Finding Your Steady: How the Body Maintains Balance

The three parts to keeping balanced

Nov 17, 2025

Hi Everyone,

I hope you are doing well! In my most recent Substack, we talked about BPPV (vertigo), and how the vestibular system inside your inner ears plays a huge role in keeping the world still and steady.

Due to the nature of this topic being quite extensive, we didn’t have time to talk about everything. So today, It felt only right to build on that topic, because balance isn’t just about the ears. Far from it!

To stay upright, confident, and in control of our movements, we need all three balance systems working in sync. They have to send information to the brain at the same speed so it can make sense of what’s happening around us and respond appropriately.

If even one system is lagging, the whole picture becomes a bit fuzzy, and that’s when we feel unsteady or not quite ourselves. So today we’re zooming out and looking at balance as a whole.

This post is public so feel free to share it.

Why Balance Matters More Than We Give It Credit For

Most people only think about balance when it suddenly feels off. I know this time of year, with the wet leaves and heavy winds, it can definitely feel more prominent! Perhaps you’ve caught your toe on a step, felt unsure on uneven ground, hesitated on a curb, or had a moment where your body didn’t quite respond the way you expected. Those small moments can quietly chip away at confidence. It’s not a sign you’re getting old, clumsy, or out of shape. It’s usually a sign that one of the systems responsible for balance needs support.

At Active Edge, helping people move better and feel better doing it is exactly what we’re here for, and balance is a big part of that.

At its core, balance is your body’s ability to keep your centre of gravity and line of gravity over your base of support. It’s what stops us from tipping over when we stand still and what helps us recover when something unexpected challenges us.

We use balance constantly. Standing, walking, turning, reaching, stepping over obstacles, reacting to sudden movements. Most of the time we don’t even notice it, until something feels off.

The Three Systems That Keep Us Upright

1. The Vestibular System: Your Internal Motion Sensor

Located in the inner ears, this system detects head movement and direction and helps stabilise your eyes and posture. If you’ve ever felt dizzy, disorientated, or as though your head and body weren’t communicating well, this system may have been struggling.

Issues like blocked sinuses, ear infections, and BPPV can interfere, but targeted exercises can help recalibrate it. Sometimes we’ll also recommend speaking to ENT or audiology if needed.

2. The Visual System: Your External Guide

Your eyes give your brain constant information about where you are in relation to the space around. If vision is an issue for you, if light is low, or if the eyes aren’t working together, balance can feel more effortful than it should. That being said, vision doesn’t need to be perfect for good balance, but when this system isn’t pulling its weight, the others have to work harder.

3. The Somatosensory System: Your Body’s GPS

This system gathers information from your muscles, joints, and skin to tell your brain where your limbs are, even without looking. It’s the reason you can place your foot on the ground confidently without staring at it. It’s how your brain knows if you are sitting or standing or moving. Again, like the other two systems, there are lots of factors that may impair this system.

Past injuries, hypermobility, peripheral neuropathies (which is a reduced nerve sensitivity in your arms/legs), and changes in joint sensitivity can all affect this system. Alongside balance-specific exercises, strengthening and proprioception work can make a big difference by helping the body send clearer signals.

How We Train Balance

Balance training doesn’t have to involve wobble boards or circus tricks. It can be as simple as practising single-leg stands, controlled reaches, responding to small unexpected movements, or building the strength around key joints.

We often use steady, still positions to challenge awareness, movement-based tasks to prepare for everyday transitions, and reactive exercises to improve how the body responds to surprises. Strength work around the feet, ankles, and hips also plays a big role in sharpening the body’s internal sensors.

The approach is always tailored to the individual because everyone’s balance story is different.

English Cross Country is a fantastic test of your balancing skills. Here’s Ron, barely staying upright in ankle deep mud.

What to Take Away From This

Balance isn’t a one-system job; it’s a team effort, and when all three systems communicate clearly, the brain can create confident, efficient movement. With that understanding, if your balance does feel off, it isn’t a personal flaw. It’s simply information. And with the right guidance, it can improve!

If this brought up any questions or connected with something you’ve been experiencing, feel free to reply or get in touch. And if there’s a topic you’d like to see in a future newsletter, I’d love to hear it.

– Yasmin, Sports Rehabilitator.