Surfing challenges your tilting reflexes.
Every human movement requires the activation of special righting and tilting reflexes, which protect us from injury. Righting reflexes dominate when we walk across a stable surface, such as a sidewalk. Tilting reflexes should activate on unstable surfaces, such as a moving subway car, a surfboard, the moving walkway at an airport or a fishing boat. Tilting-reflex training prevents injury and improves athletic performance.
Importance
Exercise scientist Vladimir Janda once remarked that a 50-percent speed-up of our reflex responses could reduce our susceptibility to orthopedic injury by about 80 percent. The strap-hangers who ride the subways of New York or the trolleys of Boston know all about this -- especially when they can't reach the straps or the poles. If the train makes a sharp turn, well-trained tilting reflexes mean the difference between regaining equilibrium and ending up on someone's lap or, worse, on the floor with a torn ligament.
Proprioception
Although a subway car or a surfboard on the waves is obviously in a state of motion, sometimes the earth unexpectedly moves beneath your feet. This happens when you inadvertently step on a rock or slide on a banana peel. You've moved from a stable to an unstable surface, so you must now activate your tilting reflexes. Caveat: These instincts only activate if your body senses the changes beneath your feet. The word proprioception describes your ability to determine your position in space and the structure of the ground beneath you.
Proprioception Exercise
The most basic proprioception exercise involves standing upright while balancing on one leg. Progress the exercise by closing your eyes. Since the ground is stable, these basic balance exercises only engage your righting reflexes. To activate your tilting reflexes, perform the same movement while standing on a variety of balance-training devices, such as balance boards and discs and half balls. Most of these are available at fitness centers, or from online fitness stores. Marathon runner John Farah, author of "Let's Pick It Up a Bit," told CNN that trail running, with its constantly changing terrain, provides effective balance training. If you don't run, hiking offers similar benefits. In fact, crossing a stream by walking over a log or a series of rocks provides the ultimate challenge for your tilting reflexes.
Posture
Check your alignment if your tilting reflexes react better on one side than the other. Many people have a tendency to habitually lean toward one side of their body. Since the tilting reflex brings your body back to a centered, upright position, a faulty, unbalanced alignment will warp your sense of what a centered position actually is. Poor posture also interferes with your ability to keep your center of gravity over your base of support. When your center moves outside of your base of support, your body destabilizes. Exercise techniques such as Pilates help correct posture, which in turn enhances your ability to engage your tilting reflexes.
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