When it comes to working out, people often concentrate all their efforts on endurance and strength training, forgetting that there is more to exercise than just these two kinds of workout styles. Balance and flexibility workouts also need to be added to your routine in order to give you a well-rounded exercise program.
Static balance exercises are one example of balance exercises that should be included in your weekly routine, particularly if you’re an older adult. Read on to learn why these exercises are good for you, some static balance exercise examples that you can do at home or in the office, and much more.
As you will see later in the static balance exercise examples, these exercises come in many formats and we cannot say that some are better than others. However, what we would recommend is that you should always start with what feels easiest to you and work your way up to more challenging examples.
Before getting into the benefits of good static balance or static balance exercises, what exactly does the term ‘static balance’ refer to? One study published in BioMed Research International defines this as ‘the ability to maintain an upright posture and to keep the line of gravity within the limits of the base of support’ (1).
However, in simpler terms, static balance simply refers to the ability to maintain your body in a fixed posture/stable position. This could mean something such as being able to simply stand still, stand on one foot, or sit on a chair while using your phone.
Static balance shouldn’t be confused with dynamic balance.
While the former refers to the capacity to hold the body in a specific position and posture, dynamic balance is defined as ‘the ability to maintain stability during weight shifting, often while changing the base of support’ (1). In layman’s terms, it refers to the ability to maintain balance when our bodies are in motion, i.e. being stable while walking, running, or bending over.
So how does doing static balance exercises improve your life? Here are some benefits of such workouts
The most obvious benefit of doing balance exercises of any kind – static or dynamic – is that they will improve your balance. While young adults and middle-aged people might not be at risk of falling over, older people are at a very high risk of this.
Falling over not only causes a bruise to the ego, but it also increases the risk of injury, especially fractures.
Research has shown that encouraging older persons to do more balance workouts, helps to increase their stability/balance, which then reduces their risk of falling and any injury/fractures they may acquire after falling (2, 3).
Reduced risk of falling and injury through balance isn’t just a benefit for older adults. Balance training can have this benefit on people of all ages, but is especially important for those with disabilities.
One study published in the Disability and Rehabilitation journal stated that when children with diplegic cerebral palsy combined a traditional physical therapy exercise program with balance training, they showed significant improvements in their stability and fall risk compared to the children who only received traditional physical therapy training (4).
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Postural balance refers to how stable your body is when doing normal everyday functions such as standing, sitting, or walking (5). A study that looked at the best training programs for the preservation and rehabilitation of older adults found that both static and dynamic balance exercises worked best for this (1).
This benefit is not only seen in older adults alone. A study published in 2022 showed that encouraging children to take part in static and dynamic exercises while doing daily mundane things such as brushing their teeth can help them increase their posture control (6).
While we all age, aging is often something that is looked down upon with many people doing all they can to slow it down. Due to how normalized this is, we don’t realize how having a bad attitude toward the natural act of aging can affect our lives.
One study published in 2021 stated that the worse an older person’s attitude toward aging is, the less they’re able to cope with challenges that come with getting older and the worse their quality of life and health becomes (7).
However, improving your balance could help improve this attitude, which can improve your health and quality of life as time goes on. A study published earlier this year in the BMC Geriatrics journal stated that engaging in sensory-based static balance training can help older adults improve their balance and it also has a positive effect on their aging attitude (8).
It may seem unlikely, but having bad balance has been seen to elevate the risk of age-related geriatric illnesses.
In a study published in late 2023, researchers looked at the findings from an 8-year study with over 120,000 participants and found that seniors who had impaired balance issues had an increased risk of incident cardiovascular disease. They concluded that having impaired balance could place populations with a high risk of cardiovascular illness at an even greater risk of the same (9).
For the most part, we don’t need to do much to maintain our balance as we already have an organ that does this for us naturally. The vestibular system inside the inner ear does it for us (10).
However, even without damage to the ear, you can still find that you lose your balance. The main way to maintain static balance is through static balance exercises that specifically train your body to maintain and even improve this form of stability.
Read more: Top 10 Balance Exercises for Seniors At Home
The easiest way to do this is through a static balance test. You can do this using the 4-stage balance test that is often used by doctors on older adults. Here’s how to do it (11):
Please note that you’ll need a stopwatch for this. You can simply use the one already pre-installed in the clock app on your phone.
Simply stand with your feet side-by-side. Keep your feet together and see how many seconds you can stand like this without losing your balance.
Place one foot slightly in front of the other foot. The instep of the foot placed at the front should be touching the big toe of the other foot. Hold this position and see how long you can stay like that.
Place one foot completely in front of the other foot. Unlike in point 2 above, the heel of the foot at the front should touch the toe of the foot at the back.
Stand on one foot and time how long you can hold this position.
Please note
As the majority of yoga styles are classified as static stretching, you can also try to incorporate some yoga balance poses such as mountain pose, downward facing dog, tree pose, and the side warrior pose to improve your static balance. However, you should remember that if you’re actively moving throughout the yoga exercise, this would be considered dynamic stretching. This is typically seen in Vinyasa Flow yoga.
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If you do the above static balance test and see that you’re not as stable as you’d like to be, then you should start working on improving this. Please note that the 4 steps listed in the above exercise also work as static balance exercises.
You can use them to practice your stability by holding each position for just 10 seconds and then moving up to the next step. Do this daily with the aim of improving the amount of time spent holding each position without falling over. Aim to get to a 60-second hold for each exercise.
Place note: Some ways to make the above-mentioned steps/exercises more challenging include:
Static balance in sitting can be referred to as the ability to maintain stability while seated without using a backrest or arm rest. To improve this, try sitting on a chair with no arm rests or back support such as a stool and see how long you can hold this position. Focus on engaging your core and keeping an upright posture. This will improve your ability to hold yourself in this position.
Research on stroke patients has also shown that performing trunk exercises on either stable or unstable surfaces can help improve trunk performance and dynamic sitting balance (12).
Some dynamic balance examples for sitting balance include:
Yes, they do. From the studies outlined in the benefits section above, we can see that these exercises not only work to improve your balance, they can also significantly improve your quality of life and reduce the risk of injury in older adults.
Read more: Balance Pilates for Seniors: 10 Exercises You Can Do on Your Own
The effects of static balance exercises may be seen after just a week of training in some people but they may take longer in others. Sometimes just by focusing on this and training frequently, you can make quick improvements in how long you are able to hold these static balance exercises. It differs somewhat from weight training, where it takes time to build your strength and move up in weight. However, with any form of exercise, consistency is the key to success and improvements don’t happen overnight.
One children’s study that was published earlier this year in the BMC Research Notes stated that the effects of static and dynamic training could be seen in some children from as early as one week with some children exhibiting effects after three weeks and others after as long as six weeks. Researchers also stated that the longer the exercises were performed, the better the recorded effectiveness level (13).
Regarding healthy adults, a review published in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research showed that the effects of a routine that calls for training 10 minutes per day, three days per week can be seen in just four weeks (14).
We all start practicing our static balance at the ages of 3 to 6 years as this is the age where children start to learn how to use and integrate the three different sources of sensory information, namely visual, vestibular, and proprioception (15).
However, as we age, we start to lose our balance and postural control as the aging process affects central structures, the sensory system, and the motor functions, all of which affect movement and force control (16).
Therefore, we would recommend that you start doing both dynamic and static balance exercises as soon as possible. Remember that research states that things such as strength, endurance, and balance worsen rapidly at the age of 75, so preserving all these factors now will help you out later in the future (17).
In addition, balance exercises will help you with your functional daily movement. It can even be beneficial for athletes who run, jump, and cut throughout their games. Improving your balance will lead to results in your daily life, in sports, and in the weight room.
As seen above, research has proven that poor balance can be improved using the right exercises. Use the static and dynamic balance examples listed above to start working on this today.
Most adults start to notice issues with their balance from the age of 50 and from here on, their ability to remain stable continues to decline steadily (18).
Yes, you can. Engaging in both static and dynamic balance exercises can help you regain some of the balance you’ve lost, which will improve your posture, balance, and quality of life (19, 20).
Vitamin D and vitamin B12 have been associated with improved balance and a reduced risk of falls (21, 22). However, remember to contact a medical professional before you start taking vitamins or supplements.
Static balance exercises are a great way to improve your posture and balance as you age in a healthy and graceful way. If you suspect your balance may have deteriorated, try the 4-stage balance test to gauge how bad it is.
Once you know what you’re dealing with, use those same steps shown in the test to slowly improve this. We suggest also adding dynamic balance exercises to this routine for better, more well-rounded results. You can also enlist the help of a physical therapist for one-on-one therapy and help.
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