Simple Balance Exercises You Can Do At Home
We provide customized wellness, fitness, rehabilitative and preventative example excercies you can do in the comfort of your own home.
Hi I’m Brenda Brewster from Family Physical Therapy. I’d like to welcome you to check out the following videos about some balance exercises that you could try. Of course always check with your doctor or your physical therapist if this would be recommended for you.
Tandem Stance and Toe Touch Balance Exercise
One of the easiest ways to begin your balance exercise routine at home, is to put your feet in tandem one foot in front of the other. As you do this you can feel your ankle, your knee, or your hips moving and we can begin to train your proprioception. You can train proprioception through physical activities that use your muscles and joints to assess where it is in space. Our joints and muscles help us to be more aware of our balance improvement needs.
You can try the other foot in front, so give yourself the opportunity to try one foot in front of the other. The next thing you can do is with one foot flat and one foot just a toe touch. From this position you would be able to lift your foot up, touch it back down, and lift again while maintaining your balance as much as possible.
Single Leg Stance Balance Exercise
To perform a single-leg balance exercise, stand on one foot, hold the position for 10-30 seconds, and then switch legs, focusing on maintaining balance and a slight knee bend in the standing leg.
This excerise lets you challenge your ability to hold yourself still. That’s what you’re looking for. As that gets easier you can do something a little bit more dynamic where you tap your toe down and you come on back up. So back and forth just like this.
Stride and Floor Touch Balance Exercise
Train your muscles to move dynamically with this move and mimic stride motion balance exercise.
- Lift the knee up.
- Tap the toe down.
- If all goes well, add a reach all the way down to the floor and back together.
Airplane Balance Exercise
Another option you can try is this airplane position. You can do it with your arms to the side, arms in front, arms behind. You can do it dynamically to come up and back down or out and down.
To do an “airplane balance” exercise at home, stand with feet together, arms at your sides, and gaze at a spot 5 feet ahead. Then, lift one leg back, bending forward until your leg and chest are parallel to the ground, extending your arms out as if they were airplane wings, and hold for a few seconds before switching sides.
Coordinate Your At-Home Exercises With a Professional Physical Therapist
To best guide your balance exercise program for physical therapy recovery and strengthening, we need to tailor the exercises, repetitions, and modifications to your specific needs and current abilities. We can discuss your goals, any limitations, and your current fitness level to create a safe and effective plan.
Located at The Well Campus, a wellness facility in Savage, MN – Family Physical Therapy, MN offers physical therapy and rehabilitation services, including in-house workout machines to improve your physical strength and coordination.
Adherence to a home exercise routine is essential for an effective plan of care in PT. Performing it on days between and after your PT sessions with Brenda Brewster, you can stay active and healthy with these supportive rehabilitation exercises. Remember, it is best to have guidance from your PT specialist to ensure you exercise safely.