Embark on a transformative journey with me, Chris Kustanbauter, as I unveil 10 pivotal exercises that have revolutionized my balance and mobility throughout my 14-year battle with Parkinson's.
Stepping beyond the conventional, this episode is a treasure trove of practical strategies and heartfelt encouragement for my fellow Parkinson's warriors. From sidestepping to tandem standing, I'll be your guide through routines that promise to fortify your independence and illuminate the path to an exceptional life.
Imagine a day where each step is steady, and each movement is made with assurance. That's the day we're working towards, and it's closer than you think. We delve into the intricacies of exercises like chair squats and lunges—your daily allies in conquering movements we often take for granted.
With personal anecdotes and a walk-through of correct techniques, this episode is not just about exercise; it's about reclaiming the joy and freedom of movement, step by confident step.
Let's join forces and turn balance training into a beacon of hope and a cornerstone of daily living. Beyond the exercises, I share the clinical benefits that underscore why this isn't just another fitness fad—it's a lifeline.
With resources available at liveparkinsons.com and our vibrant community platform, the support you need is always within reach. Together, let's step confidently towards a life where balance is not a hope but a habit.
Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational purposes only is not intended to treat or diagnose Parkinson's Disease. Please ensure that you are following the treatment plan developed by your doctor. Please ensure before starting anything new you get approval from your doctor. The information being provided is based on my own personal experiences and does not guarantee that it will benefit everyone.
Embark on a transformative journey with me, Chris Kustanbauter, as I unveil 10 pivotal exercises that have revolutionized my balance and mobility throughout my 14-year battle with Parkinson's.
Stepping beyond the conventional, this episode is a treasure trove of practical strategies and heartfelt encouragement for my fellow Parkinson's warriors. From sidestepping to tandem standing, I'll be your guide through routines that promise to fortify your independence and illuminate the path to an exceptional life.
Imagine a day where each step is steady, and each movement is made with assurance. That's the day we're working towards, and it's closer than you think. We delve into the intricacies of exercises like chair squats and lunges—your daily allies in conquering movements we often take for granted.
With personal anecdotes and a walk-through of correct techniques, this episode is not just about exercise; it's about reclaiming the joy and freedom of movement, step by confident step.
Let's join forces and turn balance training into a beacon of hope and a cornerstone of daily living. Beyond the exercises, I share the clinical benefits that underscore why this isn't just another fitness fad—it's a lifeline.
With resources available at liveparkinsons.com and our vibrant community platform, the support you need is always within reach. Together, let's step confidently towards a life where balance is not a hope but a habit.
Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational purposes only is not intended to treat or diagnose Parkinson's Disease. Please ensure that you are following the treatment plan developed by your doctor. Please ensure before starting anything new you get approval from your doctor. The information being provided is based on my own personal experiences and does not guarantee that it will benefit everyone.
Hello and welcome to Live Parkinson's Live an Exceptional Life. I'm your host, chris Kastenbotter, and I've been living an exceptional life with Parkinson's for the past 14 years. The objective of this podcast is to help as many people as possible living with Parkinson's lead a great quality of life. Now, today's episode is Parkinson's and Balance 10 Easy Exercises to Stay Steady and Strong. Now do you want to improve your mobility, reduce the risk of falling and feel more confident with Parkinson's? Then tune in as we reveal 10 easy exercises that can make a big difference in your balance and your overall well-being. In fact, I can personally attest that these exercises have greatly improved my balance, my confidence and my fear of falling. Now, before we get started, I wanted to share this brief disclaimer Before trying any of these balance exercises or starting any new exercise program, please make sure to review them with your healthcare professional to make sure that they are appropriate for you and your specific needs. Your healthcare professional should approve these exercises prior to starting, and then, as we go through here, I will also be talking about modifications that we can use to make these exercises available to starting, and then, as we go through here, I will also be talking about modifications that we can use to make these exercises available to everyone. So are you ready to get started? Okay, let's help everyone improve their balance.
Speaker 1:
Having Parkinson's for 14 years, my balance is definitely not the same as it used to be, and I'm probably just like all of you One day my balance is pretty good, and then the next day I wake up and I feel and I'm probably just like all of you One day my balance is pretty good, and then the next day I wake up and I feel like I spent the night on one of the deadliest crab or deadliest catch crab boats, riding the 50-foot waves. Unfortunately, balance, which is one of the most important things that we use every day, is affected by Parkinson's because it disrupts our brain's ability to control movement and coordination. Now, balance problems related to Parkinson's can be caused by postural instability, which is one of the cardinal features of Parkinson's, and this simply means our ability to right ourselves after being thrown off balance. So think of the pull test we go through at the doctor's office, where they pull your shoulders from behind and what they're trying to measure is your ability to catch yourself from falling. Another problem that affects balance is freezing, and that's where a person feels like their feet are stuck to the floor. I know this has happened to me on multiple occasions, and it's funny, because your brain knows what it wants to do, but your feet and your body aren't cooperating. And then what this usually causes is it usually causes a person to take quick steps in place and then so, while your feet are quote stuck to the floor and not moving, your upper body's moving forward, which can cause you to become top heavy and fall.
Speaker 1:
So why should we care about balance exercises? You may be thinking, chris, it really doesn't matter, my balance is bad and there's nothing I can do about it. Well, I'm here to tell you balance exercises are important and they're effective in helping you reduce the risk of falls, and they're also going to help you improve your mobility and your independence, and they're effective in helping you reduce the risk of falls, and they're also going to help you improve your mobility and your independence, and they're going to give you the confidence to stay active so you can continue to participate in your daily activities. Look, I'm an honest person and I couldn't lie to you and say these exercises are great and they're going to help you improve your balance if I weren't doing them myself. I do these exercises every day for at least 15 minutes.
Speaker 1:
These exercises aren't something I read about in a study or in a book and thought, wow, these are great. I'll share them with the podcast audience. These are road-tested exercises that have helped me and I want to share them to help you. So, to give you a little sneak peek at the exercises we'll be talking about. Let's pull back the curtain and find out what we have in store for us. All right, the 10 exercises which I'm going to talk about will divide into three categories later on and I'll go into a lot more detail, but they're broken down into three categories vertical stability, posture and stability with gait and include single leg stand, tandem walking. Tandem standing lateral weight shift. Tandem standing lateral weight shift your favorite of mine chair squats, single leg stance with reaching another all-time favorite lunges background I'm sorry backward walking, sidestepping and dual tasking. Ooh, that sounds interesting. I wonder what that's all about.
Speaker 1:
Now, before we dive in to explaining the exercises in detail, I wanted to give you some reasons why balance training exercises are important in preventing falls, and not because well, chris is telling me they are. There was a study that looked at balance and fall rates for people with Parkinson's, and the title of the study was Highly Challenging Balance Program Reduces Fall Rate in Parkinson's Disease. And they reported and the first one is this first one I find staggering is that 68% of people living with Parkinson's in the community sustain at least one fall per year, which is double the fall rate reported in healthy older adults. Secondly, 50.5% of fallers with PD reported recurrent falls at least two or more in a one-year period. So that's pretty staggering, that 68% so almost not quite three quarters so at least two thirds of people living with PD in the communities have sustained at least one fall per year. So that's why these balance exercises are so very important. So how do falls affect your quality of life? Well, falls are a major cause of disability and often result in debilitating injuries such as hip fractures. That can significantly be more common in PD than with other medical conditions. People that have a hip fracture have a 20% chance of death within the next year because you become immobile when you have a hip fracture and that leads to a whole host of other devastating issues. So how does Parkinson's affect our quality of life? All right, now we know why it's important to prevent falls in people living with Parkinson's.
Speaker 1:
Let's take a look at some of the 10 easy exercises for Parkinson's balance training. By easy, I want to preface this. By easy, I mean no fitness equipment is required. I would also like to say always start off small and gradually increase as your balance improves. You don't need to start with all 10 of these exercises. In fact, I recommend that you select three, at least one from each of the categories that we're going to be talking about and, if you feel that your balance is a little better, maybe select one other additional balance exercise. But please start off small and then gradually build, and then please seek help from a physical therapist if you're having very poor balance, because they're trained to help you in this stage of your journey.
Speaker 1:
Now I'm going to be discussing three categories of balance. Now I'm going to be discussing three categories of balance, which I mentioned earlier, and be sure to include again at least one from each category. So let's look at. Each category focuses on improving the ability to maintain an upright posture, so vertical stability exercises typically challenge the body's ability to maintain balance in different ways, such as you're standing on one leg, you're shifting your weight from side to side or you're reaching for an object. So these are things that we typically do on a daily basis. Sometimes we have to step sideways to move out of someone's way or move out of the way of something coming. Sometimes we shift our weight or we stand on one leg as we're trying to reach something up in the counter. So these vertical stability exercises can be done with or without equipment and can be modified to make them more or less challenging, depending on your specific needs, and they can be done at home. You can do them at a gym with a friend, or you can even do them with a physical therapist. So let's talk about some of the specific vertical stability exercises that you can do at home.
Speaker 1:
The first one is sidestepping. Now, this one sounds pretty simple, right? Well, they can be, but if you have difficulty with your balance, they can be a little challenging as well. And this is one of the exercises that I do every day to help me with my balance, and I highly recommend starting here as one of your initial first selections from each category exercises. And one of the reasons I like to do sidestepping and I'll describe it in a little more detail here in just a second is I have two adopted boxer dogs and they're a little bit older, but they love to go wherever I go and a lot of times if I'm standing at the kitchen counter or I'm standing in the bedroom doing something, they'll walk right up behind me and beside me and I don't know they're there and I go to turn and it's like, oh, almost lost my balance. So a lot of times or I'll have to I see them, so I have to sidestep to get around them. So I make sure that I do these sidestepping exercises every single day, and so let's describe them and how you do these in detail.
Speaker 1:
Now, I did want to mention that I'm making a YouTube video on all these exercises for my YouTube channel, liv Parkinson's. So if you're a visual learner like myself and you want to go over there, I'm going to have it up in the next two weeks or so. And if you're a visual learner and you want to watch how to do the videos, you can certainly wait to do those as well. But I'm going to walk you through them here in detail and you can write the steps down. Or you can go to my website, liveparkinsonscom, and there's a blog article on Parkinson's imbalance and it talks about these 10 easy exercises.
Speaker 1:
So let's talk about sidestepping and balance. So how do you do these? All right, first thing you want to do is you want to stand with your feet shoulder width apart, and then you want to step to the side with your right foot, keeping your left foot planted. Then you want to bring your left foot next to your right foot. So step to the side with your left and then keeping your right foot planted, and then you're going to bring your right foot together. So I typically do 10 to 15 reps of these so that I feel confident. Plus, they help to loosen you up for the rest of the balance exercises that we're going to be talking about Now.
Speaker 1:
Some modifications you can use. You can use walking poles or walking sticks. You can hold on to a counter or to a chair for stabilization, and then, once you do the sidestep exercises comfortably, you can make them even more challenging by adding weights to your hands or closing your eyes while doing the exercises and stepping sideways. But the closing your eyes is a really advanced technique, so I don't recommend that right off the bat. And then another thing you can do is set up some obstacles to step over sideways, and it could be a pillow could be a cone, but if you're doing that, make sure that you have something stable to hold on to to help you do that, and you also have somebody there with you so that you don't fall and injure yourself. Okay, so that's sidestepping.
Speaker 1:
Now moving on to the next vertical stability exercise, which is called tandem standing. Now, to do tandem standing? You're thinking, geez, that sounds pretty difficult. You start, you're going to start with your feet shoulder width apart, and you're going to place one foot directly in front of the other, with the heel of the front foot touching the toe of your back foot. Sounds pretty challenging, doesn't it? Well, it is, but it's helping your balance a ton. And then you're going to keep your back straight and your core muscles engaged and you're going to raise your arms out to the side at shoulder height, hold that for 30 seconds and then you're going to repeat. Now, when you're just starting out doing these, because you have one foot in front of the other with heel toe, I highly recommend that you hold on to something stationary, like a counter or a wall, especially when you're first beginning, and also have someone there to spot you in case you start to lose your balance. Now again, once you've mastered this exercise where you're standing with one foot in front of the other with your arms raised to the side, you can make it a little more challenging by adding a small weight. Maybe you want to use a two-pound weight and you can use that when you lift your arms. And again, please don't do these by yourself. Seek assistance. You can also seek assistance from a certified personal trainer or physical therapist.
Speaker 1:
And then, finally, the last vertical stability exercise is lateral weight shift. Now I got a lot of weight to shift, to be honest with you. So when I do this I'm moving a lot, just kidding. But to do this exercise you want to stand with your feet shoulder width apart. Now I want you to place your hands on your hips and then shift your weight to your right foot. Then the right knee slightly bends to keep your left leg straight and your left foot planted on the ground. Now you want to hold that for a second, then shift your weight back to your left and bend your left knee slightly, and then you want to continue shifting your weight back and forth between your left and your right foot. So do this for about 15 to 20 seconds, take a break and then maybe do five reps of that. Now, again, please hold on to something stationary to help with your balance when you first start doing these exercises. Now, to make them more challenging, you can add weights to each hand as well. So those are our vertical stability exercises and they relate to again to some of the activities that we do on a daily basis. And, again, I do all these every day to really help me improve my balance.
Speaker 1:
Now, before we move on with the next set of exercises, which are the stability with gait, I wanted to share with you an exciting offer from audiblecom. If you're not familiar with audiblecom, they're your one-stop source for audio books and podcasts, and they have thousands of titles to choose from in both audio books and podcasts. Two of the books on audiblecom that I highly recommend are Davis Finney, the Happiness of Pursuit, and they also have a podcast called the Parkinson's Podcast, and then Dr Michael Okun, md, parkinson's Treatment 10 Secrets to a Happier Life, and I've read both books and they're both exceptional. And then audiblecom is offering listeners a free audio book and a free 30-day trial of audiblecom. If, at the end of the 30-day trial, you decide not to sign up for the membership to audiblecom, you still get to keep the free audio book. Now, for full disclosure and for my own personal integrity, if you sign up for the free 30-day trial of Audible and get the free audio book, audible pays me a small commission which I use to support this podcast. Now, if you decide to sign up for the free 30-day trial, I thank you for supporting this podcast, but it's your own personal decision to sign up for the free 30-day trial. I thank you for supporting this podcast, but it's your own personal decision to sign up for audiblecom membership and if, at the end of the 30-day trial, you decide that it's not right for you, then you get to keep the audio book and there's no cost to you. So thank you.
Speaker 1:
All right, let's look at stability with gait exercises to help improve your balance. Now, I enjoy these exercises because they both challenge me and improve my balance, but I also find them fun to do. So what are stability with gait exercises? So there's actually two pieces. If you listen to the title, it's stability and then there's the gait aspect. So again, so what they're doing is they're combining the elements of stability and gait to improve your balance and your walking function. So, standing on one leg side steps with the gait exercises to help you improve your ability to walk safely and efficiently.
Speaker 1:
Stability and gait exercises can be done at home or at the gym, or with a physical therapist. But here are some tips for doing stability with gait exercises. Before we dive in, wear comfortable shoes with good traction, because you don't want to be sliding around and then have a chair or other support handy just in case you need it. Start slowly and gradually, increase the intensity and duration of your exercises as you get stronger and your balance improves, and then listen to your body and take breaks when you need it. So let's look at the three exercises for stability with gait, and they are backward walking, dual tasking and tandem walking. Ooh, they sound fun and exciting, don't they? And tandem walking Ooh, they sound fun and exciting, don't they? All right, let's dive in Now. You're probably thinking to yourself are you kidding me? No, you can do all these with proper support and with the assistance of someone there to help you or a trained professional.
Speaker 1:
So let's start with our first stability with gait exercise, which is walking backwards. So let's start with our first stability with gait exercise, which is walking backwards. Now, walking backwards is one of those exercises that a lot of people fear, because a lot of people with Parkinson's already have the tendency to want to feel like they're falling backwards. So if you're walking backwards, that's just going to build on a lot of people's fear. But you can do these exercises safely if you use walking sticks or walking poles and you have someone that you can hold on to and stand behind you to spot you.
Speaker 1:
So what you want to do is you want to start with your feet shoulder width apart and place your hands either on your hips or at your side, and then you want to take a small step backward with your right foot and notice, I use the word small, don't take a gigantic step. Take a small step backward with your right foot and lift your left foot off the ground and then place your left foot behind your right foot. So if you keep your steps smaller, it's going to help you stay upright. So you want to make sure that whatever foot you have planted, all your weight is going to be on top of that foot as you lift the other foot, because that's going to help provide you center of gravity and it's going to help you stay in an upright position and then that way you're not leaning forward or backwards, which is going to potentially cause you to fall. And then, once you lift your weight, you're going to do the same thing. You're going to lift your right foot and place it behind your left foot, and then you're going to continue walking backwards by shifting your weight back and forth between your two feet. So, again, all your weight's going to be in the foot that is stationary, and not much weight in the foot that you're lifting off.
Speaker 1:
And then you can do the modifications, like I said, by holding on to the something or someone and have them close in case you do lose your balance. And then, once you're very comfortable doing this exercise, you can make it more challenging by walking backwards over an obstacle like some cones or a pillow. But again, you want to make sure that you don't do those exercises alone. You want to be sure to have a spotter, and this is for safety reasons. You don't want to be by yourself and you're trying to step over pillows or something like that and then you end up falling. So please make sure that, if you're going backwards and stepping over obstacles, that you have someone there to help you with that. And you can also. Another way to do these as well is you can try walking backwards on a treadmill and you're going to want to walking backwards on a treadmill and you're going to want to do this very slowly and you're going to want to be sure to hold on to the the rails of the treadmill. So set the the speed very slow and then you can gradually increase as you get better. But start out slow and get accustomed to walking backwards and because the support rails are there on the side of the treadmill, they're going to give you the confidence that you're not going to fall and then, like I said, then gradually increase the speed as you become more and more confident walking backwards All right, that was walking backwards.
Speaker 1:
Now the next, stability with gait exercise is one of my personal favorites and that's gait with dual tasks. Ooh, that sounds kind of difficult. And one of the reasons I say that they're some of my favorite is because they help me do both a physical exercise and a cognitive exercise at the same time, and I do have a YouTube video on dual exercises that you can go and take a look at. I live Parkinson's, live an exceptional life YouTube channel and I go through a number of different dual task exercises, and one of the reasons that I like doing dual task exercises is because it's going to test you both physically and mentally, and that's really going to help your balance. So these type of exercises not only help you work with your balance and coordination, but they also help you to reduce the risk of falls. So here are some examples of dual task.
Speaker 1:
With gait, you can do walking and talking. I know I have trouble with that sometimes Walking while carrying an object, and that could be a glass of water, it could be a pillow, it could be whatever it happens to be. But if you're carrying something, you have to think about what you're carrying, as well as walking at the same time. And walking turning your head from side to side. That's going to give you a different perspective as you walk, and you're going to want to make sure that you stand upright while you're doing these. And then walking while counting backwards. That's one of my favorites, because I know every time I go to the doctor, they always ask me to count back from a hundred by sevens. So I think I've got that down to a science now, and so I feel pretty confident that I can do those. And then another one would be walking while singing a song. Now, my problem is, I spent all the money my parents gave me for singing lessons on something else, so I'm not the greatest singer.
Speaker 1:
And then, once you feel like you've mastered these little exercises walking and talking, walking and carrying an object, walking and singing, or walking and turning your head you can make them more challenging by increasing your walking speed. Or you can add some more complex tasks, such as walking while reciting a poem or doing some math problems, and also doing it in different environments. So instead of just doing it walking inside try doing it walking outside. Try walking in the grass and doing it. Those things are going to make it a little bit more difficult. Or walking in a crowded place is another example of where you can do dual task exercises.
Speaker 1:
Now our final stability with gait exercise is the heel-toe walking, and this is one of my favorites to work on, even on days where my balance isn't very good, Because heel-to-toe exercises are going to help me improve my balance and help you improve your balance and coordination, while challenging your brain to focus on foot placement. Now they seem pretty self-explanatory. Let's review the steps. So you want to start with your feet hip width apart. Then you're going to take a small and again I would use the word small, small step forward, placing your heel down first, then slowly roll your foot forward until your toes are touching the ground, and then you repeat with the other leg, focusing on placing your heel down with your toe, and then so it's alternating heel, toe, heel, toe. And if you're not having a great balance day, these can be difficult. So I highly recommend, if you're not having a good balance day, that you hold on to something, because I usually tend to step sideways and I haven't fallen, but I step sideways and catch myself. So you're going to alternate back and forth, touching your heel, rolling forward up on your toes, and you're going to do that with each leg, and so make sure you concentrate on your foot placement as well. So those are three of the stability with gait exercises to choose from when starting balance exercises.
Speaker 1:
Now, two additional ones are bonus exercises and they are big marches. So that's standing in place and marching big. So that's lifting your knees as high as you possibly can off the ground, and you can also modify these to just lift your leg as high as you can. If you can't get your knee parallel with your hip, just lift it as high as you can and hold on to something. If you need to and if your balance is really poor, just lift your heel up so that you're on your toe, and that's another way that you can do some marching in place. And then the other one is backward, walking with turns, and that one can be a little bit more challenging. So you're going to walk backwards and then you're going to turn and then walk backwards in the opposite direction. So make sure when you turn, you take your time and you have someone there to help you so that you don't lose your balance and fall.
Speaker 1:
Okay, let's move on to our third and final category, which are postural exercises, and then these are exercises that are going to help you improve the alignment of your body and are going to help you reduce muscle stiffness. So I definitely like doing these, and that's one of the things that I need is to help me with muscle stiffness, because I know there's mornings you wake up and think, oh, what's going on here? My muscles are really tight and stiff, are really tight and stiff. Now, postural exercises they also can help improve your balance and reduce the risk of falls and help you improve your overall quality of life by helping you alleviate your fear of falling. Now, like the other two types of balance exercises, they can be done at home, at the gym or with a physical therapist, and I'll start with my three personal favorites. Ah yes, everyone's favorite is the first one on our list, and that's the chair squats. I know, don't hold back, you love chair squats, and they're also called sit to stand. Now, I know these sound painful, but you stick with me with doing this exercise and it will not only help improve your balance and your posture, but your leg strength as well.
Speaker 1:
Now, another reason you want to consider these as part of your daily routine is because they mimic something that we do multiple times a day getting up from a chair, from a sitting position. So that could be we're getting up from breakfast, lunch or dinner. It could be we're getting up from a desk or from watching TV, and then a lot of times, when you're getting up in and out of a car, you do sit to stand, or public transportation, for that matter. So I would highly recommend on incorporating these into your daily balance activities. So let's discuss how you do a chair squat. You want to stand in front of the chair with your feet shoulder width apart, and then you want to stand in front of the chair with your feet shoulder-width apart, and then you want to slowly bend your knees and lower your body down until you are sitting in the chair, or you can just touch down and then stand back up. But if you sit, hold it for a second, then slowly stand back up and then try to do 10 to 15 of those. Now remember, start slowly and gradually increase, so you may, at the beginning, only want to do five of these, just until you feel good about doing them. Then you can gradually increase to 10 or 15 reps. So I want to give you some tips for doing chair squats safely and effectively.
Speaker 1:
Again, you want to wear shoes that have some good traction. You also want to keep your back straight and your core muscles engaged throughout the exercise, and then don't go too low. So you want to just touch down on the chair and come back up. Now, if you start down and you have knee pain, then you want to stop, but otherwise go down until you touch the chair and then gradually stand back up, and then if you feel dizzy or lightheaded, you want to stop. But one of the other key things with squats whether it be chair squats or other squats is you want to keep the weight in your heels, because that's keeping the weight over your center of gravity and it's helping you from leaning forward or backwards again, which can cause you to fall. So that's particularly important you can. Also, once you've mastered these, there's a couple modifications you can do. One is you can use light weights in each hand to continue to squat down, touch the chair and stand back up, or you can walk around to the back of the chair and hold on to the back of the chair and do the squat that way. But again, I highly recommend that you have someone with you to help you if you're going to be using the back of the chair. And again, always remember to keep the weight in your heels, because that's going to help you maintain your center of balance.
Speaker 1:
Now, moving on to our second postural balance exercise. Now, this is your favorite and mine. Don't hold back on me, that's right. I said the dreaded word lunges, lunges, lunges, lunges.
Speaker 1:
Now I'm going to be brutally honest with you here. I hate lunges. Yep, I said that out loud and I know a lot of the trainers are cringing right now and giving me the evil eye, but I don't enjoy doing lunges and I don't know too many other people that enjoy doing lunges. But there's a lot of times there's things that we don't like that are good for us, and it's like eating vegetables there's some vegetables that you don't like, but they're good for you because they have a lot of vitamins and antioxidants in them. So, even though I don't like them, I still do them every day because they help me with my balance. So I have to overcome my negative feelings about lunges so that I can end up with better balance and better coordination and help to reduce the risk of falls.
Speaker 1:
Balance and better coordination and help to reduce the risk of falls. So it's important that you try to include lunges into your balance program. Again, I do these daily with a smile on my face, because they're especially beneficial for helping me improve my balance. And then, in addition, I take a class called Soul Fusion, which is a combination of yoga, cardio, pilates, and we do a lot of lunges in that class as well. So I've kind of gotten used to doing lunges, and do I love them any more than I did before? No, but I do them.
Speaker 1:
So here's how to do them. You're going to stand with your feet shoulder width apart. You're going to step forward with your right leg and then lower your body down until both knees are bent at 90 degree angles, if possible. Now, if you're new to lunges or you're having balance problems, I highly recommend holding on to a counter or a stationary object or having poles or walking sticks to help give you balance, and then make sure that there's somebody around too to help you out. Also, you'll want to only bend down as far as you feel comfortable in doing so and then, once you bend down, hold it for a second. So if you don't feel comfortable bending to 90 degrees, then don't bend to 90 degrees, just go as far as you feel comfortable. So then you're going to repeat with your left leg, you're going to put your left leg forward and then you're going to slowly lower your body down until both knees are bent at roughly a 90-degree angle.
Speaker 1:
Now here's some tips for doing lunges safely and effectively. Again, make sure you wear good shoes with good traction, but the key is you want to keep your back straight and your core muscles engaged. And then another key piece of this is don't let your front knee get out past your toes. So you want to make sure that your knee and your toes and your foot are in alignment, and that's very important so that you don't put undue strain and pressure on your knees. So please make sure that as you go down, that the front knee does not go over or past your toes. Now, to make them a little bit more challenging, you can add light weights in each hand and also remember, if you feel light headed or dizzy, stop doing these immediately. I'm going to be again honest with you and, depending on the time of day and how much sleep I was able to muster the night before, and maybe some other factors whether it's pollen or phase of the moon I really struggle with lunges because my balance is not very good on those days. So I just modify them by holding onto the counter, and when my balance is really bad I may skip them for that day, but typically I just try to push through by holding on to something to give me stability.
Speaker 1:
Final, postural balance exercise is actually one I think you'll really enjoy because it mimics something we do every day. Now this exercise is the single leg with reaching. Now we do this exercise in all of our momentum classes for Parkinson's that I participate in and what it does is it mimics reaching up for something in the pantry or the closet, where we need to stand on one leg, stretch and reach, and it can really help you improve your balance, because you're shifting your weight to one side of your body and then you're going to turn and do the same thing on the other side. Now here's how to do the stand and reach. So you want to stand with your feet shoulder width apart, and then you want to raise your right leg off the ground and balance on your left leg. So I typically like to keep my left leg pretty straight and with maybe just a slight bend in it, and then I'm going to reach upward with my right arm on a diagonal, like I'm reaching to grab something and I want to extend as far as comfortably possible. I'm going to hold it for a second and then return to the starting position and then I'm going to repeat on the other side. So if I'm standing on my right foot and I'm reaching the arm that I'm landing my foot with, so you're going to make sure that all your weight is in the leg that's not being lifted off the ground, because that's the one that's going to give you the center of gravity, and you want to make sure that, by putting your weight in your heels, it's going to keep your center of gravity right over your feet and that's going to keep you from falling forward and backwards. So, as you lift your leg and you don't have to lift it very far you want to reach up and stretch as far as you possibly can. And again, these can be modified. You can hold on to something while you're doing these and have a spotter, or you even use walking poles to help as well. You can hold the walking pole in the hand that you're not reaching with.
Speaker 1:
Now, I usually do 10 to 15 of these on each side, or I could do alternate sides, so I might. If I'm doing 15, I'll go one on the left, two on the right, three on the left, so then I would count to 30 if I was doing 15. Some tips for doing them safely and effectively or, again, choose with good traction. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Maybe you've heard that somewhere before. And then don't lean forward, but you want to keep your weight in your stationary leg and again, if you feel dizzy or lightheaded, you want to stop immediately. Now, those are the postural exercises and they close out the three categories of balance for Parkinson's, and again they were vertical stability exercises, postural exercises and then stability with gait exercises.
Speaker 1:
I want to reiterate again, to review this program with you, with your healthcare provider, to ensure that it's appropriate for your individual needs, before you get started with any of the balance exercises. And then please always do these in a safe manner with a buddy to help spot you. Safety first. All right, now we've given you 10 balance exercises to help you improve your balance, your mobility, your flexibility and your strength. So you look at that you got four bonus benefits in 10 easy exercises. I want you to keep in mind I've been doing these exercises for about seven years on a daily basis. So I feel like after 14 years I still feel like I have a pretty good sense of balance, only because I've been doing them for so long. If I can do it as a 60-year-old chubby man, then you can do it them too. Maybe you need someone's help, but you can do it and I hope you give it a try because it really will improve your balance. Now you still might be questioning if these are for you, and the answer is yes, absolutely they are.
Speaker 1:
So let's discuss some of the proven benefits of the exercises from clinical studies, just so that you're not saying, well, you know, chris is just telling us there's these benefits, but you know, is there really studies to back up that these exercises actually work? And I'm glad you asked, because let's talk about some. And again, these benefits are pulled from clinical studies, and the first one is improve balance, which we would hope, because if these are balance-focused exercises, we hope they improve our balance. But balance-focused training can help us improve both our balance and our coordination, make it easier to move around and safely and also live independently. Second is a benefit of these is it helps reduce the risk of falls, and that's high on usually everyone's list. It helps reduce the risk of falls, and that's high on usually everyone's list. Balance training reduces the risk of falling by improving your balance and your coordination. Third, balance-focused training can help increase mobility, making it easier for you to walk, stand and turn, which are key things that you do every day, am I right? And then, finally and last but not least, is improve quality of life, because better balance allows you to participate in more activities and live more independently. Okay, let's throw a few bonus benefits in there as well.
Speaker 1:
While we're on talking about benefits of balance exercises and again these have been demonstrated in clinical studies. To really help you convince you to do these. Okay, these have been demonstrated in clinical studies to really help you convince you to do these. Okay, balance training has been shown to improve your gait, which I often have trouble with on my bad days. I tend to drag my leg or march when I'm walking. Reduce fatigue because you're strengthening your muscles and that's going to help you reduce fatigue and then improve mood For people with PD. Sometimes we get depressed or anxious and balance exercises can help reduce the anxiety or depression that might be due to fear of falling. All right, that brings us to the end of Parkinson's and Balance 10 Easy Exercises to Stay Steady and Strong.
Speaker 1:
Now, we covered a lot of ground today the importance of balance training for people with Parkinson's, and I remember I talked about three key areas vertical stability, stability with gait and posture exercises and said that all these you can do at home, so you don't need any fancy equipment. And remember, these are just a starting point. And again, I stressed making sure that you select one from each category and two if you feel a little bit more bold and challenged, but don't try to do all 10 at the same time, and it's always best to consult your doctor or physical therapist to create a personal exercise plan that's right for you your doctor or physical therapist to create a personal exercise plan. That's right for you. Now don't wait and get started with a little effort and consistency, and that's the key word consistency. Make sure you're doing these on a consistent basis. Again, I do them every day and it's greatly improved my balance and I think, if you do them on a consistent basis, try to do them at least three to four times a week, if you can't necessarily do them every day. So just take that first step towards better balance and write down the exercises that we discussed and or visit liveparkinsonscom and read the blog article Parkinson's and Balance Training 10 Proven Exercises for Better Balance, because they're listed in there as well, and I'll include a link in the description to make it easier for you to find and then also check out my video on YouTube that I'm going to be launching soon. And remember, pick one to two from each category and give them a try, and remember, even small improvements can make a big difference.
Speaker 1:
All right, with that being said, I would love, as we close out, I would love to hear from you on topics that you'd like to hear, share some success stories, ask questions, and you can do that if you visit fanlistcom slash live Parkinson's life, and I'll put the link in the description, but I would love for you to click on the link and then leave me some questions, comments, success stories or just jump into the chat room and join a chat.
Speaker 1:
You never know who you might make as friends, so hopefully you'll be kind enough to do that. And then also, if you would be kind enough to jump over to, if you watch a lot of YouTube, if you'll visit my YouTube channel, live Parkinson's Live an Exceptional Life from Tremors to Triumph and I've got a lot of short videos on there as well as long content videos. So I hope you'll check those out and, if you like, please subscribe and click the like button. And finally, if you go to liveparkinsonscom, my website, finally, if you go to liveparkinsonscom, my website, there's blog information on there and you can also sign up to get a free Parkinson's symptom tracker, which can help you with your symptoms. So again, thank you for listening. I really appreciate you being part of the audience and I look forward to seeing you on future podcasts and have a spectacular day. Thanks.