Week 4 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 4:
Motion sickness: Alright, time to step things up a notch this week with wall rolls! Stand with your back against a long wall with nothing else on it. Take your right shoulder off the wall and turn to the left until facing the wall. Next, take your left shoulder off the wall and turn to the left until your back is again up against the wall. Repeat until you get to the end of the wall or try to at least get 8 full rolls in. Reverse the process to get back to the starting point. You can perform this exercise with eyes open and then eyes closed.
Balance: Begin by standing with feet together and arms holding onto a chair either in front of you or to the side. Next, you are going to bend over at the waist while beginning to lift one leg up behind you. The goal is to keep your body as straight as possible and to get into a T shape. One leg is on the ground with your upper body and the other leg is in a straight line. Try to hold this pose for 20 seconds. When you begin to feel more comfortable with this pose, try attempting it without holding on to the chair. Once you have mastered that part of the exercise, try closing your eyes or moving your arms around while still holding the pose!
Good luck!