What Are the Benefits of Balance Training? | Physical Therapy Effect

What Are the Benefits of Balance Training?

Feel Younger by Practicing Good Balance
Apr 30, 2021

When you think of balance, the first thing that comes to mind might be yoga. But balance is something that we utilize every day, many of us not even realizing it. We use balance for standing, walking, running, and even sitting. If you’ve ever watched a young child learn to stand and walk, you’ll know that it isn’t strength that they need, but balance that they must learn.

There’s a reason that yoga incorporates balance poses. It’s because balance training can have positive effects on your health. So what are these benefits of balance training?

Balance Training Can Help Maintain Your Balance Longer

Balance is a lot more complex than one would think. It demands quick coordination between your brain and your muscles. And unfortunately, like many bodily functions, balance declines with age as that coordination deteriorates. It’s important to practice balance training especially as you get older. How long you can stand on one leg is actually an indicator of longevity. The better your balance is, the younger your body may feel.

Elderly man on the floor after a fall with a cane next to him and an elderly woman helping him up

Balance Training Can Help Prevent Falls

Falls become a greater risk as we get older. When we’re younger, we can trip and fall down and get right back up again without any issues. However, as we age and our balance naturally deteriorates, we’re more likely to suffer a serious fall that results in injury. Balance training can help keep your stabilizer muscles in good shape and reduce the risk of falling, which in turn reduces the risk of injury. For the elderly, having good balance can also help to improve confidence as they have to worry less about falling.

Balance Training Can Help You Heal Faster from Injuries

Especially if you have an injury to your leg or ankle, performing balance training can help you to heal faster. Plus, continuing balance training after the injury has healed can help to prevent subsequent injuries.

Balance Training Encourages Better Posture

Most people have terrible posture. People spend a lot of time sitting at a desk or otherwise have a relatively sedentary lifestyle. This results in poor posture, with hunched shoulders. Poor posture can result in reduced mobility in the upper back, as well as back and neck pain. Balance training can help to improve your posture because balance and posture go hand-in-hand. In order to balance well, you need to have good posture.

Balance Training Can Help to Improve Your Coordination

Because of the rise of sedentary lifestyles across the world, people have started to lose a lot of coordination that we would naturally have. Along with generally having poorer balance nowadays, many people also have poor coordination. Balance training, however, can help to overcome this and improve both balance and coordination, as well as reflexive response. The best balance training exercises for improving coordination are dynamic exercises.

When Should I Do Balance Exercises?

If you’re recovering from an injury or have a condition that is treated with physical therapy, your physical therapist may recommend balance exercises to you. However, anyone can incorporate balance training into their workout routines. In fact, it can actually help maximize your workout. If you’re lifting weights and have a break in between sets to let your muscles recover, you can do balance training during that time so you’re not just waiting.

For informational purposes only.

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Mark Shulman

Dr. Mark Shulman

Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT), FAAOMPT, COMT, CSCS

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Fellow of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Manual Physical Therapists.


Mark Shulman

Dr. Allison McKay

Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT), PRPC

Co-Founder


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