Advanced Single Leg Balance
Key notes
- Type of exercise: Balance and co-ordination
- Muscles used: All muscles around the ankle and foot.
- Good for: Developing balance and co-ordination.
- When to use during rehab: Throughout
Equipment options
If you’re doing this exercise with your patient in clinic, you’ll need a couple of markers to be placed on the floor. If the patient is recreating the exercise at home, they can substitute the markers with any objects, so long as they won’t move.
Method
- Have the patient stand on one leg between the two markers.
- You should then have them squat down and touch one of the markers with their hand, before returning to their original stance.
- The patient should then repeat this movement, this time touching the marker to the other side of them.
- If the patient struggles to do this on one leg, have them place both feet on the floor, one in front of the other, and repeat the exercise steps previously mentioned.
Escalating Difficulty
To make this exercise more difficult, you can spread the markers further apart. You could also make the patient stand on an air cushion, to take away some of the stability they would have gotten from the ground.
- The exercise should be completed using the same method as outlined above.
