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Being able to maintain and improve balance becomes more important as you age. It can make the difference between suffering a serious fall-related injury or avoiding a fall altogether.
Yoga teacher Agata Quieora recently took to Instagram and Facebook, and said the best anti-aging hack is the four ankle exercises in her video below.
Quieora wrote that these four moves are “some of the most powerful things you can do for your feet, ankles, and calves, the foundation of every step, every yoga pose, and every movement you make.”
They are all variations of the calf raise using a yoga block, although you can do some of the moves using stairs or a step.
The internet sat up and took notice, with the video passing five million views and counting on Facebook alone.
The benefits of calf raises
Physical therapist Ashley Katzenback, owner of Cape Concierge Physical Therapy, says Quierora’s calf raise variations—like the regular ones on the floor without a block—are a great way to improve balance.
“Performing calf raises in a variety of ways is a great way to improve your balance, strength, coordination and mobility,” says Katzenback. “All of these areas tend to decline with age, so it’s important to challenge yourself so your ankles are better able to respond to a trip and/or fall.
“Calf raises, especially when performed with the intent to move quickly, enhance the explosive force of the calf muscles (plantarflexors). This is critical for reactive balance—the ability to recover from something unexpected like a trip or push.”
How often should you do calf raises?
Katzenback says ideally we should all be doing calf raises every day. “But a realistic target is to incorporate them into your strength training workout and do them four times a week,” she says.
And you can expect to notice a benefit in around a month. “Like all physiological changes, it takes four to six weeks to notice a change.”
How calf exercises improve your balance
Katzenback says that strong calf muscles also help your body know where your foot and ankle are—known as ankle proprioception—and that can improve your balance and movement.
“This is especially important because as we age, we tend to sit more and our calf muscles get shorter and weaker,” she says. “Ankle balance relies on input from proprioception in your feet, ankle joints and even calf muscles. Your calf muscle spindles provide sensory feedback. Stronger, better-conditioned calf muscles will provide more reliable proprioception.”
And as we’ve already heard, when we do calf raises, this increases the capacity of the plantarflexors—which can reduce your fall risk. “The more reactive your plantarflexion is, the less likely you are to fall if you are trying to recover from an expected loss of balance,” she says.
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