The best exercise

Fab sense of humour everyone! I do this every morning when I'm cleaning my teeth. If you concentrate on focusing on one spot it helps maintain the balance.

I'm glad to see this thread because this is one of the exercises that the physiotherapist recommended to me a few months ago and I have failed spectacularly to do it.

When I tried again this morning I managed about 15 seconds on the good leg and 3 seconds on the other one. Not great to try with an electric toothbrush in your mouth if you have balance problems
I tried again, staring myself in the eye in the bathroom mirror and did a bit better; I promise to do better next time.

When standing on one leg do remember to hold stomach muscles in.
If I can find them these days!

Jalima I did this too after breaking a leg - thought I was doing well until I tried closing my eyes (see my previous post)!

We do exercises standing on one leg in my Pilates class, to improve balance and so prevent falls. If you find it difficult it's OK to put one hand on a wall while you're practising. When you're better at it, close one eye and then two, to remove all visual stimuli and make the exercise harder.
With practice you can improve your balance greatly and then who knows what you'll be able to get up to!

I had heard about this, there is no way I could do this without holding onto something & as for doing it with my eyes closed please come & scrape me off the floor

This is an excellent exercise and usually so difficult. My initial error was to try it and do nothing other than count the seconds. Wrong for me. I have greater success whilst doing something else which takes up some of my (limited) concentration. My best has been 65 secs but, golly, I don't find it easy. Just as well I'm up for a challenge.

Sex for 90 seconds ... sounds a bit ambitious to me

We do balance at Pilates. I'm pretty good at it!

I am mildly dyspraxic, were I to do this, I would fall flat on my face.

At my pilates class this morning our teacher asked us to stand on one foot and gently swing the other. Three of us promptly walked to the wall to prop ourselves up while we did it.

I recently damaged my knee and one of the exercises my physio got me doing was balancing on one leg

I think not being able to balance with your eyes shut is supposed to be an indicator of how soon you're going to die. ( This is probably because you hit your head because you fall over!)

My friend just uses a finger to steady herself, she says it makes all the difference.
Eglantine?

If not being able to balance on one leg with my eyes shut is a sign of impending doom then I must be long dead and buried and appearing here in ethereal form. I do notthink I have ever been able to balance on one leg with my eyes shut.

In one medical test for a job I was asked to stand on two legs and shut my eyes. After a short period the doctor put his hand on my back and told me to open my eyes. It seems I had been swaying back and forth so far, he thought I would fall. That was 35 years ago.

Ah well, I will float through to the kitchen in my ethereal way and make a cup of tea.

One of my exercises for an Achilles tendon problem is to balance on one leg on the ball of the foot and then alternate. I have to cling onto the banister at the top of the stairs like grim death. I used to do a lot of ballet - fat lot of use that was

I stand try standing on one leg but i do it in the doorway, then if i feel i am going to fall i grab the frame!! lol.

Can't do it with my eyes closed though, but good idea by poster to try with one eye first will give it a go.

Have also tried doing it when brushing teeth as i have the basin to hang onto if i feel i will fall.

M0nica you don't have the condition that was diagnosed by Doc Martin do you?
Your body makes its own alcohol if you have too much yeast in the gut - I think it was called 'Auto-Brewery Syndrome'

I am just wondering if I have it as I can't balance at all, sometimes not even on two legs
It would be cheaper than drinking anyway.

Marmight I am also supposed to go up on tiptoes (both at once though) which is another thing I have been forgetting to do

Why is standing on one leg so difficult with eyes closed? I can stand on one leg with eyes open but topple over immediately with eyes closed.

I don't know, I think you need to focus on a point at eye level.

This thread has reminded me of a time a couple of years ago when DGD (then 4) was hopping around the garden. I said 'I wish I could do that, DGD' and she replied 'Never mind, perhaps you'll be able to do it when you're older'!

My Pilates teacher encourages the class to do this when the opportunity presents its self. While cleaning teeth is good as you have the basin in front of you if you get a bit of a wobble on. You very quickly get better at it. Really helps with improving your balance. Even if you need to steady yourself by putting you fingers onto the worktop or the wall, it’s all good, reducing your chances of taking a tumble.

Doing it with your eyes closed is much more challenging! Good if you can though.

Will try it tonight whilst out Line dancing and holding on to my horse, lassoing the nearest steer and drinking my glass of coke.......

Oh dear, I'm older than I thought from that link. Depressing. I knew my balance was bad, thanks for this reminder. I'm really going to try and do it regularly when watching tv.