How long can you balance on one foot?

NorthCascades

I'm recovering from tendinitis in my peronarus brevis, which runs through the foot and ankle. Saw the doctor again today, he told me to do one-leg balancing until I can do it for 30 seconds, then on a throw pillow. I need to go out tonight and get a new throw pillow. I'm wondering what's normal?

spiriteagle99

I practice balancing on one foot while brushing my teeth, so probably a minute or two. I can do it longer sometimes, shorter other times. Having a good focus point helps.

Theoldguy1

This is one of the basic assessment tests Dan John uses (obviously do what your doctor says).


"A fourth assessment, standing on one foot, is good and I am a good test case: with my hip issues, I couldn’t pass the test on my good leg. So, stand on one foot: if you can, for ten to twenty seconds, you are fine. Beyond twenty is a circus trick, but less than ten is an issue."

Source: http://danjohn.net/2013/04/the-three-longevity-tests/

I can easily go past 30 on one side. My right side more like 10 seconds. A *kitten* chiropractor popped my back years ago, caused drop foot. Had to go to a orthopedic surgeon and got a couple steroid injections in back to calm the nerves.

Never been the same since.

Good luck with your recovery.

AliNouveau

I can do it longer wearing skates on ice than on my feet on land. Haha.

I just tried it. Can do over 30 seconds both sides and wearing a sling from my recent shoulder surgery. My right side has better balance apparently makes sense cause it's my dominant side for skating

Azdak

Start with one-leg balancing. Then do it with arms outstretched in front of your.

Then try it with your eyes closed.

Going from a hard floor to a pillow can sometimes be a big jump. You can go in-between by using a folded towel.

But the general concept is sound and important for full long-term recovery.

Avidkeo

I read this while in the operating room wearing about 30lb of led. Managed about 30 seconds on each foot... I guess I belong in the circus!

mom23mangos

Many, many minutes. Just standing is no problem at all. But I had to work to get my balance back on my left leg after I broke my kneecap and foot. I practiced by one leg standing on a bosu ball.

I admit I’ve become somewhat morbid about doing things on one leg since my father lost his leg a few months ago. I’m always trying to do normal life activities on one leg to see if he can do them or the best way to accomplish something. The other day I decided to see if I could play Beat Saber one legged. Because it involves a lot of arm flinging and jumping from one side to another to avoid walls, my calf was on fire after about 1:30.

aokoye

It's been a while since I've done balancing exercises, but they're seemingly very common in people with lower limb injuries/recovering from lower limb surgeries. With my last two my progression included just the floor, one of those blue spongy things, a bosu ball with the flat side down, a bosu ball with the ball part down, playing catch on the bosu ball (also on the floor). I feel like I also did it with my eyes closed but I don't remember off the top of my head.

When I was climbing competitively as a kid this was also part of our warm up after we stretched (traverse the wall any holds, stretch, balance, climb).

AnnPT77

Pick up the foot how far? That makes a big difference for me. Up 1/2", standing still, I can do it on my best side for a fairly long time, probably 2-3 minutes (?), possibly longer (haven't timed it).

Context: A while back, I decided my balance needed work, and one of my ways of working on it was to stand on one foot while waiting in line (grocery store, theater, whatever). The 1/2"-up version can be done without looking too eccentric, so I do that a lot. If I don't care how eccentric I look, I pick it up further, swing the up foot back and forth or around in a circle; or switch my (quite heavy) purse from one side to another or swing it to create imbalance, etc. Any of those things - including just raising the foot 6"+ - reduces the duration significantly. Thirty seconds while moving the foot around would be pretty good.

I mean, I'm not doing anything else while waiting in line, right?

sijomial

Standing on one leg (with a knee bend) is part of my teeth brushing routine again.

Started doing it in 1991 when I was rehabing from losing a PCL knee ligament, most of a meniscus, a whole load of leg muscle mass and my balance on that leg was appalling.
Started doing it again recently when I got a bad tear in the same knee's MCL.

No idea how long I can do it for as a lot depends on how much knee bend I go for.
I would hazard a guess that there isn't really a "normal" duration as practice makes a huge difference as well as variation in natural balancing ability.

Machka9

One of my favourite yoga poses is the tree pose. Once I focus, I can zone in on my object (something in the distance in front of me) and stand on one foot for quite a long time.

My physio pilates instructor is now getting me to do that on a wobbly cushion thing. Took me a few tries, but once I was focused, I was OK.

We're working on increasing the flexibility in my feet, ankles, calves, and right hip so I can run again.

firef1y72

I can hold warrior 3 (on one leg) for around 2 minutes. Tree I can hold for around minute

puffbrat

Just tried this. I was more wobbly than I would like but was able to 45 seconds on my left foot and over a minute on my right.

Azdak

I know some of this is just for fun, but, to be clear, the point is not to see hold long you can hold the pose. It’s to challenge your proprioceptors and neural pathways to improve stability in the joint. Once you have done that, longer duration is not necessary. Being able to hold a position for 2 min does not mean you are better off than someone who just did it for 30 seconds and then did something else. It’s better to do either more repetitions or more challenging poses. It’s the same with planks.

SnifterPug

Azdak wrote: »

... It’s better to do either more repetitions or more challenging poses. It’s the same with planks.

Thank goodness. I can feel my life ebbing away if someone suggests I plank longer than a minute.

lorrpb

Try it in your good leg. That will give you a goal for your good leg. Balance is very dependent on core, do I would guess you can get pretty good at it with a little practice.

HoneyBadger302

On my good leg - indefinite. Several minutes easily.

On my bad leg - I've done over a minute, but it's hit or miss (I can't feel most of that foot, so there's a serious lack of sensory data needed for good balance, not to mention the other side-effects of the injury that led to that).

amy19355

I'm up to a five count on one leg firmly planted and the other raised up with knee bent.
When I feel wobbly, I can steady myself with conscious engagement of my core, focusing on drawing the lower back down and the abs pulled in.
I alternate legs and do 10 raises on each side for a 5-count each. three times a day, mixed in to my daily heartpumping routing.

springlering62

Oh boy, where do I start? I’ve been doing yoga for about eight years, up to six or eight classes a week, the majority “flow” classes. Arm balance? No sweat. One leg? Forget it.

I used to get extremely frustrated, and beat myself up. I’ve slowly learned over the years to treat it as great fun and simply laugh at myself, and apologize to my neighbor when I invariably topple over on them.

I’ve added balance practice to my morning stretch, and under ideal circumstances can get up to fifteen seconds a time. But “ideal” is few and far between, and doing it in a class is seldom ideal when you feel like you have eyes boring into the back of your head. (I feel like being in the front row makes me work harder.)

I would venture that between yoga, lifting, running, and Pilates, I’m fairly fit. I’ve been told balance is due to weak core (not guilty), tight hamstrings (I’m “bendy”), weak ankles (meh, maybe), you name it. All I know is, when one leg goes up, my arms start waving crazily and all bets are off. I am going to be drenched in sweat at the end of the simplest balance pose.

If you can’t balance, it’s not the end of the world IF you’re doing other things to compensate for mobility and flexibility. And even my weak, sorry *kitten* efforts at balance have had some value. I’ve had two near falls lately that I attribute my “saves” to my learned balance. Go figure.

NorthCascades

Azdak wrote: »

Start with one-leg balancing. Then do it with arms outstretched in front of your.

Then try it with your eyes closed.

Going from a hard floor to a pillow can sometimes be a big jump. You can go in-between by using a folded towel.

But the general concept is sound and important for full long-term recovery.

It's much harder with eyes closed!

The doctor told me to progress up to 30 seconds (which felt "too" easy the first time) then add a pillow, then two, then a wobble board.

I asked if I could do single leg (Romanian? Russian?) deadlifts instead, the nurse made a face, the doctor said "I guess so." I'm not really clear on whether that will put too much stress on the tendon or not, but if the doctor didn't say no, I'm inclined to do these instead. They're helpful for cross country skiing. You come down hills in XC, you just have to go up them first; taking a corner coming down hill on one ski feels similar to a SLDL. I use one arm, opposite the leg I raise, other arm at my side.

NorthCascades

AnnPT77 wrote: »

Pick up the foot how far? That makes a big difference for me. Up 1/2", standing still, I can do it on my best side for a fairly long time, probably 2-3 minutes (?), possibly longer (haven't timed it).

Context: A while back, I decided my balance needed work, and one of my ways of working on it was to stand on one foot while waiting in line (grocery store, theater, whatever). The 1/2"-up version can be done without looking too eccentric, so I do that a lot. If I don't care how eccentric I look, I pick it up further, swing the up foot back and forth or around in a circle; or switch my (quite heavy) purse from one side to another or swing it to create imbalance, etc. Any of those things - including just raising the foot 6"+ - reduces the duration significantly. Thirty seconds while moving the foot around would be pretty good.

I mean, I'm not doing anything else while waiting in line, right?

Funny thing is the doctor didn't say anything about how far up the leg should go, just to do 5 to 10 minutes a day, spread out over the course of the day. But you're right, this makes a huge difference.

Probably they meant just to have it off the ground at all. I went to a sports doctor first thinking they'd have more experience with tendonitis, all they really had for me is opiates, and I already found out that ibuprofen works better. Found a foot and ankle doctor, which has been very helpful. My assumption is that the sports doctor mainly deals with people who do a lot of exercise and consider it an important part of their life, while the foot and ankle doctor deals with the general public.

I set up an activity in my watch called "balance" to time it for me. Use technology to my advantage, right?

lorrpb wrote: »

Try it in your good leg. That will give you a goal for your good leg. Balance is very dependent on core, do I would guess you can get pretty good at it with a little practice.

Sadly I've got it in both feet and ankles, but the left one is much worse.