The Effect Of Walking Exercise On Balance

Keeping your balance while walking or simply standing is a major achievement, albeit a typically unconscious act. Your brain is constantly interpreting sensory input in order to maintain your body's equilibrium. However, if you do have difficulty staying balanced, there are exercises that will help. Walking is one.

Balancing Input

Walking requires neuromuscular coordination. It also requires external and internal stimuli, from sensations picked up by the nerves in the soles of your feet to visual and audio cues interpreted by your brain. Your brain interprets those cues, decides what direction you will take and at what speed, and sends nerve signals to your lower limbs and feet. Your feet respond to these nerve signals from above, and to pressure from the ground below, stepping forward in turn, supporting weight, and balancing mid-stride.

Possible Causes of Balance Loss

Disorders such as vertigo interfere with balance by disrupting the mechanism of your inner ear. According to "The New York Times," vertigo can be caused by inner ear infections. Other conditions that can seriously disrupt your equilibrium include low blood pressure, brain injury and specific illnesses and medications. Yet there are effective therapies that help preserve the inner ear's role and that can reestablish your sense of balance and orientation, exercises that, as "The New York Times" notes, can involve no more than the motion of placing one foot in front of the other. Walking.

Proprioception and Balance

Walking is a dynamic motor skill requiring the coordination moments of single-leg balancing with progressive movement. This requires your legs and feet to develop proprioception, or "sense of self in space." Proprioception occurs unconsciously but can be improved through the conscious act of placing one foot in front of the other. Actively thinking about your foot's position in the air, how it moves, stretches, touches the ground and supports your shifting weight helps your feet "learn" balance.

Heel-To-Toe Walking

If you have lost your sense of balance, walking can be difficult. The Merck Manuals Online Medical Library states that if physical therapy is required, foot reflex tests may determine abnormalities in nerve signaling processes that govern voluntary muscle movements. Therapy may also involve heel-to-toe walking exercises. The goal is to walk in a straight line, placing your heel so that it almost touches your other foot's toes--not easy when your equilibrium is off. This heel-to-toe drill strengthens balance-related neurological pathways and motor skills. Closing your eyes or standing on tip-toe while you walk increases the challenge.

Vertigo and Aging

Inner-ear infection, or labyrinthitis, is described by Formula Medical Group as a bacterial or viral infection affecting the inner ear's group of fluid-filled chambers that govern balance functions. If severe vertigo results, walking exercises may not help initially, but once the infection abates, the heel-to-toe routine can be beneficial in restoring your balance. Balanced walking is a good thing to master at all stages of your life, especially as advanced age brings susceptibility to falls. Your health and safety rely on balance.