Discussion: Balance

A while back someone mentioned a study that found orienteers to have less ability to balance (on one foot, a beam, etc.) than was expected. The thought was that because the orienteers are trained to run in very uneven terrain that they would have had better than normal balance.

I can't find the discussion where this came up. Does anyone remember? More specifically, does anyone have more info on the study?

My bro-in-law is a PT that specializes in balance and dizzyness (he does a lot of work with older people and stroke victims). This past weekend he put me through a few of his tests; we were just doing it for fun. The gyst of the results were that I had very good motor reponse to dynamic balance issues. However, my foot sensitivity and static balance were not as strong. I wonder to what extent my anomalies, both positive and negative, are idiosyncratic/personal or trained. Does all the running I/we do make our feet less sensitive?

Maybe this thread has been beat to death. If so, please help me find the old thread. Thanks.

I'm pretty sure it was in Spike's blog.

Tack sa mycket!

Perhaps related to the frequency of ankle sprains and injury to nerves. I recall after spraining my ankle it took 6 months to be able to balance on that foot again, and that was only after a determined training effort. Now I've re-educated to the extent I can balance on the ball of the foot -- useful for xc skiing.

Interesting -- I was thinking of doing some training to improve my balance (tai chi or something like that). But maybe that would produce a negative effect on my orienteering?!!!??

Being able to stand on one foot for a long time doesn't seem like a very useful skill for an orienteer. That said, I would agree that an active program of ankle strengthening would be beneficial to someone who turns ankles easily. Wobble board training is good, yoga is good. The best for me was standing on my toes on a stair and lowering my heel below the level of the stair and then pushing up on my toes - slowly up and down, with the downward stretch the more important part of the exercise.

A trick a great ski coach taught me was to take turns balancing on one foot as you do basic tasks at home...brushing teeth, washing dishes, putting on your shoes, etc.
It requires thick skin to deal with the ridicule of your spouse, but can be worth it.

If you're only worried about the ridicule of your spouse you must not have children!

Jasper should be getting old enough to participate in the ridicule any day now!!