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THE 30-SECOND VERSION
Most balance practice faces forward. Most dangerous falls go sideways. Ten side steps along the counter trains the direction you actually need.
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TODAY’S MOVE
The direction nobody practises
Back to balance. In August we worked forwards and back. Today we go sideways, which is where the trouble is.
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A man came up the dock behind me last month carrying an outboard motor, and I stepped aside to let him past. Just a shuffle to the left, the sort of thing you do fifty times a day. My left foot caught the edge of a plank and for about a second I was genuinely unsure which way this was going to end.
I caught the rail and nothing came of it. But it stayed with me, because I had been practising my balance all summer. Standing on one leg by the counter. Heel-to-toe walking across the kitchen. All of it facing straight ahead, like a man on a tightrope.
Not one minute of it had prepared me for a sideways shuffle on a wet plank. And it turns out sideways is precisely the direction that matters most. Here is why.
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QUICK QUIZ · TAP TO ANSWER
Falls that break a hip most often go in which direction?
Tap your guess. A ready-to-send reply opens. Just press send and we’ll tell you if you got it right.
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| 01 |
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Set up along a counter |
Stand facing a kitchen counter with both hands resting on it, feet hip-width apart. You will travel along the length of the counter, so it stays within reach the whole way.
ⓘ Clear the floor first. Shoes on, no loose mat underfoot.
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| 02 |
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Step out, then bring the other foot in |
Step your right foot out to the right. Pause. Then bring your left foot across to meet it. That is one side step. Keep your toes pointing forward at the counter throughout.
ⓘ Easier version: keep both hands on the counter and take smaller steps.
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Here is where the work happens. As you bring the trailing foot across, pause for a beat with your weight on the standing leg. That moment of transfer is exactly what fails on a wet plank.
ⓘ Slow is harder than fast here, and slow is what trains you.
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Travel ten steps to the right, then ten back to the left. Both directions, most days. A minute is enough.
ⓘ Never cross one foot over the other. Step out and bring together, every time.
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✓✓ A bit of wobble on the pause is the exercise doing its job. Real dizziness is not. Stop, sit down, and mention it to your doctor if that happens.
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THE WHY |
Why sideways is the dangerous way |
Look down at your feet. Standing normally, they are a few inches apart from side to side, but each one is nine or ten inches long front to back. So you have a decent runway forwards and backwards, and hardly any width at all. Tip forward and you have room to recover. Tip sideways and you run out of base almost at once. |
Then there is what you land on. Going forward, you put your hands out and your arms take some of it. Going sideways, you land on the side of your hip, on the bony point, with nothing in the way. That is why a systematic review of thirty studies found that falls causing a broken hip typically involve sideways or backward movement, with poor protective responses. |
The rescue move is a quick step out to the side. That is the whole defence. And researchers find that older adults have particular difficulty with exactly that step, partly because it needs power from the muscles on the outside of the hip. Those are the same muscles we worked on back in hip week, which pleases me more than it should. |
Why we all train the wrong way |
Nearly every balance exercise you have ever been given faces forward. Standing on one leg, heel-to-toe walking, the lot. There is good sense in that, because forward and back is the safest place to begin, and it is where we started in August. But if you stop there, you have practised the easy direction and left the dangerous one alone. |
The order matters |
Balance work has a sensible sequence, and it is worth respecting. Forwards and back first. Then side to side, which is today. Turning movements last, because rotation is the one most likely to bring on dizziness. So if August’s single-leg stand still feels shaky, stay there a while longer. This is not a race, and skipping ahead is how people end up on the floor. |
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⚠ WHEN TO STOP
When to stop and call your doctor
Practise within reach of a counter, always. And get checked promptly if you notice:
● Dizziness or a spinning feeling, rather than simple wobbliness, when you move or turn your head.
● That you drift consistently to one side, or one direction feels far worse than the other.
● A fall, or near-falls, or new unsteadiness after starting a medication. Tell your doctor even about the near misses.
When in doubt, get it checked. PainFree adds to your doctor’s care. It never replaces it.
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THIS WEEK’S QUICK WINS
Three ways to cover the sideways gap
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☕ Side step while the kettle boils
You are already standing at the counter with a hand free. Ten steps down and ten back is about forty seconds, and it fits in the gap you were going to spend waiting anyway.
1 minute • The counter is already there
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🦵 Keep the outer hip strong
The sideways rescue step runs on the muscles down the outside of your hip. The side-lying leg raises from hip week feed straight into this, so the two go together rather than competing for your time.
Daily • Strength behind the step
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🚫 Widen out in tight spots
Where you have to shuffle sideways in real life, a narrow dock, a row of seats, the gap beside the bed, take a wider stance and go slowly. Narrow feet are the whole problem, so do not add to it.
Anytime • Wider feet, slower steps
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The sideways step, and why it fails
Between 30 and 40% of older adults living at home fall at least once a year, and more than 95% of broken hips are caused by a fall. A 2024 systematic review pooling 30 studies found those hip-fracture falls typically happen indoors, at standing height, in daylight, and usually involve sideways or backward movement with an inadequate protective response. Researchers studying that protective response find older adults have specific difficulty producing a quick sideways step, and trace the problem to power in the hip muscles that move the leg out to the side. Balance measured side to side is also, by some accounts, the single best predictor of a future fall. Worth saying plainly: no trial has shown that side-stepping along your counter prevents hip fractures. What it does is rehearse the movement that has to work when the moment comes.
| 95% of broken hips are caused by a fall |
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| 30 studies pooled, finding sideways or backward movement typical |
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| Indoors at standing height, in daylight, is the usual setting |
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Not on ice, not off a ladder. In your own house, in the middle of the day, going sideways.
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MOVEMENT OF THE WEEK
The slow head turn
This is the next stage up, so take it only once the side steps feel easy. Turning is the direction most likely to bring on dizziness, which is exactly why it comes last.
| 1. | Stand at the counter, feet hip-width apart, both hands resting on it. |
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| 2. | Turn your head slowly to look over one shoulder, then slowly to the other. Five each way. |
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| 3. | Stop at once if the room seems to move. That is a signal, not a challenge. |
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HOW TO PROGRESS
| Starting out | Both hands down, small turns |
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| Building | Fingertips only, fuller turns |
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| Stronger | Turn the head while side stepping |
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Keep the counter within reach at every stage. If you have had vertigo, ask your doctor before trying this one.
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WHAT THE EVIDENCE SAYS
Three directions, in the right order
Forwards and back Where to start, and where August’s single-leg stand and heel-to-toe walking sit. Safest, and the foundation for everything after. Stay here until it is comfortable. |
Side to side Today’s work, and the direction the research keeps pointing at. Most people never train it, which is the gap worth closing. |
Turning Last, and only when the first two are solid. Rotation is the likeliest to bring on dizziness, so it earns its place at the end of the queue. |
If you have fallen, feel unsteady, or have had vertigo, ask for a falls assessment before working through these on your own.
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WORTH KNOWING
Your outer hip
The muscles that fire a quick sideways rescue step are the same ones on the outside of the hip that keep your pelvis level when you walk. We worked them in hip week without knowing they were also the fall brigade. Rather satisfying, that everything joins up in the end.
From research on protective stepping.
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QUICK POLL · TAP TO ANSWER
How did the side steps feel?
Try ten each way at the counter, then tell us. Just press send.
We read every reply.
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