Week 6 Balance Exercises

Exercises to increase balance and decrease motion sickness

All of the motion sickness exercises should make you slightly dizzy or nauseous. While this does not sound fun, remember the saying, no pain no gain. Unless you push your brain past its comfort point, no rehabilitation can be gained. Most people will feel the effects for 5-10 minutes after finishing the exercises. If you continue to feel dizzy or nauseous after an hour, decrease the amount or speed of the exercises for next time. Remember, start slowly and don’t overtax your system. This is a marathon, not a sprint. You can begin by trying out all of the new exercises on the first night or by choosing to only do one or two new ones a night and spreading them out throughout the week. Continue adding on to the previous weeks’ exercises and switching them up every night so that your body doesn’t adapt to one move only!

When attempting these exercises, always make sure to be holding on to something stable or to be near something stable that you could easily grab if you begin to lose balance. If you start feeling overly nauseous or dizzy, take one hand and press down on the top of your head for a few seconds or make a pair of binoculars with your hands and look through them at the ground.

Week 6: Almost there!

Motion Sickness:    You can either be standing or sitting for this exercise. Begin making circles with your head. Place your chin to your chest, then left ear on left shoulder, right ear on right shoulder, and finally back to chin on chest. Don’t extend your head backwards. Do this slowly with your eyes open for about a minute. Reverse and go the opposite way.

You can do this exercise with your eyes open first, and then with your eyes closed. You can also continue to increase the speed at which you perform the head circles to increase the intensity. 

Balance:    This exercise may seem basic but can prove to be quite a challenge for some people. Using tape, mark spots on the carpet in a circle about a step width apart. Now walk in a circle trying to step only on the spots you marked. Then switch and go the other way. If this seems too easy, go around your house and collect your cushions and pillows, try to get at least 8. Set them up in a circle spaced about a foot or two apart. Now walk in a circle only on the pillows. Switch and go the other way. You can also place the pillows in a line or a zigzag pattern and follow that!

Good luck!