Insight of the Week from Cara
Soapbox warning
In the world of physical activity media, the subject of balance training comes up from time to time. Movement professionals eagerly share their protocols and program ideas on how they work to improve balance.
But there is little specificity considered for understanding the underlying mechanics of exactly which aspect of balance is impaired. How do you know what to work on if you don’t understand the instability in finer detail? Drives me bonkers!
For example: You want to improve your golf game, so the pro tells you to practice more. Without further specifics how do you know you’re putting in time doing what will help?
There is a saying about doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. You need a more specific plan!
How does the Bridging® framework assess balance differently from others?
For balance, we take a nuts and bolts approach by looking at the simple relationship of discrete sway control in each plane of motion — forward/back, side to side, turning, and up/down.
We assess this in three progressively challenging ways:
- Sitting
- Standing
- Stepping (mini-lunge)
What we find is there is only one or two directions that are unstable, often lateral or rotational control. By resetting the related muscles, your balance changes instantaneously!
Why is balance off?
When we assess a client’s micromovement flows and transitions, the glitches we find are always related to the four usual suspects from your overall lifetime:
- Injuries
- Illness
- Medical interventions
- Early life/birth impacts
We use the gentle Bridging® reset process to restore the correct stabilizing patterns in the muscle groups impacting your balance. This can usually be accomplished in 2-3 sessions.