Happy Balance Week!
September 13-19th is Balance Awareness Week which was created to highlight how important balance is and how our body achieves balance.
What is balance?
Balance is a multisystem that enables us to know where our bodies are in the environment and to maintain the position we want to be in (standing, sitting, balancing on one leg, etc.) Balance is very important for our bodies so we don’t fall when playing games, sports, and other activities! We use three different systems to achieve balance- our vestibular system (where we feel our body is in space), our visual system (what we see is in our environment, and somatosensory system (what we can feel with our bodies like grass or pavement). In order to make sure we maintain good balance, we must stay active and challenge these system!
BALANCE CHALLENGE!
- While balancing on one foot, try to take your shoe off of the other foot and then put it back on without touching both feet to the ground. Time yourself to see how fast you can do this!
- If that is too easy, balance on one foot, take off your shoe of the other foot, and throw the shoe back and forth from your right to left hand! Whoever can complete the most catches without letting both feet touch the ground wins!
