I am way past 60 and can easily stand on one leg for minutes.

It's scary. 70+ and have always been active (tennis, handball, hiking). It's like my sense of balance has been destroyed.

I honestly did not know that

years, I was busy taking care of others and massively neglecting my own health. When I got back around to paying attention to myself, I found I had deteriorated a lot. One thing that had gone very bad was my balance.

I started working on it beginning the day after Christmas, 2023. At the start, I could just about balance 5 or 6 seconds on either foot. The skill returned slowly, but it has returned. I can do the yoga pose where you hold one leg bent and stretch the other hand over your head and balance on one foot for 1 minute now.

I just worked on it each morning while the coffee was percolating. A couple of minutes. I also do a series of stretches and some planks, just about 10 minutes in total. It's made a huge difference.

that probably answers the age question in a different way

Good news is that it's hard to tell you're gimpy when you're limping on both sides I guess

For me, the secret is yoga several times a week. When I started yoga a few years ago, I could balance on one leg only a few seconds. I’ve never tried Tai Chi but I think it focuses on balance and flexibility also.

doctor tomorrow to determine if my inner ear is damaged.

On my non dominant leg. Oddly enough the dominant one wouldn't co-operate.

I'm constantly horrified at how many people a lot younger than I am have problems like this.

And honestly, I'm among the least athletic people you'd want to know.

I've been practicing for a while now, and my times are getting longer.

Use it or lose it, start with 2 seconds and work your way up, if you're mobile.

Understand there are those who cannot, but for those who can, even for 2 seconds, do it, do it now, and do it every day.

My dominant leg is my left. (In basketball & track I innately jumped off that leg.) I got 8 seconds.
My right leg only between 3 & 4 seconds.
I didceach leg 3 times. Got pretty much the same each time, but not with a stop watch.

which included hopping on one foot for a full minute, then hopping on the other foot for a full minute

I've noticed a change in balance in my golf swing, so I'm not surprised.
Going up & down is easier for me than just standing there.
Like of fine balance is also a symptom of MS, which I've had since '95.
I don't know if I'm in good enough shape to hop for a full minute, though.

last night I was watching antenna TV I stood and lifted a foot when commercials started and it was so easy I just stayed in that position but after 20 minutes I had to answer the phone

there is one thing I do find hard to do though - I've been watching those "Karen" DUI arrest videos on youtube, it is amazing how people can act in public.....anyways, when they do the field sobriety tests I've tried them all sober - they're easy except for the walking heel-to-toe one - for whatever reason, I wobble all over and end up putting my hands out

wow, MS - that certainly is a challenge.....sounds like you are doing well

I'm one of the most fortunate of patients of that illness.
I went blind in my left eye from it, & my feet burn almost all the time.
But, there's no real dysfunction.
I got my diagnosis the day those 2 maniacs blew up the Murrah Building in OKC.

may years later I was in OKC and stopped by the memorial to pay my respects, it was very hard to do.....to this day it's hard to think about

That’s how recent the change was where now I’d need a really super good reason to take off my socks while I’m standing up..

I can do it. But it takes three “test bounces” (quick knee-up, thigh perpendicular to the ground…3 reps in about a second) to see which way my body’s going to try to fall…lol.

Aging is winning, right?

Any 3 points define a plane. Lift one leg and you still have the other 3 to keep you stable.

or your definition of a leg might be different.....

Sorry, I forgot that most creatures using the Internet are appendage-challenged.

No offense intended. I'll just take my bone outside now.

and I've been several hours on one leg since I spotted this thread. My wife asked me why I wasn't coming to bed. I'll wait for one of you to beg me to stop, I swear!



The problem is I don't have a baseline. This is it. So I'm not sure how much worse I am compared to 5 or 10 years ago. I'm sure my stamina, speed and strength have all tapered off, just couldn't tell you by how much. Maybe 30 or 40% since my physical peak?

I can say this: I had very little in the way of aches or pains up until age 50 or thereabouts. I saw a physiotherapist earlier this year for the first time in my life for something wear-and-tear related in my right hip, not due to trauma.

Nothing but fine times ahead, no doubt!

Mid-seventies and I can stand on either foot until I get bored, but try to leap like a gazelle with three feet of air and all I get are three inches. Why? I told my body to do exactly what I always have...

I'm not going to lie though, toward the end there I was trying to keep my balance and probably resembled a drunk member of the Wallenda family

It's been some time since I saw the age of 60.

That using a 4x4 post laid horizontally as a balance beam has helped me. I use a 2x4 or 4x4 to raise it on the ends to make it tougher.

Works great for me and good balance will definitely help to avoid injury.

Please check with your HCP to see if this would help you.

My ability to move efficiently seemed to occur very quickly - about 3-4 years ago. I blamed it on ankle arthritis but that seems to have gone away. I love walking in the woods and uneven paths might be good - with walking poles.

So far, so good. I do a lot of walking, though, so maybe those muscles aren't all withered to hell yet.

I have ehlers danlos CL so that may be a factor