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Balance

Balance refers to a position or posture that a person can maintain. Our balance can be static or it can be mobile, so there are two main types of it. It allows us to remain stable during various activities, such as when standing, turning, or walking. There are several systems whose coordination allows us to achieve balance, including the inner ear, eyes, muscles, and joints. We also call the inner ear the vestibular system; similarly, the eyes refer to the visual system, and the sensation from the muscles and joints is called the proprioceptive system.

Types:

There are two major types of balance, both of which are listed below.

Static Balance:

Static balance refers to the ability to maintain the balance of our body when it is not moving. For example, we have to stand on one leg without falling, or if we look at the other side, it is mainly a muscle tone, or we control our posture, and it depends on the sensory input of the body.

Dynamic Balance:

The ability to maintain stability is called dynamic balance. It is the ability to keep our body posture stable when our body is in motion, such as when we walk, run, or change direction. Constant adjustment of muscles and joints is required when we have to keep them balanced.

Coordination:

In coordination, balance is combined with three major functions, which together are called coordination.

Vestibular System:

The vestibular system is located in our inner ear and detects the movement of our head and our position in space.

Visual System:

The visual system refers to our eyes, which provide us with information about the position of our surroundings.

Proprioceptive System:

The proprioceptive system refers to sensory receptors in our muscles, joints, and tendons that provide us with information about the position of our limbs.

The cerebellum and brainstem are responsible for receiving signals. These three functions provide signals to both of them, which then process this information and transmit the correct signals to the muscles so that they can maintain their balance and posture.

Pathophysiology:

We experience imbalances when one or more of the balancing components of our body that are responsible for balance are disrupted. They are unable to function properly. Some of the imbalances or pathophysiology can include:

Vestibular Dysfunction:

Disturbances in spatial orientation due to damage to the inner ear, as occurs in vertigo or Meniere's disease.

Cerebellar Lesions:

It also affects the coordination of our body, in which we feel jerks or notice an unsteady gait.

Visual Impairment:

In visual impairment, we either lose our ability to maintain orientation or our ability to detect movement is greatly reduced.

Peripheral Neuropathy:

The proper feedback from our feet or legs begins to be lost, making it difficult to walk.

Aging and Muscle Weakness:

In this, our nerves start to react very slowly, or the strength of our muscles decreases. Due to which the control we have is reduced.

These are some of the symptoms that can cause our balance to deteriorate.

Cause of Balance and Coordination Impairment:

Vestibular function is a cause that can generally lead to a disorder of our balance and coordination because there is a vestibular system inside our ear that plays an important role in maintaining the balance and spatial orientation of our body. When it is damaged due to excessive infection or inflammation, or any trauma, it causes us dizziness or unsteadiness.

To put it another way, when our vestibular nerves become inflamed, we suddenly start to feel dizzy and have difficulty walking because the brain does not receive the correct position and movement of the head, which causes coordination and balance to be impaired.

Personal Experience:

A personal experience of mine is that once it happened to me that I was climbing up the wet stairs, and my foot slipped on them. Due to the slip, I fell down and got a slight injury on my head. For a few days, I felt slightly dizzy, and I experienced a feeling of being unsteady on my feet.

I used to feel dizzy, especially when I turned my head quickly. The doctor told me that there was a slight problem in the balance system of my inner ear, which was causing my dizziness. He advised me to rest and said that I should do light balance exercises so that I could get better. Within about a week, my symptoms gradually improved.

Reverse Walk

I don't have any patients who have difficulty walking, so I can do this exercise to improve their balance and gait, but I'm going to do a reverse walk to complete this task. Since my posture and body balance are perfect, I have done this reverse walk with great ease. Many patients have a lot of difficulty walking, so for them, first you should hold them and do this exercise, then you should let them go, and they should do this exercise on their own. This will improve their body posture and balance.

Single Leg Squats

Since I am a football player and in football we need to maintain our body posture and balance a lot, this exercise is very good for me, as it allows me to stabilize myself in a short time.

To complete this exercise, we have to straighten both our hands on one leg and lift the other leg straight up and bend down, and stand up again. In this way, we have to complete its repetition. Then our balance will be maintained, the lower back will be excellent, the muscles will be excellent, and our weight will be on our ankle and on the knee, which will improve our endurance and body balance.