The Best Daily Practice To Stop Falls

Actually more important than just standing on one leg:

Where it matters the most

The older we get, the more likely we are to fall, statistically. And if you think that only happens to other/older people, just know, it will probably happen to you too, so best not be caught off-guard.

However, what do most people fall while doing? Hint: it’s not usually while perched on a post in the yoga tree position. So why are so many balance exercises aimed at staying upright in positions we do not often adopt?

Instead, most people fall while doing one or more of the following:

• walking
• reaching for something
• trying to move out of the way of something

So, single-leg standing trains balance in one position, but real falls usually happen during movement.

For this reason, the key idea today is: practicing controlled loss of balance teaches your body to either bring your center of gravity back or step quickly to prevent a fall.

The exercise: stand with your feet hip-width apart, shift your weight fully onto one foot, reach your hand sideways as far as you safely can, then return to the center. In other words, when your balance is challenged, you either pull your weight back to the center or take a quick small step with a foot to stop yourself, both of which are realistic fall-prevention responses, and good things to train.

That said, we wouldn’t want you to injure yourself while practising, so to start with at the very least, it can be best to do it in a corner (so you have two walls for emergency support).

For more on all of this plus visual demonstrations, enjoy:

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Want to learn more?

You might also like:

Fall Special ← this is about how to not fall, and how to make it less likely you’ll be injured by a fall if you do

Take care!