Standing balance

Physical therapy

﻿Hello there, my name is Sophie Brazier, I'm a children's physiotherapist. Thank you for taking the time to join me for our lesson today. So we are on unit five and this is lesson four, and what we're looking at is standing balance today. So what we'll get going with first is we'll have a look at what balance is, and then more specifically, what is standing balance, and then we will have an activity to look at in standing that kind of looks at our standing balance. So if you'd like to get yourself ready, you don't need much equipment. You just need something to tap on the floor with. So you use, I'm going to be using some coloured fruit markers like this. So you might want something similar, or you might just want to mark something on the floor if you're outside with some chalk or something. So if you need some help from a parent or carer, you can ask them now, and then we can get started with today's lesson. I would just like to give you a little message from our team. We, as therapists have tried to think of the best way to continue to support children, young people and their families. So you may be watching this as a child by yourself, or you might be with a parent or carer. We will be exploring topic areas that we regularly provide advice and support on across all ages and abilities, and each lesson we will aim to give you some ideas and activities that can be carried out either at home or in school. You may already have specific programmes that you're using or advice that has been given to you by your child's school or therapist. So please make sure that you're using any information I'm giving you alongside anything you already have. And if you do have any questions or would like help tailoring this to their needs, then please make sure you get in contact with your local therapy service. So let's have a little think about what is balance. So it's about being able to remain upright and steady and how does this help and happen? So the information that we get from our eyes, our joints, our muscles, and our skin to receptors in these areas gives us feedback about where our body is in space and also in our inner ear, and this gives us information as to how our head is moving, and this helps us balance. So these things are really important processes that give us information and it can help with our balance. And our body uses this information to change its muscle activity or muscle tone, and this is known as equilibrium reactions. So this is the body's response to the environment or the changing posture and the body will adapt accordingly. So our bodies are pretty amazing and it also helps change our posture, move our body parts to keep us in the middle, which is known as righting reactions. and it helps to focus more with our eyes. So let's have a little think about what is standing balance. So it's standing unsupported without collapsing, and you can be on the floor inside the ground outside on different textures, levels and terrains. And it's about keeping your head upright, so when you're in a lunch queue or a bus stop, and when you're standing with motion, so you might be standing on something that's moving and that's when you need to keep your head upright as well. And moving body parts, so your upright and still, but your body, so you need to be balanced because your movement is coming in other parts of your body, so you might be carrying bags with your arms, brushing teeth, with your hands and your wrist, reaching for something and stepping over something. And it's keeping your body upright when moving, so you constantly will be adjusting your position, and these are in activity's such as walking, running, climbing, and going up and down the stairs. So it's about keeping steady. So this is when you might be standing on a train or an escalator, and you could be on a scooter or trampoline or skateboard. And these are examples where you need standing balance. So what I'd like you to do now is have a listen to the activity I would like you to do, then you can pause the video, have a go of the activity yourself, following the demonstration, and then you can rejoin me afterwards to end the lesson. So this activity you're going to be in a stable starting position and standing, you can just take one knee up and tap your toe on the floor in front. So you can use markers or cones, so you saw that I had that little fruit markers, and you can repeat on the other leg and do your hand positioning, you can have your hands to the side or above your head. And I think a good starting point is about five times each side. Obviously, if that's too challenging, then keep it low, and if you need more then you can build up slowly. So I'm now going to demonstrate to you the activity for standing toe taps. So what you need to do is you could have some cones or some markers. So I'm just using these little fruit discs that I've got, and I will demonstrate how I'm going to do the activity now. So you want to start off in a standing position and you want to have your markers ahead of you. Then I'm going to take my right leg first and I'm going to lift my knee and I'm going to tap down, then I'm going to come back up and bring it in. And then I'm going to do the same with my left, so I'm going to bring my knee up and I'm going to tap down, then I'm going to come up and bring it back in. So I'm going to lift my right knee, tap on the marker back up and down, and then my left knee, out to the marker, back up and bring it back in. And when you're doing that, you might find that your muscles in your tummy and the muscles around your back start moving.. So try it again and see what happens when you're moving your centre of gravity. And then one more on this side and then back in. So my suggestion would be try five taps on each side and then have a little rest and then you can try five more. So if you pause the video now you can have a go at that activity yourself, and then if you rejoin afterwards, we will go through some ways of how to extend and simplify. I'd now like to think about the activity a little bit more that you were just staying in standing. How did your standing feel? Did you feel unstable or wobbly at any point? If you did, you can always hold on to some support with your arms to gain confidence, moving your legs. So you can just play around with your standing balance a little bit. What was happening in other areas of your body? So if you just stop and think, what was your tummy doing, the muscles around your tummy and your back. So you think about these core muscles, what was happening there. And did you want to add some more to the activity? So you could try stepping sideways and then backwards, and you could try stepping on cushions or beanbags, so something that isn't flat. So something where you've got to challenge your balance a little bit more. So there are a few ideas and options there, if you want to pause the video now, and you can have a go at those and then rejoin me afterwards. Okay then, we have now reached the end of our lesson, so I hope you found that useful, and you've got some ideas for standing balance. So please join me next time for unit five, lesson five, where we will be starting to look at some ideas for balance, and I'll give you some more activities to do. So have a great rest of your day, take care, and I'll see you soon. Goodbye.

Standing balance

Standing balance

These resources will be removed by the end of the Spring Term 2026.

Lesson slides

Lesson details

Key learning points

Equipment

Content guidance

Supervision

Licence

Lesson video