27 Stability and Balance Exercises
Stability and Balance
Balance is your ability to control your body in space, distributing your weight evenly in a way that allows you to remain upright. Balance is divided into two types: static and dynamic. Static balance is the ability to maintain the body’s center of mass within its base of support. Dynamic balance is the ability to move outside the body’s base of support while maintaining posture control. Both types of balance are essential, and you can improve both with targeted exercises.
Benefits of balance training include:
- Improved neuromuscular coordination (control and awareness of their joints and how they function when the body is in motion)
- Teaching your body to use the core for stabilization
- Greater muscular balance in the body
- Injury prevention as slight deviations in terrain often require subtle adjustments in your balance to avoid injury
Fortunately, the exercises that help improve stability and balance are many of the same exercises for muscular strength and endurance exercises for the core. Additional exercises are listed below.
Examples of Stability and Balance Exercises
- Single Leg Deadlift
- Dynamic Lunge with Rotation
- Flight of the Bird
- Tree pose
- Half Moon
References
Clark, D.R., Lambert, M.I. & Hunter, A.M. Contemporary perspectives of core stability training for dynamic athletic performance: a survey of athletes, coaches, sports science and sports medicine practitioners. Sports Med – Open 4, 32 (2018). doi:10.1186/s40798-018-0150-3
American Heart Association. Balance Exercise. Reviewed April 18, 2018.
Han J, Anson J, Waddington G, Adams R, Liu Y. The Role of Ankle Proprioception for Balance Control in relation to Sports Performance and Injury. Biomed Res Int. 2015;2015:842804.
Krause A, Freyler K, Gollhofer A, et al. Neuromuscular and kinematic adaptation in response to reactive balance training – a randomized controlled study regarding fall prevention. Front Physiol. 2018;9:1075.
