Balance with eyes closed!

[want2habituate]

Hi,

I've stayed off this forum for a while as I've tried to reduce my focus on my tinnitus, however, I could do with some input.

A few years back, when my back was playing up a lot, I found a mobility routine that helped and one of the exercises involved standing on one leg with the other knee raised and the eyes closed. I quickly could balance for 30-40 seconds although I would use my arms to regain balance when I started swaying.

I hadn't done this for a couple of years but when I tried recently I was terrible at it....mostly under 10 seconds and even with practice it's much much harder than it ever was.

I recall when I saw the ENT that he asked about my balance and I said it was fine.

I can't think of a good reason for my ability to do this balance exercise to have got so much worse without some other factor.

My question is, is it possible that I have some kind of low level viral ear infection causing this issue...and how would I go about this being considered? I don't want my GP to laugh at me...and I'm not sure if this justifies seeing another ENT as a second opinion.

I don't want to grab at straws but at the same time, I don't want to dismiss the possibility of some physical, treatable cause for my tinnitus.

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

[TinnitusUKPat Partner]

Some people's tinnitus stems from problems affecting their inner ear, which helps to regulate balance - that might be a starting point to investigate why you notice that you're having more trouble with the exercises than you were previously.

If you're noticing consistent difficulties with balance, tinnitus, hearing then it might be helpful to look at the family of conditions which the Meniere's Society can advise on - menieres.org.uk

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I had the same concern with the one leg eyes shut thing. I find it hard to do for more than a few seconds. When I went to see the ENT consultant about my tinnitus, he did in fact do a quick balance test and it was laughably easy by comparison. The closest he got was heels together eyes shut which was a piece of cake. He also got me following his moving finger (eyes open of course!) then touching my nose. Again, easy, and he said my balance was fine.