How to Improve Your Balance - Safely!

If you are a senior looking to work on some balance exercises from home, there are several safety considerations you’ll want to take into account before diving right in. 

Why? Because balance training is inherently (somewhat) risky business. 

This is because if you want to actually work on- and improve- your balance, you’ll need to work a bit outside of your comfort zone. Another way to say it: if you feel a certain balance exercise is “easy,” then it’s not really doing anything for you, balance-wise. 

Much to my physical therapy patients’ dismay, you DO want to feel slightly wobbly when you are practicing any balance exercise. Many of my patients don’t love this feeling, because it makes them feel nervous or anxious, especially if they have fallen before. But when your body is feeling a bit wobbly or unsteady, it is training the communication line between your brain and your joints. This particular communication is called proprioception, and it is how your joints inform your brain about what position your body's in. This, along with being able to sense where your weight is shifting, is crucial for good balance. 

The key is to find a middle ground: you should feel just a bit shaky, but not so much that you are truly at risk for falling over. This can be a tricky balance to strike when you are just starting out, so I’ve put together 5 simple safety considerations for working on balance exercises at home. By always following these, you’ll be well on your way to safely preventing falls, not putting yourself at risk for one!

1. Choose your shoes

You’ll want shoes that have a good tread on the bottom, and that are in good condition. If the tread is worn so far that there are smooth areas on the sole, that will make those areas slippery. Another option is socks that have anti-slip grips on the soles. Barefoot is another option, although going barefoot at any time isn’t recommended if you have peripheral neuropathy that affects your feet, or any other condition that prevents you from being able to feel the bottoms of your feet. For more information about peripheral neuropathy and balance, read this blog post by clicking HERE.  

2. Location, location, location!

This is a big one. Standing at your kitchen or bathroom sink is my favorite place for you to work on your balance, because you can hold the edge of the sink in the same way you would hold a railing. Other options that work well are standing at a countertop or at the bottom of your stairs, so you can hold the stair railing. What do all of these locations have in common? They all provide a strong and sturdy surface for you to hold onto. Common mistakes people often make are holding the back of a flimsy chair, such as a dining table chair. If you were to truly lose your balance and need to grab something, this type of a chair would not only tip over, but it would also likely cause even greater injury, should it land on top of you. If you want to place a chair behind you while you work on some balance exercises, this can be a good idea, so long as the chair is heavy and stable, or if it is placed against the wall so if you do plop down, it doesn’t slide out from under you. If you use a walker to get around, you can have your walker in front of you while you stand in front of your sofa, bed, or again a sturdy chair if it’s placed against a wall. If your walker has brakes, you’ll want to make sure these are locked first. Likewise, if you’re using a wheelchair as your chair support behind you, you’ll want to make sure the wheels are locked. 

3. Hands first

Regardless of your balance level, I always recommend you start with your hands holding on first. This means that your hands are holding onto your sink or countertop, or they are holding your walker or stair railing, depending on what location you’ve chosen. Once you get into the balance exercise, if you feel this is challenging even with your hands holding, then keep those hands on! Work to stabilize yourself, and with practice you can start using your hands less and less. A couple of examples of this would be gradually putting less pressure through your hands, or by loosening up your grip. If you do feel stable with your hands holding on, then you can lift one hand- or maybe both- off the surface, so that you can build into the more “slightly wobbly” feeling we discussed earlier. Remember, if it doesn’t feel like it’s challenging at all, it’s not actually improving your balance. If you feel slightly unsteady, or it feels like you’re having to concentrate to keep your balance, that’s a good thing because it means your body is having to work, and this is how your balance will improve. Your hands should always remain hovering close to your sturdy surface, so that if you do lose your balance, your hands can quickly touch down to help you regain your balance and keep you from falling. 

4. Keep your friends close

It’s never a bad idea to have a friend or family member nearby when you work on these kinds of exercises, especially if it’s your first time. They can stand just behind you while you stand at your sink, and this way they can give you a little support on your back if you need it, while you also have a stable surface in front of you keeping you safe from that direction. As you gain more confidence and your balance improves, you may feel comfortable practicing balance exercises without someone right next to you, but maybe they are still in the same room or the room adjacent. 

5. Last (but important) resort 

As a very last resort, but an important safety fallback, always have your phone with you, so that if something bad were to happen, you are able to contact someone to help. This is especially important if you are home alone while working on your balance, or if the other people in your home are outside or on another level of your home, such as upstairs or down in the basement. 

Balance training can feel a bit unnerving at first, but if you have these safety mechanisms in place before you start, you will feel safe and confident and ready to train that balance so that you don’t have to worry about falls. 

Not sure where to start? Try my Top 3 Balance-Building Exercises - I will email it straight to your inbox for free! Click HERE to grab it.