As we age, what should we know about balance? Our head trainer, Alicia Rios, sat down with Ranjani Kumar, DPT, to talk about balance, healthy aging, and how we can live healthier lives. Ranjani has been a physical therapist for the last 16 years and has a wealth of experience working with older adults. Keep reading to learn more about how to assess your balance and ways to improve it. 

Bold: What does it mean to age in a healthy way?

Alicia: Aging in a healthy way means staying functional in your brain and your body. Movement and exercises can help with this. 

Ranjani: As we age, we want to be as independent as possible. We must have a good balance, posture, and muscles. It’s not easy, but it’s very doable!

Bold: How is balance related to healthy aging? 

Ranjani: As we age, we naturally lose muscle. We have three systems involved in balance. Our vision, the vestibular system in our inner ear that controls our balance, and then our somatosensory system (related to our body’s position). Balance is a mix of these three senses. As we age, we can depend on one system more than the other. For example, someone with low vision might rely more on their somatosensory system. 

Alicia: Balance is a foundational daily activity. We balance all the time without noticing it. When you’re walking, your foot lifts off the ground. That’s balancing. As we age, we want to make sure we’re maintaining muscle strength for good balance. We can reduce some of the muscle loss that naturally happens with age.

Bold: What does it mean to have good balance? What does it mean to have poor balance?

Ranjani: Let’s say we have to pick out clothes in the morning, and someone has their clothing rack really high. If I’m not struggling to reach up there, even if I’m on my tiptoes, I have good balance. Poor balance would be if I am struggling with that task. Or if I’m struggling to sit, which is static balance, or struggling to move and pick up my coffee mug, for example, then that’s not good balance.

Alicia: Good balance means you can maintain your center of gravity. Good balance comes when you’re able to control your mobility. Good balance comes when you’re able to reach out, and you don’t lose control.

Bold: How can people safely assess their own balance? 

Ranjani: I use a simple sit-to-stand test. I ask someone to sit and stand 5 times in 15-30 seconds, without using an armrest. Another test is to see if you can stand on one leg for 15 seconds. 

Alicia: Check in on yourself. Can you do a rotation? Can you reach up high? Can you hold a position?

Bold: How can we improve our balance?

Alicia: We get a lot of people who say they have trouble balancing when they’re using the toilet or getting up off a couch or bed. This is technically a squat, so strengthening the lower body is important. If you don’t know where to start, we do guided assessments at Bold and customize a program for you. We’ll figure out what works for you, based on what will help you get stronger. Tai Chi has been proven to help a lot because it has slow movements that challenge your balance.

Ranjani: Sit and stand exercises work three big muscles in the body: abdominals, glutes, and quads. They’re very important. I also like to add a lot of stretches to my exercises. Try to hold your exercises a little longer. Research says holding positions for longer stretches out our muscles and gets them going for the next 24 hours.

It’s also important to strengthen our ankle muscles. It might seem small, but it’s such an important muscle. Start with stretches, do strength training, and then end with stretches. I also tell people to count to three before they get up and go to the bathroom. We’re all groggy, and our muscles need that time to adjust to standing up. These are the times we see falls happen, so take it slowly.

The bottom line

Balance is important, and we use balance all the time in our everyday lives without even noticing it. You can assess your balance with a Bold assessment today, and we’ll make a program to help keep you strong.