BALANCE FUNDAMENTALS: ARCH SUPPORTS, EXERCISES, EXERCISE EQUIPMENT AND BALANCE SHOES

Improving balance is a concern most of us have, either for ourselves or for our older friends and family. Actually, it matters at all levels of fitness from the infirm to professional athletes. At age 55, balance plummets along with lower body strength, making attention to improving balance priority #1 for this age group.

There are 4 ways you can address improving balance. Following are fundamentals that apply from the least fit to the most fit. Each one of these fundamentals will improve balance but it is the sum of the parts that produce the best results.

ARCH SUPPORTS

It is a proven fact that arch supports improve balance. In other studies, as well as the one we participated in with Armstrong Atlantic University, arch supports improved balance and walking comfort. One of the benefits of arch supports is how they work on the unconscious level - whether you are aware of it or not; as long as you have them in your shoes, they improve balance.

EXERCISES

Some retirement homes have recreation leaders or physical therapists that teach balance exercises. Pilates and yoga are two good balance improvement disciplines. All these have good track records for improving balance. Absent your ability to get to a class, there is a simple exercise you can do: Balancing on one foot. Start by holding on to a chair and go to balancing without holding on to the chair. Do it for each foot. Work up to 5 minutes per foot, 5 days a week. When you've mastered that, get a wobble board (see below) to develop further.

EXERCISE EQUIPMENT

There are some products on the market that are small and portable and make balance exercising more interesting. The wobble board, balance board or BOSU balance trainer are a few available. These are all really just unstable surfaces. They work by forcing your brain to seek out the muscles that balance the body and activate those muscles. They are available on line and in most big box stores. They are inexpensive compared with most exercise equipment. If you belong to a gym, ask if they have any of them, because they probably do.

BALANCE SHOES

A new negative heel shoe - Springboost - places the heel below the front of the foot, adding to stability. Earth shoes do the same. Another shoe, the MBT, is engineered to develop the muscles that are used in balancing. As with the arch support, balance is improved without much effort beyond putting the shoes on!

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