Senior Exercises: One Foot Balances

Video Transcript

"O'kay the next clip we are going to show you how to balance on one foot and of course you have several options with this, if you are at a stage where you can't be standing for long periods of time. You can always do it in a seated position and just elevate the foot at about a 90 degree ankle and allow the other leg to support your weight. Now that is one option and of course you can switch legs and just try to put all your weight on your right foot, the left foot is elevated. If you are able to stand for a few minutes at a time or more then I recommend this one in a standing position so what you are going to do is if you have a lot of problems with your balance you can just come up on your toe and put all that weight on the opposite foot. Now if you are a little more advanced I would recommend elevating the foot, getting a little bit of fluxion in the hip and standing with the foot with all the weight on it for maybe five to ten seconds if you can and then try to increase it each time. Again you can hold on to the counter or you can hold on to a chair whatever you feel comfortable with. Now the leg that you are putting all the weight on is on that foot. Because that foot, all the muscles and all the arches are trying to help you balance. This is excellent to help prevent falls and increasing your balance so you don't have so many falls."