, inner ear, and proprioception. Take one away like you do when you close your eyes and the others have to work more.
Try standing in one leg barefoot again and feel your foot and other muscles work harder to stabilize when you close your eyes. This is your proprioception trying to recruit more muscles to keep you up.
Start working on your balance today! Balance work should always be done without shoes on and ideally barefoot to maximize the nervous system input through the foot.
Start single leg eyes open on a firm surface and start at 1 minute and increase up to 2-3. Always have something easy to grab onto or another person around if you are extremely uneasy on your feet. When training eyes closed, I like setting a timer for 1 minute and always going for 1 minute keeping track how many times I either need to touch down or grab onto the wall.
Other options are stand on 1 foot while brushing your teeth. Brush with right hand then stand on left leg and vice versa. Balance is key in all our movements and it prevents falling when older so start working on it now!
