Balance, joint stability and proprioception, which is your body's ability to transmit a sense of position and react accordingly, belong to same same family of fitness traits. Conditions that challenge your proprioceptive ability include ice or cracks in the sidewalk. Your proprioceptive facilities inform you of the changes in the terrain, and your sense of balance responds by recruiting the muscle groups required for joint stability.
Consequences of Instability
Recurrent ankle sprains often cause chronic ankle instability, warns certified athletic trainer Brandi L. Ross. Chronic ankle instability can also cause ankle sprains, but whether the instability caused the sprains or the sprains caused the instability is unimportant, because the consequences are the same. Ankle instability alters your posture, which in turn changes your body's positional relationship with space and distorts your sense of proprioception. Just as a building structure is only as stable as its base of support, so is your body. Unstable ankles trigger a domino effect, which also destabilizes your knee, hip and back joints.
Ankle Stability Exercises
Most physical therapists and athletic trainers prescribe the single leg balance to enhance proprioception and ankle stability. This progressive exercise begins on a flat surface. Lift one leg and try to balance on the other for as long as possible. Once you've mastered the exercise, progress to performing it with your eyes closed, and on a balance board or balance disc. After mastering one-legged ankle stability on a balance device, progress to dynamic balance exercises such as hopscotch and jump-rope.
Knee Joint Stability
The BOSU, which is shaped like half of a stability ball, provides an effective balance training device for knee-joint stability exercise. Assume an all-fours position, with your knees on the BOSU dome and your hands and toes on the floor. Simultaneously lift your right knee and left arm from the floor. Remain in position and straighten your right leg. Bend your knee and return to the starting position. Repeat on the opposite side. Perform about 12 repetitions on each side, but excessively knee wobbling indicates that the muscles stabilizing your knee joints have fatigued. If this happens, perform fewer repetitions.
Upper Body Balance
Anyone who plays a throwing sport, paints or puts up shelves in an apartment, carries their children or groceries requires upper body joint stability. Certified trainer Fred Hoffman suggests a BOSU balance sequence for the upper body. Place the BOSU on the floor with the dome side facing up. Assume a pushup position with your hands on the dome. Bend your elbows and perform a pushup, lowering your chest toward the BOSU. Straighten your arms and rotate your upper torso into a T-stand position, with your left hand on the BOSU and your hand reaching toward the ceiling. Hoffman suggests eight to 12 repetitions, alternating between your right and left side.
Total Body
This advanced balance exercise enhances ankle, knee, hip and shoulder joint stability. It requires a BOSU or any type of balance board or balance disc, elastic resistance tubing and a workout partner. Secure the resistance tubing to a stable object, and and hold the ends with both hands, with your arms extended in front of you at chest height. Place your right foot on the balance board and your left foot on the floor behind you. Bend both knees and perform a lunge. Hold the position while your workout partner pulls on the tubing in random directions. Continue for as longs as you can maintain stability, then switch sides.
References
- "Biomechanics"; Proprioceptive Exercises ...; Brandi L. Ross; October 2006
- International Dance Exercise Association; How to Improve Proprioception; Michael Torrent; October 2003
- Bosu.com; Focus on the Core with Circuit Training; Fred Hoffman
- Fit-Pro; Functionally Fit -- BOSU Iso Tubing Split Squat; Brian Schiff; August 2011
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