08/06/2026
💖 As we age it’s important to incorporate balance into your daily exercise routine. This is vital if you have an existing balance problem, but it's also very highly recommended for everyone over the age of 65 years of age.
For many, balance training needs to come before starting any other form or exercise training due to the risk of falls when up and moving around
To be effective in training your balance, you need to be challenging yourself in different positions and postures so your are working hard to balance, BUT staying within in your limits of safety so you don’t fall. A key here is to ensure your environment is set up safely so you can save yourself during your exercises if you do lose your balance.
Here are some other key principles that you need to apply to ensure you actually IMPROVE your balance and make long-lasting changes that will stick!
🧠 You need to train your balance DAILY. Once or twice a week is not frequent enough to make a difference over time that lasts.
🧠 You need to make sure you progress the difficulty of the exercises over time. If the exercises don’t challenge you, they won’t change you.
🧠 The exercises need to be SPECIFIC to you. This means you need to be working on exercises that address your individual needs. It is recommended that you have a balance assessment by a trained clinician to determine what your needs are AND to ensure you are set up safely to work on your exercise at home.
Some examples of how we progress and challenge balance in our clinic are:
- Narrowing your base of support
- Changing the surface to being unstable or uneven
- Walking over obstacles
- Incorporate turning and head movements
- Working with your eyes closed
- Adding in dual tasking, so you need to balance AND divide your attention to a second task
