{"id":2676,"date":"2012-01-13T21:58:08","date_gmt":"2012-01-14T03:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/drcathiedunal.com\/blog\/?p=2676"},"modified":"2012-02-04T20:44:52","modified_gmt":"2012-02-05T02:44:52","slug":"balance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/drcathiedunal.com\/articles\/2012\/balance\/","title":{"rendered":"Little Things That Make a Big Difference: Balance Exercise"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"By Cathie Dunal, MD, MPH: <\/em><\/em><\/em>One of my patients, a lovely lady of about 60–let\u2019s call her Sandra–had a bad fall a few years ago. It was an icy February, and the sudden collision with a sidewalk took a toll on her back and neck. She went to physical therapy for several months.<\/p>\n

This past spring, when Sandra came in for her annual visit, she had a big smile. \u201cI didn\u2019t fall once during the winter,\u201d she beamed, \u201cand I think I know why.\u201d\u00a0I took the bait: \u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause I did the balance exercise you taught me all through the winter. I\u2019m sure that\u2019s why I didn\u2019t fall. I had a few close calls.\u201d She said that she told her friends about the balance training I\u2019d prescribed, and they were doing the exercise too.<\/p>\n

Balance exercise? It\u2019s actually incredibly simple to do a tiny bit each day to maintain and improve your balance, and I\u2019d like to share it with you, too:<\/p>\n

Stand on one foot.<\/strong> This can be done at any time; I prefer to do it when I’m brushing my teeth–if you brush your teeth for two full minutes, as the dentist recommends, that\u2019s a minute balancing on each foot. Twice a day.\u00a0 Or while waiting for a pot to boil, a download to finish…during commercials.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s that simple. But you probably won\u2019t be able to do it for a full minute at first without practice!\u00a0And part of the beauty of this simple balance exercise is that it\u2019s practical–it doesn\u2019t add any extra time to your fitness regimen.<\/p>\n

(For safety, keep a hand near the countertop so you can grab on and help to stabilize yourself when you lose balance. And of course, don\u2019t try this if you have a balance disorder or a medical condition that impairs your balance–you would need supervision.)<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll be surprised to find out how hard it is at first; you might even be putting your foot down every five or ten seconds! But keep at it and you will also<\/em> be surprised at how quickly you\u2019ll improve.\u00a0If you want to challenge yourself more–after you can stay balanced on one foot for a full minute–try turning your head to one side, then the other. Surprisingly difficult!<\/p>\n

Traditionally, doctors told patients that there are three components to a good exercise program: stretching, strengthening, and cardiovascular. There needs to be a fourth: balance!<\/p>\n

PS–This exercise helps with sports performance, too!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Cathie Dunal, MD, MPH: One of my patients, a lovely lady of about 60–let\u2019s call her Sandra–had a bad fall a few years ago. It was an icy February, and the sudden collision with a sidewalk took a toll on her back and neck. She went to physical therapy for several months. This past […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[13,308,25,80,86,117,152,307],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/drcathiedunal.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2676"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/drcathiedunal.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/drcathiedunal.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drcathiedunal.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drcathiedunal.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2676"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"http:\/\/drcathiedunal.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2723,"href":"http:\/\/drcathiedunal.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2676\/revisions\/2723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/drcathiedunal.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drcathiedunal.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drcathiedunal.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}