Nov 11, 20223 min read

Four Ways To Increase Your Standing Balance

Decreasing The Potential For Falls As We Age.

As we grow older, our chances for a fall increase, exponentially. Many of us who love to cook will stand in the kitchen for hours to perfect the meal that brings our families together every holiday. This holiday season, there will be some people who will decide that the time has come to order out as they cannot stand for long periods of time. There will be others who will continue this cooking event, standing, until the day they die!

If you are planning a huge feast for either Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Kwanzaa and have noticed changes in your standing balance, try these simple tests and exercises to increase your core strength and balance.

Four tests and exercises to increase your strength and standing balance.

Stand and raise one foot for 30 seconds. If you are unable to maintain a fair balance for 30 seconds, try marching in place for 30 to 60 seconds, five times. Take a sitting rest break between each. This will help increase your core and lower body strength in order to stand longer. If you can, do this daily.
Challenge yourself by picking up and carrying small items that weigh five pounds or less. If you find yourself having to hold onto something in order to maintain postural control, incorporating chair push-ups may help to increase your leg strength. Sit in a chair with armrests to make it easier to push up, stand, and sit. Do three to five sets of ten. This exercise will also help strengthen your lower body in order to reduce the potential for a fall.
Reaching for items that have been placed in overhead cabinets, in the past, may have been helpful to use a stepstool. However, if your balance is challenged, a stepstool may not be a good idea. Unless you use it to practice stepping up and down while holding onto a stable fixture to increase your lower body strength. Using one foot at a time. Place your foot on a stepstool or a step and bring it back to the floor, ten to twenty times each, three to five reps/sets. Then switch to the other foot. This can be done three to five times a week.
If you find that you have difficulty reaching outside of your base of support without losing your balance, increasing your core strength may be helpful. If you are able, sit in a chair without arms. Raise your arms out to your sides and level them to your shoulders. Spread your feet apart and plant them on the floor. The focus is on your waist/core. Pretend that you are reaching for something that is on both sides of you. Do this twenty times for both sides, (40 times), three to five reps/sets, three times a week.
Finally, if the previous exercises are too difficult, try asking for help. It may be a good idea to delegate who should bring a dish to each family member who has mastered a particular dish. If you are able to, prepare your meals weeks in advance and freeze them. For example, many people cook their greens a week or two prior to their gathering and freeze them to save time.