Although it’s easy to take for granted, balance plays an important role in avoiding everyday injuries.

Due to poor postural habits and a lack of integrative exercises for eye-hand coordination, we all tend to turn into coach potatoes.

In effect, our skills deteriorate and we end up with limited mobility. This leads to accidents waiting to happen. Also, as we grow older, the time and effort it takes to recover from a sudden slip on the ice or crack in the sidewalk quickly increases.

Balance is a state of equilibrium the body has as it aligns itself against the forces of gravity. Your vertebrae column of back bones helps maintain your vertical height as do the supporting muscles around them. Balance is most easily lost after an injury. While it’s relatively easy to retrain your skills, many patients never do.

You don’t have to walk a balance beam in a gym, but you should have the strength to handle everyday life. You should, at the very least, be able to live your daily routine pain free.

Exercise routines such as Yoga, Tai Qi or ballroom dancing can be fun and important as they provide a proprioceptive input into the brain. This activates certain pathways in the brain to improve balance. Every major sport incorporates balance into a fitness criterion. If your training for an upcoming event, adding balance into the schedule increases your skill level with every major twist and turn.

In Holistic Medicine, there are also several approaches to achieving balance. Acupuncture points on the feet around the toes have been known to improve balance. These involve the bladder, spleen and stomach meridian and consist of about a dozen points on each foot.

These points are often incorporated into the treatment when other chief complaints are involved. The points respond well both to needling and acupressure. A typical treatment protocol would involve 3-6 treatments. These same points are often utilized in the adjustments of the feet. Misalignments of the bones of the foot are referred to as subluxations and can impact the gait mechanics of walking.

Also, Applied Kinesiology offers huge help in restoring balance as well. Adjunct to most chiropractic care, Applied Kinesiology offers simple exercises and breathing routines that can help in neurological organization. Things like relearning the cross crawl pattern are easy to learn and can have a quick impact in balance training and gait patterns.