No slipping and falling allowed!

This recent snow that’s fallen upon us has found me slipping and sliding a little between all my comings and goings. Being able to catch and protect yourself from falling on the ice is a pretty valuable tool, particularly as we get older and busier. There is nothing worse than being put out of commission from a silly slip and fall turned serious. Developing this protection plan is essentially a two-part program, understanding what makes up our balance center in our body and strengthening the components that keep us upright.

Balance affects all of us. Most of us are not aware of our balance capabilities, until we perform an activity that requires it; like skiing or skating, dancing, boating, hiking, or we find ourselves in a situation that requires quick reactions like a slip on the ice.

The average person’s sense of balance begins to decline around the age of 25. Our sense of balance is primarily determined by three elements working together; vision, the inner ear and proprioceptors. Have you ever tried to stand on one foot with your eyes closed? Try it and you’ll discover how important vision is to maintaining an upright position. If you know anything about vertigo and balance, you know that the inner ear plays a pertinent part in balance. In fact, I would guess that if you’ve ever had vertigo issues there’s a good chance it started with some kind of inner ear problem. Proprioceptors are essentially sensory receptors within the body that recognize movements and the “where-abouts” of the body in space. When balance is working the best, all three of these components are probably in sync.

There are many things that affect your balance. We all have good balance days and bad balance days, with or without the snow and ice. Things that affect balance are; sleep patterns, hydration levels, fatigue, stress, medications, allergies, fitness levels and even symptoms associated with the common cold.

The biggest question I get about balance is “how to improve it.” Fortunately, there are a couple of things we can do to improve balance. The first is to light a fire under your feet. O.K. not a real fire, we just want to stimulate those nerve endings that we’ve protected for so long by wearing shoes. It’s as simple as walking around your house barefoot. Yes, you want to make your feet aware of new feelings, new sensations and new movements and allowing the bottoms of your feet to touch the floor will begin to do this. Walk across different surfaces like; hardwood, tile, decking, carpet, outside through the grass, indoor/outdoor carpet, door mats, etc. The sensations of these different floorings will stimulate awareness of where your feet are at the present time. Not all stimulations will be pleasant but remember that you don’t need to make yourself completely uncomfortable doing this exercise. Just stimulate those proprioceptors on the bottom of your feet for a short amount of time every day. Your brain will become more aware of where your feet are by waking up these nerve endings and your balance will improve overall. Being barefoot is a great thing, given it doesn’t create any other biomechanical issues with your body.

The second way to improve your balance is through basic exercises that focus on strengthening the muscles and joints of your body, particularly the joints of your lower body. To strengthen your feet, lay a small towel on the floor in front of your feet and with your toes, try to walk/pull that towel towards you. This will strengthen your feet. Calf raises (extension of the ankle) and pulling your toes toward you (flexion of the ankle) will also strengthen your feet along with your ankles, the muscles of your shins and calves. Leg extensions (for the quads) and leg curls (for the hamstrings) strengthen the muscles of the upper leg which, along with the lower leg muscles, keep the knee joint strong. Always use a basic leg press exercise, which incorporates the entire leg, ankle and hip into the strength movement.

Also remember that many slips and falls occur because of us not taking appropriate precautions and simply paying attention to our surroundings!

 

Deborah Holmes

January 27, 2009