Why you can only improve balance by challenging it

By the age of 5 children should be able to stand on one foot and throw and catch a ball but not many can.

Find out why!

Children who struggle with balance will often avoid the very activities they need to improve their balance. You may describe your child as clumsy and notice that they fall and trip over a lot or they may avoid the very activities that would challenge their balance.

Children with poor balance will struggle with their gross motor skills and in turn their fine motor skills.

Did you know there are 3 systems in your body responsible for your balance?

Vision, Vestibular and Proprioception. All three work together to tell your body where it is in space and to keep you upright. To improve balance each system needs to be challenged.

Your vestibular system is in your inner ear. When you move your head up and down your ears are telling you that your body is moving.

Your proprioception system is the feeling of pressure through your feet telling you what type of surface you are standing on or moving across. It tells you that your feet have changed angle when walking up a hill and changes your posture to cater for it, so you don’t fall over.

How does challenging these 3 systems improve balance?

Vision is 80% of our balance if you take away vision you can challenge your vestibular and proprioception systems. I want you to try something. Stand on one foot and just notice how much your ankle and hips are moving. Barely noticeable right? Now, while still standing on one foot, close your eyes. Did you start to feel your ankle quivering more noticeable as your body worked really hard to keep you upright? If you take away or hinder vision your balance is challenged making the two other balance systems work harder to keep you upright.

To challenge your proprioception further you need to confuse not only you vision but also your vestibular system. So… this time I want you to stand on one foot, close your eyes and move your head up and down. What did you feel? How much harder were your ankle, calf and hips working to maintain your balance? Did you have to put your hand out to steady yourself? Did you take a step forward or put your foot down because you lost balance?

To maintain balance your body responds to the input that it receives from vision, vestibular and proprioception systems. Small adjustments like a quiver in the ankle should be enough to keep you upright if not then your hips get involved and move side to side, if that doesn’t work you will take a step. It is crucial to practice standing on one foot and only have the ankle working to keep you upright.

By the age of 5 children should be able to stand on one foot and throw and catch a ball but not many can.

Why is this?

There could be many reasons from

lack of opportunities to practice
vision problems
inner ear problems

What are the implications?

If your child struggles with balance this can have a flow on effect to struggling with other gross motor skills which need to be mastered in order to progress with fine motor skills. If your child struggles with balance they may have a fear or falling over, they may run into things and be labelled as a little bit clumsy, they could avoid activities like climbing or swinging on playground equipment. This may lead to an overall avoidance of physical activity and sport in general. This has a flow on effect for general health and mental health.

What can you do to help your child if this is the case?

You can give your child the opportunity to challenge and develop their balance systems by:

walking on uneven surfaces, up slides, across cushions
swinging on a balance bridge or standing and swinging on a swing
walk around while moving their head up and down and side to side
stand on one foot with eyes open and eyes closed

Make it a game, join them in the fun of the challenge but don’t make it a chore. Sure, they may protest and say that it’s hard and that they can’t do it. Remind them of that powerful word “Yet”. Have them reframe their mindset and say “….. can’t YET!”. It will take many attempts and lots of practice to be great at something. Let them know that it’s ok and show them that it’s even a struggle for you to maintain you balance. Add some soft toys to the mix, set a family challenge to see who can improve their balance time the most each week.

If you need some more activities to develop your child’s balance, there are a wide range of activities included in #nwgonline. Ranging from balance circuits you can create at home; at home beam routines you can practice and create without needing a beam at all.