Sailing and Proprioception

[Halo]

I have been sailing a very long time and have been clumsy when on land for about the same time
I have tripped over a few times and each time have twisted my left ankle. The medic treating me tested my Proprioception by seeing if I could stand on one leg with eyes open and with eyes closed. He advised I had poor Proprioception and has put me on an exercise regime to improve it. He reckons once sorted I will have less trips and slips.
Now I think all my sailing may be the root cause of my lack of shoreside balance. So the question is have other forumites noted that sailing has affected their balance and has anyone else had Proprioception issues?

 

[RupertW]

I'm not sure whether sailing made it any better or worse but about 10 years ago I twisted first one ankle then the other within six months and needed physio. Once the immediate issues were over I was advised to use a wobble board to strengthen the ankle and improve balance (although I thought I had no balance problems and used to tightrope walk).

I found that regaining good balance and proprioception took a little time but wasn't hard and I've had no ankle problems since. And I sort of keep up with the exercises by always putting on socks, tieing laces etc. whilst standing on one leg, sometimes with eyes shut. This has the added benefit of giving recurring morning giggles to wife.

 

[farmer.leo]

Yoga.
Leave your glasses inside your coat

Seriously, Yoga will have you moving, bending, working on your boat, balance, and sleep all improved.

 

[PabloPicasso]

The ankle has a localised neurological position correction system. The advantage is that there is almost instantaneous positional correction when you position your foot/ankle badly. This prevents trips, falls, twists, sprains, etc. It is this system that switches off (or becomes ineffective) after you injure your ankle. Balance work like standing on one leg and wobble boards helps reboot this system reducing the likelihood of recurring injuries that plague many people with "weak ankles".

As far as I can see the only aspect of sailing that might be influencing this might be the reduced standing and walking. Do your one legged balance exercises and the instance of re-injury should be less

 

[oldharry]

Are you trying to link this with the well known phenomenon of vestibular habituation - that condition which sometimes occurs when you come ashore, and everything is still rocking? That has a different cause, but AFAIK has no long term effect on balance once it wears off.

 

[jamie N]

Are you trying to link this with the well known phenomenon of vestibular habituation - that condition which sometimes occurs when you come ashore, and everything is still rocking? That has a different cause, but AFAIK has no long term effect on balance once it wears off.

I have suffered from this; usually when 'rehydrating' with friends and colleagues actually!:encouragement:

 

[richardabeattie]

"I thought I had no balance problems and used to tightrope walk" - This forum seems to contain more competence than is reasonable. I now understand the purpose of the triatic stay.

 

[Cloven]

Are you trying to link this with the well known phenomenon of vestibular habituation .

Is that what you call it, always wondered. We just call it "Boat Sway"

 

[Hydrozoan]

"I thought I had no balance problems and used to tightrope walk" - This forum seems to contain more competence than is reasonable. I now understand the purpose of the triatic stay.

Or the sciatic stay?

 

[GrahamD]

I have noticed that sailing on a boat for a couple of weeks seems to improve my balance, but that the improvement doesn't last that long. Years ago I came back from a couple of weeks sailing around Brittany. Arrived in Poole about 4pm on a Thursday and a couple of hours later was playing badminton (my regular Thursday activity). I played like a champion, I could get to anywhere in the court, completely invincible! Next week......back to my normal lumbering self.

 

[JimC]

I have terrible balance, ashore or afloat. I'm not safe on a high kerb

 

[bedouin]

It seems to me that the action of keeping your balance when standing on a sailing boat has a lot of similarity to the various wobbly board exercises that they give to improve Proprioception so to that extent I would have expected sailing to improve the situation rather than hinder (apart maybe for the first day or so after getting off the boat)

 

[johnalison]

There are two senses at least involved here. There is the sense of balance, which we all know comes from the inner ear, and there is proprioception, which is the sense we get mainly from ligaments and tissues around joints, which tells us where our bits and pieces are. Putting the two together usually stops us from falling around or hurting ourselves, but as has been said, spraining an ankle largely removes this source of information. The only answer is to use one's limbs and train the other tissues to take over the task. Sailing probably knackers your sense of balance temporarily but I see no reason why proprioception should be affected.

 

[Babylon]

My 10yr old son has reduced proprioception - as recently diagnosed by an occupational therapist.

This goes some way towards explaining why he struggles with team field sports - although (despite his high intelligence) this is also complicated by some executive-functioning issues, i.e. transitions, processing speeds, self-organisation, etc.

By contrast, the physical activites that he loves and does well at include cycling, swimming, climbing and dinghy-sailing, which are all activities where individual balance - and a direct feedback connection with the medium of road, water, rock or vessel - gives him greater confidence!

Curiously however, he also never ever gets the slightest bit seasick or any other travel-sickness in cars or aeroplanes - which might be a positive consequence of reduced proprioception?

For my part, I find the motion of being aboard a floating yacht does wonders for easing stiffness and improving my lower-back strength - like doing Pilates constantly until you step ashore again!

 

[KellysEye]

>The medic treating me tested my Proprioception by seeing if I could stand on one leg with eyes open and with eyes closed.

That's one of the tests for RAF pilot training it is extremly difficult to do, the only way to achieve is to practice it, look at the corner of the room and memorise where it is while you close your eyes. The only time we had balance problems was after finishing a long offshore passage where you are counterrng the rolling by shifting your weight side to side, you continue to do that when when you go ashore.

 

[ghostlymoron]

What's a wobble board?

 

[bedouin]

What's a wobble board?

Exercises for Proprioception often take the form of balancing exercises. These can include standing on devices that are inherently unstable so that you have to be continually adjusting your weight/posture to remain upright (rather like standing up on a sailing boat ). Some are like footballs with a wooden platform through the middle, some just boards with a curved bottom.

Also supposed to be good for dyslexia

 

[Babylon]

Also used to re-strengthen joints after ankle-surgery. Mine was a circular plywood circle about 2ft in diameter atop a solid wood hemisphere of about 9" diameter. I imagine they're increasingly made out of plastic these days.