Imagine a world where a fall is nothing more than a distant concern. Picture yourself confidently navigating through life, knowing your body has a set of skills to keep you upright – the power of Balance Recovery Strategies. These strategies are not just mundane responses; rather a last line of defense from falling to the ground. Let us delay no further and find out exactly what these Balance Recovery Strategies are.
1. The Ankle Strategy:
Let’s kick things off with a move that our body instinctively pulls off when faced with a small imbalance – The Ankle Strategy. It’s like your body saying, “My feet will save me!” When you start to tilt forward, your ankle points down, shifting your weight towards the toes, performing a dance with physics to push you backward into stability. Picture that, your body, effortlessly doing a physics ballet!
Now, when the threat pushes you backward, your ankle points up, elevating your toes and moving your base of support to the heels to help re-shift weight forward again. It does this to help move your base of support in a way to pushes your balance back to the middle and thus avoiding disaster.
In essence, pointing our toes down when losing balance forward and up when losing balance backward is our first line of defense, a natural response to prevent a fall from a slight loss of balance.
But what if our loss of balance requires a more substantial response, or if we begin losing balance to the side? Enter, The Hip Strategy.
2. The Hip Strategy:
When the Ankle Strategy doesn’t provide sufficient force to prevent a fall, our body turns to The Hip Strategy.
But what if the situation demands more than just a balletic toe performance? Enter, The Hip Strategy – the powerhouse move in our balance playbook. More than half of your body weight resides in your trunk, and guess what, it’s not just for show! When the Ankle Strategy takes a breather, your hips swing into action.
So, how do we use hips of ours effectively? When balance is compromised in any direction, we can swiftly throw our hips in the opposite direction to counteract the loss of balance. If done rapidly and extensively enough, this movement can counter most balance disruptions, averting a fall.
Our hips can handle higher levels of balance loss due to the added weight and increased mobility compared to our ankles. Proper training enables us to utilize this mobility to avoid a fall.
But what happens when both the Ankle and Hip Strategies fall short against a significant loss of balance? This brings us to The Stepping Strategy.
3. The Stepping Strategy:
Now, let’s talk about the grand finale – The Stepping Strategy! This is our last and strongest line of defense in avoiding a fall. Imagine being bumped in a crowded hallway or catching your feet on a folded-up rug with nothing close by to grab onto, and you start falling towards the ground. Your only hope at this point is your own legs, requiring a quick and large step in the direction of the balance loss. This is known as The Stepping Strategy.
The effectiveness of The Stepping Strategy lies in providing a rapid way to establish a broad base of support, wide enough to halt the loss of balance. This quick step must occur promptly; even the largest step will not prevent a fall if taken too late.
For this reason, I regularly teach a technique called Reactive Stepping. Through this training, we focus on executing the quickest and largest step possible to counteract most losses of balance and prevent falls. As we age, our reactions slow, making training crucial for maintaining this natural response.
Take Action!
After reading this, if you feel uncertain about performing these balance strategies, you are at an increased risk of falls and would benefit from working with a Physical Therapist trained in teaching these strategies to lower your risk effectively.
We never know when a fall might happen, so it’s best to be as prepared as possible. It could mean the difference between a serious injury and simply carrying on with your day. Arm yourself with knowledge and training to avoid avoidable injuries and live the full life you were meant to.
Stay strong, because guess what? You’re not done yet – you’re just getting started!