Standing straight and tall can help save you from injury. We show you how with our expert guide

Regular exercise may help you fit into those skinny jeans, but it can also help you maintain your balance.

Prevention is better than cure when it comes to working on your poise and balance, which we need to stop serious injuries. As we age, our sense of balance starts to decrease, and researchers have found a senior's risk of being injured in a serious fall more than doubles if they have poor balance.

To help improve your balance, engage in weight-bearing exercises, try doing yoga or Pilates and work on strengthening your core.

How steady are you?

Stand with your hands on hips, raise one leg and rest your foot in a comfortable position on your supporting leg. Rise up to stand on your toes and hold for as long as you can. Swap legs.

What's your score?

Held more than 30 seconds - Excellent

Held between 25 and 30 seconds - Above average

Held between 16 and 24 seconds - Average

Held between 10 and 15 seconds - Below average

Held for less than 10 seconds - Poor

 

Move it!

Exercise helps make you slimmer, happier and pain-free as it releases endorphins, the body's natural pain reliever. A study from Stanford University in the US found healthy adults who regularly worked out had 25 per cent less musculoskeletal pain than ‘couch potatoes'. As well, low-impact exercise may reduce pain in arthritis sufferers by 25 per cent.

Try: Yoga. The stretching exercises can help reduce pain and improve balance.

Do this: A simple sequence of poses called the cat-cow stretch is perfect for releasing tension in your lower back, hips and stretching through your tummy. On your hands and with your knees positioned underneath hips, start with a neutral spine. Inhale and arch your back, lifting head and tailbone, opening up through your chest. Exhale as you round your back, pulling your abs tight, then tuck tailbone under and head down. Keep this movement, between an arched and rounded back, fluid. Breathe and repeat the movement 10 times.

 

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