Good Balance is Vital for Good Health
Being confident on your feet and having good balance is incredibly important. This is especially true for those in our aging population.
Poor proprioception, a medical term for body awareness and balance, is a prominent cause of many common conditions that affect patients in our Brisbane clinic every day.
So, what is proprioception?
It is our own body’s unconscious awareness of itself in space in relation to external stimuli, in both movement and stillness. It helps us to achieve quality movement, beautiful posture and solid balance.
There are certain parts of our body that contain high amounts of proprioceptive tissue including our feet, upper neck, jaw and pelvis. These areas of our body relay messages to our brain to let our body know where it is in space. If something is wrong with any of these areas (for example an injury to your foot) this can change the messages being sent to the brain and can in turn affect your balance, movement patterns and posture. This can lead to pain and injury.
Examples of conditions that can be linked to poor proprioception :
- Falls (leading to injury and broken bones)
- Ankle sprains
- R.S.I (Repetitive strain injury)
- Vertigo
- Neck pain
- Poor posture
- Back pain
- Tennis Elbow
- Functional Scoliosis
- Headaches
- And many more
Treatment Options
Luckily Chiropractic can offer treatments to help improve proprioception and in turn many conditions faced by many people. Chiropractic Adjustments are a very powerful tool for improving proprioception. To learn more about the power of a Chiropractic Adjustment on our body click here. In our clinic we are also passionate about rehabilitation. We have many great techniques available for improving muscle strength and function and retraining muscle patterns. There are also amazing exercises available to stimulate the proprioceptive tissues in different areas of the body to help improve balance.
Exercises to Try
Feet: Stimulate the skin on the bottom of your foot. Try rolling a golf ball under your bare feet each day. Whilst sitting down move the golf ball under your foot: forwards and backwards and then side to side. Roll the ball under your foot in circles, clockwise and anti-clockwise. Try doing it for five minutes.
Neck: Sit up nice and straight. Relax your shoulder blades down (as if someone is gently pushing down on the top of your shoulders) and relax your arms down by your side. Lengthen out through your neck (imagine there is a string attached to the very top of your head and someone is pulling it up towards the ceiling). Keeping yourself in this position, gently tuck your chin in (like you are trying to make a double chin). Try to keep your neck and shoulders still and relaxed and repeat a few times.
It is very common for our proprioceptive centres to be compromised. By addressing these concerns early through treatment such as Chiropractic it can help relieve pain and save you from problems in the future.
Take Care
Amanda
Hi, I’m Michael; Chiropractor, Dad, science enthusiast, active weightlifter and keen sportsman. I work with busy and active people who are struggling with pain to find relief from their symptoms so that they can return to an active lifestyle, get through their work day and their workouts without having to pop a pill so that they can feel happier and healthier in their body.
