10 Minute Balance Exercises - To Do Everyday for Improved Balance!

today we are doing a short routine that you can do every single day to help your balance let's get started today we're going to be working on our balance a recent study published showed that anyone over the age of 50 unable to stand on one leg for 10 seconds was twice as likely to die in the next decade that that shows us how important our balance really is so this routine is something short that you can include every single day in order to help that balance and all you need is a chair or a kitchen counter or a bathroom counter or a wall or anything close to hang on to so we're going to start standing and facing our balance helper here have your legs hip distance apart and I want you to raise up onto your toes and then lower back down balance happens when we include many different parts of what's going on meaning we have strength we have Mobility happening it includes our eyesight our vestibular system so today this short workout is going to really include kind of all of those things so that you know you are helping your balance going forward over time I want you to work on doing this without holding on to anything at all okay so we're going to do five more of these and I want you to close your eyes and see how it feels to do these with your eyes closed so it's important when we're working balance long term to take away that visual feedback and just work also a little bit with the eyes closed okay one more nice jump still holding on if you need to now we're going to bend our knees and come back up so we're just doing a little mini squat here and it can be really small I don't want you to worry about sitting back and down really deep or anything like that this is more about getting some mobility in the hip and the knees and the ankles again all really important with balance when you think about when Falls happen a lot of times they'll happen stepping off a curb or going downstairs that place where our ankles get really stiff and don't give us the mobility we need so movement like this can help and then same thing let's do five more and maybe see how it feels with your eyes closed again hanging on as needed okay three two last one nice job all right now I'm going to turn to the side so I'm just holding on with my right hand and we're going to work the right leg so my left leg stays down and what I want you to do is lift that right knee up and back down nice this is important for a few different reasons this is called a single leg balance but also we're doing a little bit of weight shifting we're teaching that left leg how to hold the weight on its own okay three and again if you don't need help great this is where I want you to work eventually where you don't need to hold on good job other side so same thing I'm lifting that knee up just as high as I can to try to get some weight into that right foot and if you're more comfortable doing this with shoes on that is completely fine for this exercise today I'm fine with that wear those tennis shoes if you like having some foot support if you have any kind of foot injury that just makes it more comfortable to have shoes on completely fine okay one more nice job now I want you to do a little March but we're going to go slow like this right leg up down left leg so again this is really working into that weight shift idea okay and it's simulating what walking upstairs maybe just walking down the street going side to side and see if you can think about keeping your posture up and your eyes forward try not to look down at your feet when you're doing this that's going to help us with that balance too the more we kind of hunch and try to walk like this the more likely we are to fall nice jump okay on this one lift your right leg stay here hold on if you need to or try not to and just count and test yourself that's all you're doing getting a baseline of how long you can actually hold this okay three two one that was around 10 seconds and then we'll do the other side and again this isn't a single day workout to fix everything this is the long game that's what we're looking at including these every single day to really make balance a priority for yourself okay nice job bring it back down this job now I'm going back to the right leg I'm bringing it out to the side so it looks like this okay so same thing we just did but what instead of going to the back we're going to the side nice job and three two one other side so I know we're kind of moving through these quickly but that is some of the point is again to teach your body how to shift one place to another to one nice job all right so we're gonna go back to standing on the left leg and I'm going to bring that right knee up and down so same thing we worked just a moment ago we're going to add a piece to it so you're going to bring that right foot up and then open it bring it down and forward okay so I'm lifting it up I'm opening lowering and forward so it's like I'm drawing these little circles with my hip this is a lot of hip mobility okay which believe it or not really good for our balance and just for overall health in those joints and now switch directions so I'm lifting it out to the side forward and down and then what you're also doing is building a lot of strength in that standing leg so we always think about this as what is my lifting leg doing but really the sneaky part as a physical therapist what I'm making you do right now is hold your weight on that left leg take a break okay so the standing leg is working that's a big part of balance too we have to be strong in that standing leg then we're going to switch so we're just going to start left leg is going to lift and lower and again over time when you're ready I want you to try not to use this that's the goal your goal is over time eventually that you can stand on one leg for 10 seconds without holding on to anything okay but here to work there see how I'm keeping it close okay now we're going to go into those circles so left leg up open down forward so I'm just keeping it close so maybe you go fingertips or maybe you just slowly start to let go but that's some of the key okay nice job switch directions out to the side forward and down and keep breathing it's gonna be over eventually we're getting close oh see in there I lost my balance a little bit so I caught it and I come right back nice job take a break that's the key you don't get discouraged you just come right back to it again this is a long game okay we're thinking long-term benefits all right let's turn and face our balance helper one more thing we're going to work on is a little stretching so bring the left foot forward the right foot is going to come back and you're going to bend the left knee but keep the right heel down okay and this too this is definitely helpful to have something to hold on to but you don't have to if you don't have anything available to you just be right here but what we're doing is we're stretching the back of the back leg so your right calf and just see if you can get the heel down see if you can straighten the right knee have your posture tall [Applause] nice job let's go ahead and switch sides take as much time as you need you get the left heel down make sure the toes are facing forward and then Lean Forward slightly bend the right knee nice open tall posture one more deep breath nice job okay come back bring both feet underneath your hips toes facing forward shoulders down and back and then I want you to close your eyes and just see how that feels if this is a comfortable place for you to be lift your right knee and if you need to have your eyes open go ahead right knee down then left knee we're just doing a little more work with those eyes closed so your choice we're doing some marching eyes open maybe eyes closed holding on maybe not holding on you can see how this progresses over time and I keep my hands I have my eyes closed my hands are really close to the chair really really close and if you do have a lot of balance issues or a history of falling please be safe here have someone behind you if you need to or just Don't Close Your Eyes just do this with your eyes open okay so we're progressively working but we're also going to work within our boundaries of our bodies and what we need and keeping ourselves safe that's the most important thing that's why we're working to help prevent Falls so we can stay safe and independent so that means working where you need to right now so if closing your eyes isn't an option then please don't do it no big deal last one ah nice job walk your feet back just a little bit and let yourself stretch forward one more deep breath in nice job slowly come back up shoulders down and back and congratulations you did a great job thank you for joining me for that short workout you can do it every single day or again just pick and choose pieces of it to do at your kitchen counter anytime during the day to help your own balance meet your body where it is and know that long term you're doing something good for yourself I'll see you again soon [Music]

Channel: Jessica Valant Pilates

Views: 1,500,477

Keywords: balance exercises, balance exercises for seniors, balance exercises for beginners, balance exercises for seniors to prevent falls, balance exercises physical therapy, better balance, how to improve balance, beginner workout at home, Jessica Valant pilates, 10 minute beginner workout

Id: uth_9K3EmDI

Length: 12min 27sec (747 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 05 2023