Step into Stability – Why Balance Should Be Part Of Your Daily Routine

Date Published

November 26, 2024

What is Balance?

Balance is defined as the ability to maintain the body’s centre of mass over its base of support. There are two main types of balance. Static Balance is the ability to hold the body in a specific position and posture which is essential for tasks such standing upright or holding a yoga pose. Dynamic balance is the ability to remain standing and stable while performing movements or actions. It is crucial for activities like walking, running, or playing sports where constant adjustments are needed to stay upright and coordinated.

How does it work?

In order to keep our balance, several systems in our body must work together:

Proprioception – this system provides information from the skin, muscles and joints involving sensory receptors that are sensitive to stretch/pressure in the surrounding tissues. An example of this would be when you lean forward and can feel increased pressure in the front part of the soles of your foot.
Vision – this system relies on the eyes to provide information about the body’s position and movement in relation to the environment.
Vestibular – this system is located in your inner ear and relies on input from your head position and movement/acceleration to perceive your orientation to gravity. For more on this, see Rachael’s earlier blog post “A Balanced View of Vestibular Physiotherapy”.

The information from these three systems as well as other parts of your brain then gets sent to the brain stem. The brain stem computes all of the available information to send messages to the relevant parts of your body to move in a way that will help maintain balance. When one system is not functioning optimally, the others will compensate. For example in a dark environment where the information from your visual system is reduced, the brain will use more information from your vestibular and proprioceptive systems.

Why should we improve it?

The World Health Organisation (WHO) lists falls as the second leading cause of accidental or unintentional injury deaths worldwide. Falls can result in many consequences including head injuries or fractures which can have a significant impact on an individual’s quality of life. Unfortunately, as we age the risk of falling and sustaining injuries increases due to many factors including age-related decline in muscle strength, proprioception, vision and reaction time.

In addition to strength training, balance is also a key component for injury prevention. When our balance is working optimally, we are able to maintain proper posture and alignment reducing stress on our joints and muscles. In turn, this helps prevent falls and improves our ability to sense the position, location, and movement of our bodies.

Balance is considered a risk factor for several injuries and consequently a focus of many strengthening, injury prevention, and rehabilitation programs. As a stand-alone intervention, balance has been shown to reduce injuries of ankle ligaments in football and volleyball. A study conducted in 2022, showed balance training exercises in isolation produced a 42% reduction in ankle injury risk amongst soccer players (Al Attar et. al., 2022).

How can we improve it?

Balance is a skill that can be trained, like riding a bike, but it does require consistency with training. Research shows programs performed at least 10 minutes a day, 3 days a week for 4 weeks that incorporate various methods of balance training appear to improve balance ability.

As physiotherapists, we are trained to prescribe exercises and give advice on how to improve balance. Whether it’s something you’re concerned about or just want some tips on how to incorporate balance training into your regular routine, come and see the team at Qld Physio.

Give us a call on (07) 3325 1858 or book online here.