THE BENEFITS OF BALANCES 1 Strengthens your feet and ankles Remove your shoes and socks, stand in front of a mirror and balance on one foot. Observe how the fine muscles of your feet rapidly contract and release to stabilise your entire body. Watching your foot and ankle working, it’s clear to see how even a simple balance can reinforce your lower limbs to cope with the rigours of running. Unless you are a seasoned barefoot runner your feet are cushioned inside shoes – be it leather shoes or trainers – for the vast majority of the day. Unchallenged, the muscles of your feet and ankles become weak and vulnerable to acute injuries, such as twisted ankles, especially if you are running on rough, bumpy ground, or at nighttime, when visibility is poor. Weakened foot arches also put pressure on the plantar fascia – the superficial layer of connective tissue running from toes to heel. This can result in common overuse injuries such as plantar fasciitis or inflammation of the connective tissue on the sole of the foot.
In fact the feet are engineered to excel at traversing uneven terrain. They comprise four layers of musculature and 28 bones designed to soak up the forces generated by walking and running. Yoga, generally, is ideal for reawakening this natural strength due to the fact that classes are always done barefoot. However, balances will greatly accelerate this strengthening process. Many have the added benefit to not just reinforcing your feet and ankles but your entire leg, sometimes honing in on your glutes, hip flexors or quads, while others will combine balancing and stretching.
2 Improves balance and proprioception Our physiological sense of balance comprises a number of different systems – the vestibular (inner ear), visual (eyes) and sense of proprioception (body’s awareness of the orientation of its limbs in space). All these systems combine to allow us to walk or run without keeling over or constantly monitoring our foot placement. A superior sense of balance also aids agility in trail or hill running. For example, the proprioceptors, or sensory receptors located within muscles and tendons, respond to changes in body or limb position, allowing the runner to traverse with accuracy and precision. The proprioceptors might inform the muscles
to fire to prevent an ankle rolling over causing a potential sprain. ‘Balance and proprioception play an extremely important role in the normal function of the body’s tendons and muscles’, explains podiatrist, Dr Brian Fullem. Dr Fullem offers running clients a simple ‘proprioception function test’ – standing on one leg with the eyes closed. If you immediately thrust the hands out or are forced to put the foot down, work on training the proprioceptors by repeating the exercise. First do it wearing trainers with the eyes open until you can hold for a minute. Then try it barefoot with the eyes open, and finally go barefoot, reverting back to closing the eyes.
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