November is Balance + Fall Prevention month at Satori.
We already talked a whole bunch about balance (and balancing):
~ last week we discussed neck tension and its contribution to balancing. We also discussed ways of balancing our balance organs - such as eyes, for example.
~ the week before we talked about tension
and how tension can disrupt nerve communication and alter our sense of our body in space (and of course, balance).
Today we will turn things upside down (well, almost!), and talk about feet and walking.
To start with, consider the following:
Every walking step requires a period of balance on one foot - while you swing your other leg forward.
Try this standing experiment {this, by the way, is the stuff
Core Restore class is made of}:
Barefoot, and standing on a flat surface, stand on the left leg with the knee straight, but not hyper-extended, and bend your right knee to lift the right foot slightly off the floor.
What's your ankle doing?
Your arms?
Shoulders?
How about your face?
Now, check the position of your standing foot - did it turn out, pointing slightly to the right or left?
What about your standing knee? Did it automatically bend to lower your center of mass, reducing the work to the hip??
Whatever you did, take note of how your body
structurally rearranges itself to deal with balance.
Now you know that every walking step requires a period of balance - and so whatever you just did to cope with balance is slowly yet surely creeping into your gait pattern, until your ability to balance is fully gone, and you've become a shuffler.
Try the same exercise again, this time keeping your ankle still, you arms down by your sides, shoulder and face (and neck!) relaxed, and your standing foot pointing straight ahead.
Hold this for up to a minute on each side,
three times each.
It is oh-so-common (so common that we consider this normal) to think that one day - usually when you turn big-0 (40? 50? 60?) - your ability to do stuff is gone.
In most cases though, you've stopped doing a movement for a long time (and developed an awesome variety of cheating yourself out of a fully - loaded movement), and the muscles and also the programming necessary to do it have atrophied.
Continue to keep up challenges and the balance work - you will be glad you did!
Oooh, I think my skis are ready for pick up - I'll go challenge my balance dynamically, on the slopes!
