Poor Balance

Posted on June 7th, 2013 by Andries Lodder

Do you have problems with your balance? Does it affect your daily living? What’s the cause and what can you do to improve it? These are some important questions that most of us would normally just brush aside.

Simple answer is we have to develop our Proprioception and our Vestibular Sensitivity. Now you probably asking yourself, what language am I speaking here. But instead of me going into so much detail, I thought it best to explain quickly what it means and then give examples in a table format that breaks everything down in ways we relate to, through sporting skills and through activities of daily living (ADL).

Kinesthesia is the awareness of the position and movement of parts of the body using sensory organs (hearing, sight, smell, touch), which are known as Proprioceptors, in joints and muscles. Therefore Proprioception is one’s own perception of the relative position of parts of our body and strength of effort being employed in movements.

Vestibular refers to your sense of balance. Your sense organs that tells you which way is up and which ways your head is accelerating is the semicircular canals. They are closely related to your hearing. Many people with hearing loss also have some degree of balance difficulties, since the vestibular (or balance) system and the auditory (or hearing) systems are so closely related.

Now that you know what affects your balance, here’s a table with examples of what to do to improve it and how that specific exercise can help you.

To Emphasize Proprioception	To Include Vestibular Sensitivity
Equipment: Peanut Ball
Activity – Balance on one leg while holding ball with outstretched arms parallel to the ground	Activity – Standing squat while holding ball with outstretched arms parallel to the ground
Focus for Observation – Queuing not to drop arms, keeping head as still as possible	Focus for Observation – Keep arms parallel to ground while moving down in squat, keep back straight and look straight ahead
Contribution to Sport Skill – Hitting ball away to save goal for soccer goally	Contribution to Sport Skill – Moving from crouched position to hit ball away and save goal
Contribution to ADL – Pushing trolley while shopping	Contribution to ADL – Picking up groceries from ground and packing it away in cupboard above

To Emphasize Proprioception	To Include Vestibular Sensitivity
Equipment: Foam Rollers
Activity – Balance foam roller vertically up in one hand, with arm in front of body and standing as still as possible	Activity – Balance foam roller vertically up in one hand, with arm in front of body while walking
Focus for Observation – Queing not to drop arms, keeping head as still as possible	Focus for Observation – Keep arms parallel to ground while walking, keep head still while walking around
Contribution to Sport Skill – Playing darts, keeping head, arm and shoulder as still as possible	Contribution to Sport Skill – Clay-pidgeon shooting, the moving of the shotgun from a position below to above and holdoing it still to aim, improve accuracy
Contribution to ADL – Balancing plate in hand while standing still	Contribution to ADL – Walking around waitering carrying tray with filled glasses

To Emphasize Proprioception	To Include Vestibular Sensitivity
Equipment: Medicine Ball
Activity – Standing up straight, 90degrees shoulders, elbows flexed, shoulder externally rotated and balancing MB in hand with palm facing up	Activity – Holding MB at level of head, with palms underneath ball, throw ball up and on decend don’t catch, but bend knees and extend while pushing up to throw again for certain amount of repetitions
Focus for Observation – Keep head still and upper body straight and not leaning to opposite side	Focus for Observation – Watch for no swaying movements
Contribution to Sport Skill – Waterpolo, holding ball before deciding to pass	Contribution to Sport Skill – Volley ball, the upward flick
Contribution to ADL – Holding coat in hand over shoulder while posing for picture	Contribution to ADL – Throwing baby up and down in the air and catching baby again, obviously.

To Emphasize Proprioception	To Include Vestibular Sensitivity
Equipment: Theraband
Activity – Resisted Internal rotation with theraband	Activity – Shoulder bent row with resistance theraband
Focus for Observation – Keep head still, elbow on the table and overcome opposition by internal rotation of shoulder.	Focus for Observation – Keep back straight, knees slightly bent, pull both elbows to the ceiling.
Contribution to Sport Skill – Arm wrestling	Contribution to Sport Skill – Rowing
Contribution to ADL – Pouring water from a kettle at high heights	Contribution to ADL – Starting an old fashioned lawn mower

To Emphasize Proprioception	To Include Vestibular Sensitivity
Equipment: Dumbbells
Activity – Shoulder mobility pendulum with dumbbells	Activity – Resisted shoulder front raise
Focus for Observation – Back straight, arm straight, hold dumbbell and rotate in small circles from shoulder.	Focus for Observation – Sitting on a physio ball raise alternate arms to the front. Maintain neutral spine as much as possible.
Contribution to Sport Skill – Artistic Gymnastics with ribbon	Contribution to Sport Skill – Swimming free-style
Contribution to ADL – Mixing the clothes in the bath (hand washing)	Contribution to ADL – Lifting shopping packets to be packed away in a cupboard above shoulder height.

These are just a handful of the simple exercises to help improve your balance. For more challenging exercises, give me a call.