These exercises can help you stay balanced and reduce your risk for injury.
This week is Balance Awareness Week. Balance is incredibly important, whether you’re a high school athlete or a senior looking to maintain independence at home. Balance issues lead to thousands of injuries each year, costing money in medical bills and home improvements.
Balance issues are among the most common issues we see at Horizon Rehab, and we want you to know that we’re not only here to treat those issues, but to offer you tips to improve your balance at home through a series of simple, low-impact exercises.
Lower Body Focus
Improving your balance doesn’t have to be about making dramatic changes. Something as simple as standing with your legs further apart can give you a better support base and improve your balance. To improve functional strength in your legs, you can do exercises as simple as shifting your weight from one leg to the other. Hold each position for 30 seconds each side, and add more time as your balance improves while repeating the routine.
Weighted Exercises
As you gain strength, you can start to add more movements to your exercises, and even add weight to those movements. One exercise to try involves standing on your leg lifting hand-held weights. We would recommend starting at a low weight, as the focus should be on improving your balance, not maxing out for one rep. You can do curls with the dumbbells, holding one dumbbell in one hand, and lifting the opposite leg off the ground. Hold for 30 seconds and switch.
Physical Therapy
At Horizon Rehab, we have a team of professional PTs and PTAs that can help improve your balance by creating a physical therapy program customized to your needs. Contact us to learn more about how our team will help you improve your balance, allowing you to maintain your independence and reduce your risk for injury.
Tags: Balance Exercises