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Day 886: Balance...
Aug. 21st, 2022 10:54 pmToday is Sunday, and on Friday my lower back was sore. This didn't make any sense, because I hadn't done anything unusual like lifting since Saturday, when we'd brought home all those book cases, and even then when I'd lifted some heavy boxes of books it hadn't caused me any subsequent problems. Then yesterday, not only was my back a bit more sore, but the upper interior muscles of my legs were kind of sore, in a way they'd never been before, and it was rather uncomfortable to walk. I thought this was really weird, since I hadn't done anything physically different all week. (We did do a walk, to the neighborhood pool and back, and it got better.)
But eventually I remembered that I actually had done something different. A week or two ago, I'd read something online about how important balance is for people getting older, which I knew perfectly well, but I haven't gotten around to signing up for a t'ai chi class yet since they're all in the morning. My balance has been not-great my entire life, but the article had suggested that one can simply practice balancing by standing on one foot (with a wall or something handy in case you get wobbly) and to make a point of doing it for 10 seconds or more - and eventually to stand on one foot for 30 seconds with one's eyes shut too. So I had tried it, just a few times.
I had always assumed that my poor sense of balance was entirely an issue of proprioception (body awareness), which is something I'm probably bad at (given that I'm clumsy), but of course it turns out that there are muscles involved, and the muscles in my lower back and upper legs that are involved in balancing on one leg are apparently really out of practice! I had made them sore just by trying balancing a few times!
So I'm going to keep practicing balancing, I guess, like when I'm waiting on the microwave, or waiting for rice to boil, and eventually those muscles will adapt. Today I'm already better at standing on one foot, although it seems I'm mostly using muscles in my ankles to achieve that.
But eventually I remembered that I actually had done something different. A week or two ago, I'd read something online about how important balance is for people getting older, which I knew perfectly well, but I haven't gotten around to signing up for a t'ai chi class yet since they're all in the morning. My balance has been not-great my entire life, but the article had suggested that one can simply practice balancing by standing on one foot (with a wall or something handy in case you get wobbly) and to make a point of doing it for 10 seconds or more - and eventually to stand on one foot for 30 seconds with one's eyes shut too. So I had tried it, just a few times.
I had always assumed that my poor sense of balance was entirely an issue of proprioception (body awareness), which is something I'm probably bad at (given that I'm clumsy), but of course it turns out that there are muscles involved, and the muscles in my lower back and upper legs that are involved in balancing on one leg are apparently really out of practice! I had made them sore just by trying balancing a few times!
So I'm going to keep practicing balancing, I guess, like when I'm waiting on the microwave, or waiting for rice to boil, and eventually those muscles will adapt. Today I'm already better at standing on one foot, although it seems I'm mostly using muscles in my ankles to achieve that.