30-Second Balance Challenge
Each year, approximately 2.8 million people ages 65 or older are treated in emergency departments for fall injuries.
This means it’s incredibly important to work on balance skills not only when you’re older, but at ANY age.
At Performance Therapies, we work on balance-related exercises with our patients, and believe everyone can benefit from improved balance – even when not receiving therapy care.
To encourage people to practice their balance skills, we created a free challenge worksheet that anyone can download and use as a guide for daily balance practice.
How it works: There are 5 phases to work through – that relate to the position of your feet (feet apart, half-tandem, single leg, etc.). Each phase gets more challenging as you progress in skill. Easy of the 5 phases have 3 progressions and 1 regression. If you can master the phase/progression, you color in the related circle and move on to the next exercise. The progressions include reaching an arm across your body with a twist, turning your head side-to-side, etc.
You’ve successfully mastered the entire challenge if you can complete all phases and all 15 progressions.
Aim for practicing these balance skills for at least 5 minutes every day, even after you’ve mastered all the progressions.
