As you begin to heal your body from mold illness, you can also do these exercises to improve balance and coordination and rebuild your confidence.
How Mold Illness Impacts Your Balance and Coordination
One of the things that I had trouble with while I was at my worst in mold illness was balance and coordination. I could not walk around corners without hitting them. That was tough for an ex-barrel racer who was used to navigating corners gracefully! I also had to lean against a wall or sit to put my shoes on. I could not even stand steadily and upright with my eyes closed without holding on to something.
Note that two parts of your brain – your cerebrum and cerebellum – control your balance and coordination. Your cerebrum is the large outer part of your brain and controls reading, thinking, learning, speech, emotions, and planned muscle movements like walking. It also controls vision, hearing, and other senses. Your cerebellum, in the back of your brain, controls balance, coordination, and fine muscle control (like walking). It also helps maintain your posture and equilibrium.
Then consider that in mold illness, the mycotoxins can cause lots of inflammation in your brain, as well as in your nose, ears, and throat. The inflammation can develop into infections. It makes sense that you can have balance and coordination problems when struggling with mold illness.
Other symptoms you might experience due to the brain and sinus inflammation include:
- reaching beyond an object
- slurred speech
- speaking monotone with hesitation
- when glancing at an object your eyes may shoot past and slowly come back to it
- tremors
- constant sinus congestion
- earaches
Additionally, because mold illness can impact the contrast sensitivity in your eyes, you may not be able to see as well as you used to.
Now remember, though it may feel like your body is falling apart, with the proper steps, you can completely heal your body and eliminate most or all of your symptoms!
8 Exercises to Improve Balance and Coordination as You Heal
If you are healing from mold illness and want to get your balance and coordination back, practice these gentle exercises. Just make sure someone can help or at least watch you if you are unsteady.
You can also look at your local senior centers (even if you’re not a senior!) for assisted classes, or hire a physical therapist to help.
1 The flamingo stand is the easiest exercise. Stand on one leg, place one of your hands on a chair back and stretch your other leg forward. In the beginning, you can stand on one leg for ten to 15 seconds, repeating this about five times before moving to the other leg. Please ensure that you’re maintaining the right posture when performing the flamingo stand, by keeping your shoulders, back, and head straight and your ears above your shoulders. After mastering this technique, you can take it a notch higher by reaching for your stretched-out foot without letting it come into contact with the floor.
2 Toe the line. Begin with your heels touching a wall. Put one foot in front of the other foot so that your heel touches the toes of the opposite foot. Move the foot that is against the wall in front of the other foot, putting your weight on your heel. Shift the weight to your toes and then repeat the walking motion. Take your time to ensure you are placing heel to toe. Walk like this for 20 steps. (After the first few steps, look forward, focusing on a single location, so you can remain stable throughout the exercise).
3 Back leg raises is the best and simplest strength training exercise. Start by standing behind a chair. Then lift your right leg straight backward. When doing this, try your best not to bend your knees. Remain in this position for a couple of seconds before returning your leg back down. Do the same for your other leg. Repeat this motion fifteen times for each leg.
4 Side leg raises. Stand behind a chair with your feet shoulder-width apart. Instead of stretching one of the legs backward, lift it to the side. Make sure you are standing up straight, with your head and toes facing forward. Raise one foot off the ground, bringing your leg up and out, hold it for a second or two and then bring it back down to the floor. Repeat with your other leg, doing this five times for each leg. You can increase your repetitions as you become more comfortable.
5 Balancing Wand. (This exercise can be performed while seated if need be.) Use a cane, umbrella, or broom. If you have chosen a broom, remove the broom head before beginning. Place the bottom so that it’s resting firmly on the palm of your hand, balancing the stick for as long as you can. Alternate your hands from time to time so that you exercise both sides of your body evenly.
6 Wall pushups are another great but simple balancing exercise. Begin by standing an arm’s length away from a wall. Next, lean frontward gently, placing your palms on the wall. Keeping your feet firmly on the floor, bring your body towards the wall. Next, push yourself back up to that point where your arms are stretched out straight. Perform this exercise about 15 to 20 times.
7 Squat to a Chair. Begin by standing in front of a chair, with your legs hip-width apart. Ensure that your chest is raised slightly and then lower your hips back and down while bending at the knees. Choose to either hover above the chair or simply sit down. Do not let your knees extend beyond your toes. If hovering, remain in this position with your body leaning forward from your hips. After pausing at the bottom of this movement, push through your feet to resume your original position.
8 Heel raises. (You can use a chair for balance, or even do this exercise while sitting in a chair at first if needed.) Stand upright with your feet hip-width apart. To gain balance during the first few minutes, you can place your hands on your sides. Next, lift both of your heels so that you are balancing on the balls of your feet. Lower yourself back to the ground gently, and then repeat the motion at least ten times. You can also use a hand weight for added intensity if you’d like.
Start with exercises you feel comfortable doing and gradually add to repetitions or intensity. If you increase your challenge too quickly, your body may not respond well. The most important thing is to stay physically active every day.
As you progress with these basic exercises to improve balance, consider adding strength training to your routine. Remember that balance and coordination struggles are common with mold illness. As you detox and heal, you will see additional improvement in your balance and be able to add more and more activities back into your life. Read more on which activities are best in my blog “Exercise for mold illness: helpful or harmful”?
One conversation can change your life. Click here to set up a complimentary Breakthrough call to see if we could work together.
