Welcome to Part II of our series about improving your balance: Standing with the heel of one foot touching the great toe of the other foot, also called Tandem Stance
I know outside of the Olympics no one walks on a balance beam.
But most people do walk with their feet in a nearly straight line and heels almost touching as one foot is brought forward past the other.
Walking with our feet close together, or standing that way, requires our ankles to constantly be making small adjustments to keep us centered over our feet.
Think of how much harder it is to balance on a bicycle, with wheels in a line, than a tricycle with wheels far apart.
Our bodies are designed to detect movement between body parts, and their relative position to each other. This is called proprioception. Proprioception is how our feet and ankles sense we are leaning forward, even before our eyes notice the wall is now slightly closer to our face.
Standing in Tandem Stance works on proprioception in the ankles, retraining the brain to pay attention to small movements, and react to them.
And when you train your brain to react to small changes, it knows what to do if the ankles sense you starting to lean one way or the other.
Practice standing with each foot in the back for 1 minute each.
Watch the Video below to see me perform the exercise.
Video Transcript:
I’m going to show you how to safely practice standing with one foot directly in front of the other.
As always begin with a solid surface, like the kitchen counter or a sturdy chair.
You can have both hands or just one for support.
Place one foot directly in front of the other such that the heel of the front foot is touching the big toe of the back foot.
Once in position you can decide if you want more of your weight on the back foot or on the front foot, or somewhere in between.
But no matter where your weight is distributed you’re going to feel your ankles working hard to keep you upright.
Switch feet and have the other foot in the front and keep track of which foot is easier to have in the front or the back.
As in the previous exercise most people find they aren’t even.
I’m proud of you for working to improve your balance.
Keep up the good work!
