wellness tips

This may seem obvious but many don’t do this – keep your weight over your base of support to ensure good balance as you move.

First of all, I owe you another apology. It has been a long time since I sent you a tip. There was a death in my family and I wasn’t in a state to write.

There is something I have noticed in my practice related to balance that I thought I would share, since once you become aware of it, it is probably not hard to fix.

What I have noticed is that often people move before they are stable. What I mean by that is they don’t have their weight solidly over the forward foot before picking up the back foot.

For example, the front foot is placed on the step, and then instead of leaning forward to centre the weight over that foot, they push off with the back toes launching the body forward, and hope they will “stick the landing” on the foot on the step. Most of the movement is off balance.

The way to stay safe from falls is to have your weight centred over a base of support at all times. If you are getting into a chair, keep your weight over your feet until your butt touches the chair. When you are getting up from a chair, get your shoulders forward over the arches of your feet before sinking into your feet to stand up. Think forward, not up.

Please watch this short video to get a visual on what I am talking about.

In order to maintain stability while you move, bring one foot forward, transfer and ground your weight on the forward foot before lifting the back one. Always have your ground as you move, and you will feel stable.

Feel free to check out my previous post and video on resolving balance problems!

Please do keep the comments coming on my blog. If you want to subscribe or search for other posts by title or by topic, go to www.wellnesstips.ca.

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Copyright 2017 Vreni Gurd

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