STRATEGIES FOR MINDFUL AGING

Three Keys to Improving Your Balance

Reduce falls and remain independent

Pascal Gambardella, PhD
In Fitness And In Health
8 min readFeb 3, 2024

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Image created by the author using Dall-E

While walking on an uneven pavement on a Washington DC street, I tripped and went sailing in the air. If I had looked down, I would have noticed the pavement looked like it had been in an earthquake.

As I came down to earth, my arms went out, and I landed on my feet. That happened about 30 years ago. Then, my exercise routine included two Tae Kwon Do classes per week and daily lunchtime walks.

My martial arts training helped me keep my balance. I was lucky. If I slipped on ice, nothing would have worked. After all, I am a martial artist and not Superman.

Now, in my seventies, I teach and practice Tae Kwon Do. Yet, about five years ago, I realized I needed to do more to improve and maintain my balance.

My balance was outstanding when standing only on my right leg, and not so good with my left leg. I wanted to balance well in both situations. And I discovered there was a lot more to balance than I thought. Balance exercises are now a formal part of my exercise program.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (paraphrase),

Unintentional falls are the major cause of injury and deaths from injury…

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In Fitness And In Health
In Fitness And In Health

Published in In Fitness And In Health

Medium’s largest collection of science-based and experience-backed insights for a fitter, healthier, and happier you.

Pascal Gambardella, PhD
Pascal Gambardella, PhD

Written by Pascal Gambardella, PhD

I write about adventures in exploring and modeling the dynamics of human behavior. Mind map link to my stories: https://bit.ly/3yxrkMQ