Boost Balance: Engage Your Ears, Eyes & Feet

By: Dr. Beth Templin

Many of us know that our ears, eyes, and feet all work to help us stay steady on our feet. In order to improve your balance, the best approach will incorporate all 3 of these systems into your balance training.

Engage Your Ears
Your ears play a crucial role in maintaining balance. It’s not so much your hearing, but rather your inner ear, which contains the vestibular system. This system helps you sense changes in your body's position. When you move, the main goal is to keep your head upright and your eyes level with the ground.

To improve your ability to use your ears for balance, you will need to perform activities that stimulate and strengthen your vestibular system. To activate your vestibular system, you can stand with your eyes open and then close them. You can practice turning your head from side to side, or moving your head up and down while standing or walking. You can roll from side to side in your bed. Or you can work on performing 180 and 360-degree turns while standing in place or performing a figure 8.

Use Your Eyes Wisely

Vision provides essential feedback to your brain about your surroundings and body position. As we age, we become more dependent on our vision for balance, so we want to practice strengthening this as well.

To leverage your eyes for better balance, try to focus on a fixed point. When practicing balance exercises, fix your gaze on a stable object in front of you. This helps minimize visual distractions and enhances your ability to maintain equilibrium.

Move your eyes in the direction you want to move. This is especially helpful when you are going to turn. You want to look with your eyes first, and then allow your body to follow. Many athletes who perform quick turns will use this technique to stay balanced.

Strengthen Your Feet
Your feet are the physical foundation for maintaining balance and stability. To strengthen them effectively, you can try walking or exercising barefoot in your home. This strengthens the muscles in your feet and improves proprioception, the body's awareness of its position in space.

Instead of just raising your heels and toes, you can try to walk on your heels or walk on your toes next to your kitchen counter for some added support. This will work on the strength and flexibility of your ankles. Other options include standing or walking on a soft or unstable surface like grass, gravel, or sand. In therapy sessions and classes, we use foam pads to simulate these surfaces.

Putting It All Together
The best types of balance programs will address your leg strength as well as these 3 senses. At HouseFit, we now have a new tool to help integrate all 3 of your sensory systems to help improve balance. It’s called the Balance Matters System. This system was developed by a physical therapist who specializes in balance, vestibular rehab, and Parkinson’s.

This equipment uses footpads to deliver visual targets, auditory clicks, and somatosensory feedback to our bodies. It can be used to help people improve anything from standing up out of a chair, to walking and turning. The benefit is users begin to internalize the feedback they receive from the system at a quicker speed, allowing for better results. The Balance Matters System can be used during physical therapy sessions both in the gym and in the home. If you or someone you love is struggling with their balance, we can help!

​- 💗Dr. Beth

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