by Brandon J. Micale SPT
Going up and down stairs, bending over to pick something up, and stepping over small obstacles. All of these 3 tasks require balance to be done safely and effectively, and the single leg balance test is one way your physical therapist can evaluate your risk.
Balance is the result of 3 body systems working together to tell our brain how to remain stable and upright. The 3 systems are:
- Vestibular which involves fluid filled canals deep in the ears
- Somatosensorial which is our sense of feeling or “touch”
- Vision which is our ability to see
Balancing is a very complicated task that physical therapists work on piece by piece to keep patients safe and functional. A quick and effective test to screen an individuals ability to balance is the Single Leg Stance test. This test is performed by standing upright, placing your hands on your hips and raising one foot off the ground and holding that static posture for as long as you can without taking your hands off the hips or letting your foot touch the ground. This test can be performed with eyes open or closed to be even more challenging.
Single Leg Stance Test
This test has been researched and found to be strongly linked to a predictor of injurious falls or recurrent ankle sprains in athletes for getting <5 seconds and <10 seconds respectively. However, no single factor seems to be accurate enough to be relied on as a sole predictor of fall risk or fall injury risk because so many diverse factors are involved in falling.
Below is a list of normative values obtained through research. The right column is for the age of the individual and the left is the average time in seconds they were able to balance on one foot. Note that this is a test that challenges your balance and doing it unsupervised can increase your chance of a fall and should not be attempted.
If you have any questions or concerns about this test or your balance, get in contact with Capital Area Physical Therapy & Wellness for an in-depth evaluation. Our therapists can provide a fall risk assessment and preventative maintenance to help minimize your risk of injury and maintain a higher quality of life.
For more information about the single leg balance test or physical therapy for balance and fall prevention, call 518-289-5242 for an appointment near you in the NY Capital Region.
