Falls are one of the leading causes of injury in adults over 65 — but they aren’t inevitable. The habits you build today can make a real difference tomorrow.
If you’re active and in your 50s or 60s, you probably don’t think much about your balance. That’s actually the perfect time to start. Balance is a skill, and like any skill, it’s much easier to maintain than to rebuild after something goes wrong.
Here are some of the most impactful things you can do right now.
The Foundations You May Already Know
- Keep Up With Eye Exams: Your vision is a core input for balance. Uncorrected changes in your eyesight — even subtle ones — can throw off your stability, especially in low-light situations. Annual eye exams aren’t just about reading small print.
- Strength Train Regularly: Strong legs and hips are your first line of defense against a fall. Resistance training two or more times per week helps maintain the muscle mass and reaction speed you need to catch yourself when you stumble.
- Practice Proprioceptive (Balance) Training: Proprioception is your body’s ability to sense its position in space, and it naturally declines with age. Single-leg standing, balance boards, and exercises on uneven surfaces train your nervous system to respond quickly when your footing is uncertain. Even five minutes a day adds up significantly over time.
The One Most People Overlook: Your Feet
Here’s something that might surprise you. Those thick, cushioned, “supportive” shoes that feel so comfortable? They may actually be working against your balance long-term.
Your feet contain 26 bones, 33 joints, and over 100 muscles, tendons, and ligaments. The feet are designed to feel the ground and respond to it. The nerve endings in your feet send constant signals to your brain about where you are in space, how to adjust your posture, and how to react when the ground shifts beneath you. Thick, stiff soles muffle that feedback. Over time, feet that live in cushioned shoes lose both strength and sensory awareness.
Here’s the part that often surprises people: the conventional advice for older adults who are losing their balance is to wear more supportive, stiffer shoes. But there’s a real argument that this does the opposite — reducing the very sensory input the brain needs to maintain stability, and potentially contributing to further decline over time.
The good news is that you don’t have to go fully minimalist. Walking barefoot at home, spending time on natural surfaces like grass or wood, and gradually transitioning to shoes with a thinner, flatter sole and wider toe box can meaningfully reconnect your feet to the ground. Small changes add up.
Want to go deeper on this? Read our full post on barefoot training — including how to assess your feet and where to start safely.
How Can We Help?
- Movement Assessment: We screen for the mobility, strength, and stability limitations that quietly increase fall risk over time, often before you notice any symptoms. Catching these gaps early means we can address them while they’re still easy to fix.
- Foot Assessment: We evaluate the current health and biomechanics of your feet to understand how they function and where they may need support. From there, we can recommend the right footwear and targeted exercises to keep your feet strong and balanced for the long haul.
- Walking Form Analysis: We use 3D-based walking gait analysis to examine how you actually walk. We look at factors such as step length, symmetry, and hip and ankle mechanics. Subtle changes in your gait can signal an elevated fall risk well before a fall ever occurs.
- Exercise Programming: Whether you need help with strength or proprioceptive training, we can create an individualized exercise program to address your limitations.
- COMING SOON – Vestibular Therapy: A vestibular therapist can help to treat dizziness, vertigo, and inner-ear balance issues. Your vestibular system plays a huge role in stability — and when it’s off, the rest of your balance system has to work overtime.
More about walking form:
- How you walk can predict your future health
- Walking at normal speed (2.24 mph) can identify significant health risks, both physical and mental
- Walking with faster steps can indicate a significant reduction in the risk of death
- Uneven walking patterns can lead to joint problems
- Gait changes might be the first sign of health problems
- Gait is the only vital sign that shows how your whole body works together
By checking your gait regularly, you can catch problems early and stay healthier longer. That’s why gait truly deserves to be called a vital sign!
Not Sure Where You Stand? Let’s Find Out!
Whether you’ve had a near-fall recently, feel less steady than you used to, or just want to be proactive, we’d love to do an assessment. A conversation with our team can give you a clear picture of your risk and a practical plan to address it before anything goes wrong.
