On Balance and Aging

As I age I realize how increasingly important it is to focus on balance and aging skills. There are four major balance systems in your body:

• Inner ear – the key is hydration.
• Somatic sense – body-awareness training works for this.
• Vision – it’s harder to balance with your eyes closed, so practice this.
• Mechanoreceptors on the soles of your feet – use safe barefoot movement on sand or grass, and VOXX socks really help, also (Yes! I sell these socks, but I’m no sock salesman. My first love is writing and knowing my books help people.

If you want to prepare for aging, I suggest you work on balance and aging skills, daily. I practice balance on one foot when waiting in line, without even thinking about it. Just unweight one foot, then find your center of gravity, and fine tune your balance with your ankles.

Guarding (psychosomatic tension): As you age old habits come home to roost. Years ago, I learned that I’d been guarding my right ankle for about 40 years, following a motorcycle wreck. This caused pain in my knee when running, and Feldenkrais fixed my knee where everyone else failed. This chronic ankle guarding also caused me to need shoes of two different sizes, which was also fixed at the same time, as I learned not to scrunch in my toes. Now, I still have that habit a little, which can cause me to tilt to the right, inducing a mild imbalance if I forget about it – old habits can also have a negative impact on balance and aging, it would appear.

If you want my work to focus on a particular issue, kindly fill out the brief survey at this link. It’s the only way I can learn about the issues that concern people when it comes to aging .

Wishing you happy trails,

kev aka FitOldDog