BLOOMINGTON, MINN. — According to SportsMedicine.com, balance is the basic skill needed in practically every sport. From football to soccer to volleyball, changing your center of gravity to match your moves is the key to efficiency in sport.

Ryne DeVries, DC, an assistant professor and faculty clinician at Northwestern Health Sciences University, says, “The basic functions that balance can provide to an athlete are better performance and injury prevention. Balance is below the radar when an athlete trains, but it really is the basis for good performance and is the foundation that allows an athlete to have speed, agility, strength, and much more.”

According to DeVries, balance seems to go unnoticed by athletes while training, although balancing exercises are growing in popularity by fitness professionals these days.

Helpful equipment to increase balance includes: wobble and balance boards, a BOSU balance trainer, foam pads with rollers, and stability balls.

Dr. DeVries offers these recommendations and exercises for athletes to improve their balance:

• Balance on one leg for 30 seconds. Keep eyes open, and then try balancing with your eyes closed. When comfortable, work up to one minute for each leg;
• Stand on one leg. Next, reach forward and touch the ground in front of you and stand up straight again. Repeat 10 times for each leg;
• While balancing on one leg, throw a medicine ball back and forth with a partner; and
• Train in an unstable environment – performing drills or movements that provide unexpected and varying levels of resistance – forward, backward, laterally, and vertically.

For additional resources on athletic performance, visit http://www.nwhealth.edu/nns. The Web site focuses on natural approaches to health and wellness, and is hosted by Northwestern Health Sciences University. There, a link will take you to examples and photos of proper stretching on HealthyU.

Editor's note: The Natural News Service is a public information program provided by Northwestern Health Sciences University. If you choose to use this release, please attribute the information accordingly. The University offers a wide array of choices in natural health care education including chiropractic, Oriental medicine, acupuncture, massage therapy, and integrative health and wellness. The University has more than 900 students on a 25-acre campus in Bloomington, Minn.