Balance Exercise

I know from my experience that tai chi works. I studied it and practiced it years ago, when I didn’t know what it could do for my balance. But I wasn’t patient enough to continue doing it.

My favorite CDE was the first person to show me how simple and effective that standing on one leg could be to help me regain my balance. All I had to do was to stand on one leg and then the other for 30 seconds each. When I could master that, the next step was to do it with my eyes closed. Finally, she said to do that on a pillow.

My photographer completed agreed. He does the same exercises.

My podiatrist told me very much the same thing. “Balance is important for everyone,” says Dr. John Jachimiak, “but we tend to lose it as we age. We can get it back and improve it with this simple exercise.” He is a board certified surgeon who specializes in sports medicine and diabetic foot reconstruction.

This works with our proprioceptor sense, a “distinct sensory modality that provides feedback solely on the status of the body internally,” Wikipedia says. Dr. Jachimiak says that this is where a joint is in a spacial relationship to fire the appropriate muscles to stand erect.

The biggest difference from what my favorite CDE told me is that for Dr. Jachimiak the final step is literally onto a folded towel instead of a pillow. Essentially the same.

What else, I asked? Do these exercises on once or twice a day, he says.

That’s all? Just a couple of minutes and no special equipment?

“Right,” Dr. Jachimiak replied. “Think of it as a long learning curve and not as a sprint.”

That’s what I have been doing since I had the good fortune to hear about balance training from three great people. I still can’t go for 30 seconds on one leg with my eyes closed, proving once again how much of a visual person I am.

But I do these simple exercises regularly now, including every time I need to wait. I did these exercises beside a mountain lake as I waited for first light so I could photograph it. Likewise on a mountain top.

Even in a busy waiting room I practice standing on one leg. It might seem strange to the other people waiting there. But to me it seems strange that they were wasting their time instead of doing balance exercises.

UPDATE January 8, 2008: Today's New York Times has an excellent article by Jane Brody about balance. Please see: " Preserving a Fundamental Sense: Balance."
 

For more information, see exercise's affect on diabetes, and

exercise's affect on bones and muscles.