The Green Girl Improves Her Proprioception

proprioception (prō'prē-ō-sěp'shən)
n.
The unconscious perception of movement and spatial orientation arising
from stimuli within the body itself.

The Green Girl's ankle is doing significantly better after her two three week running hiatus.

At this point, my number one priority is to allow my ankle to heal and strengthen it as much as possible. I am so glad the San Francisco Half Marathon is not until the end of July.

As I mentioned before, my doctor wants me to do isometric exercises on a weekly basis for both my ankles to strengthen them.

My doctor also recommended I purchase or borrow a Bosu Ball and balance on it three times a day to increase my kinesthetic coordination. Instead of a pricey Bosu Ball, I found a much cheaper alternative, a Harbinger Balance Trainer, at my local discount sporting goods store, Big 5, for $19.99.

After using the Balance Trainer for a week now, I must admit I prefer it over the signficantly more expensive Bosu Ball in terms of balance training.

With the Bosu Ball, you can adjust the difficulty simply by spreading your feet further apart to make it easier or closer together to make it harder. Even at the most challenging position, the Bosu Ball is not as difficult as the Balance Trainer because the dome is firmer and offers more support. When I'm at the dojo, I continue to use the Bosu Ball for squats. I would need to purchase a second Balance Trainer if I wanted to do squats (one for each foot).

I stand on the Balance Trainer at least twice a day - in the morning and at night when I brush my teeth. Simply trying to balance on the disk is challenging but the brushing movement makes it even more difficult.

I hope this training also helps me to improve my balance and spatial awareness. I tend to trip fairly often and I've always been really accident-prone.