It's easy for me to fall to the ground...which muscles should be strengthened?

Question

When the ground is a bit slippery, eg. muddy, wet, snowy, etc., I can't help but walk in a hilariously unnatural fashion. Every step is difficult and scary for me. Whenever I'm a bit out of balance, I can't go back to the balanced posture and can't help but fall to the ground. By comparison, the people who walk with me are always fine. They also have to be cautious, but they still walk at good pace and with confidence. They see me fall down again and again, but they don't fall.

So I wonder which muscles of mine need strengthening to keep balance?

By the way, I'm a healthy person and have no illness in my cerebellum.

Answer 1

As alluded to in the comments, you should look at your core strength and go see a good physiotherapist or personal trainer to get an assessment and see if they can recommend some strengthening exercises.

Also, it sounds like you're suffering from pretty severed anterior pelvic tilt (that's a guess based on reading a sentence you posted on the internet, don't read too much into it, it's not a diagnosis, you need to go see someone in person for that). If you are, then that would explain the sticking out belly, why it feels like you're constantly leaning back and have a curved thoracic spine so you can see in front of you. Do you also get knee / hip / back / shoulder issues? If so, that's another possible sign.

You say you're good at sit-ups, but depending on how you're doing them, you could be relying heavily on your hip flexors to pull yourself up, causing them to tighten and shorten, which would only exacerbate the problem.

---

I started out my answer by writing this, but realised it was more of a story than an answer, but I'm leaving it in because I always think personal stories are often more impactful than a series of facts.

A long time ago a friend of mine had something short circuit in her brain which resulted in a rather more rapid than planned descent of a staircase. She spent a little while in hospital and then in a wheelchair, and once she came out of the wheelchair was deemed to be more or less fixed and told to carry on with the hospital physio just to make sure everything was ok.

The problem was, the way she walked akin to swinging one leg forward, throwing her weight over that leg, doing the same with the other leg, and hopefully making it where she was aiming to go without stumbling into anything.

Her legs were strong, rehab had seen to that, but she still couldn't walk properly. The sessions with her hospital physio consisted of some leg strengthening on a pressing machine device, and walking on a treadmill for time. This went on for months before she finally got fed up and found a different physiotherapist to try and help her.

The second physio did a few tests and pointed out that she had "forgotten" how to engage her core when she walked, meaning there was no balance there and very little control, which is why she had to throw herself, do or die style, into walking across the room.

Once she started working on her core strength, everything improved dramatically; walking became easier, she no longer stumbled around. She could take the dog for a walk without worrying it was going to pull her over, go out in snowy weather and not worry about slipping and falling. Fast forward several years and not only can she move normally, she's also a pole fitness instructor, teaching other people how to get stronger and improve the way they move.

Answer 2

Assuming you have seen a doctor to rule out vertigo-related and other diagnoses, yes, you could try working out at a gym regularly. Find a personal trainer with whom you resonate, at least to set up an initial set of exercises, if you can't afford a long-term relationship.

Do a variety of exercises, including stretching, balancing, arm resistance, core resistance (belly and back), leg resistance, and aerobics (walking, running, or bicycling).

Start with few repetitions, low resistance (weight/elastic), and short times, then increase only very gradually. Don't increase so quickly that you get discouraged or you have pain, but do increase if additional challenge makes you feel a sense of accomplishment.

Exercise this way no more often than every other day, so your muscles can rebuild. This is vital!

Be patient and regular, and give yourself enough time to see real results in daily life before deciding to quit.

I never exercised for most of my life (totally sedentary), and I started noticing some bad symptoms in my life (but not falling down). I worked with a great personal trainer for about a year, then continued on my own for several years. I find my workouts indispensable for having a healthy and flexible body, along with a ketogenic diet to control my diabetes.