“Just One Thing” - Any evidence for benefits of balancing on one leg?

[BonifaceBonanza]

I wondered about this for a while.
The ability to balance on one leg for a certain period is the clearest predictor there is for all cause future mortality (I think this is a fact).

Sure, I can see that the ability to stay balanced on one leg (requiring unconscious neurological and muscular control) could be a proxy for general physical health ie a correlation.

I’m not convinced (I wish I was!) that training ourselves to have better balance can actually cause an improvement in all cause mortality.
But this is how it’s usually reported, that training in the one leads to benefits in the other.

Anyone got any thought on this? Or been able to dig out some useful scientific studies?

I've started standing on one leg, for both legs every day in the morning, after I had a stroke at the beginning of the year. When I first started, I couldn't stand on one leg on my left leg at all, now I can do it for a count of 30 most days. I'm so not trying to do it with my eyes shut though! I felt it could only help my balance and co-ordination, as I sought to get these things and my motor skills back to normal as much as I possibly could.

Well flamingos seem to think it's worth persevering with. 🦩

To those (few) of you out there who wobble a bit doing this, what is your "wobble" like?

I can do it alright, but I find that the standing foot seems to have a life of its own and WANTS to pull me down. It's as if all the bones in the static foot are competing with each other to make me wobble.

But that probably shows that I am wobbly! I will persevere and maybe the wobbly foot will improve. I'm 67 and active, can run up and down the stairs at a fair clip and rarely take escalators or lifts. Walk a good bit too. Should I be worried? Ms. Wobbly from Tunbridge Wells.

Mines like yours @hastalav and Im
quite a lot younger

I don't know if I should say that's good to know or not... my standing foot feels like jelly with sticks in it. LOL. Just as well I try this out every morning when no one can see my antics!

My balance is stuffed ever since I had a head injury. Technically I should be very dead by now if there was any truth in it. I have to walk with a walking pole when I'm on steep, uneven terrain, and suffer from vertigo, going up and down stairs which isn't much fun. I'd be quite happy to make my three score years in 10. Although given the rise in pension age I wouldn't mind making it a wee bit longer to enjoy the fruits of my labours

"Falls are the leading cause of injury-related deaths for adults ages 65 years and older."

Older Adult Falls Data | Older Adult Fall Prevention | CDC

Stands to reason you'd want better balance and recovery ability from tripping.

@BonifaceBonanza

I think you have got this all wrong.

It’s not something that you can practice for, it’s a prognostic measurement.

Standing on one leg uses many different systems in your body and the exercise just indicates that all are working.

if you want to do something, then reach a healthy weight, cut out unhealthy habits and keep moving.

People who are less active overall are likely to have a weaker core than perils who have a more active lifestyle and take more exercise. The weaker you are, the less you do and it becomes a self-perpetuating cycle. And the older you are the harder it is to change this.

My 90yo dad gets dressed standing up to ensure he practices balancing, rather than take the less difficult option.

I don’t think it’s OP who has it wrong - there is a claim going round at the moment that you NEED to be able to stand on one leg with your eyes closed or you will die young. There’s bound to be a correlation but I am sure the overall claim is overstated.

biking probably does a similar amount of good; weight bearing and balance.

I've been doing it for a few years, not sure if it is helping or not, but I feel I am better at balancing now.

A word of caution however - don't do it while washing your hair in the shower when your shower is over a bath! Five weeks later and I can still feel the bruising on my ribs.

I had ankle problems a while back. I paid for a physio and the help I was given to improve my ankle strength was fabulous. It has caused my mobility to change from declining to improving. I can now go for quite long walks and don't even think twice about something like a 4 km walk across country after work.
If you keep practicing standing on one leg with your eyes shut it will improve over time. And as well as ankle strength you are improving overall balance.

This is also the case in dyslexia too. There is often a correlation between the two.

Anyone else oodles better on one foot than the other?

How do you improve this?

There were 76,000 hip fractures in the UK last year.
I think it's to reduce the number of falls, if you don't fall you don't have serious fractures and the ensuing major treatment which many elderly don't fully recover from.

I can stand for ages on one leg but barely at all on the other so I'm not sure what that means for me!

I've got one of those stress balls (strong rubber things that really take some squeezing) and I use that while watching TV. You can get them from Amazon. Improving grip means if you do fall you're more able to grab something and stop yourself.

Same, I guess I'm going to die much younger on one side of my body than the other!

It is something to you can practice for. The point is to improve balance to reduce falls as you age. There are many other exercises one can do to strengthen balance, flexibility and core strength.

Of course it’s not the only factor and, as you say, healthy habits, etc contribute to aid longevity.

@hastalav i think you’re missing the point in the OP

Its pretty much a fact that one legged standing can be a proxy for mortality in older people (presumably excepting prior Leg injuries and prior health conditions).

However practicing daily is widely promoted as being good for one’s health.

My question is, surely this is a correlation not a causation, or do any posters have some ideas/evidence that support one legged standing as being good for health.

Lots of posters have given suggestions about this.

Does balancing on one leg count as an isometric exercise? Isometric exercises have been shown to improve (lower) blood pressure and improve heart health.

Strangely while i can balance on one leg wearing shoes (trainers) I can hardly balance at all in bare feet (so embarrassing myself regularly in Pilates class). I wonder which i should count in terms of my likely mortality.........

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