Skip to content
E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune
Author
PUBLISHED: | UPDATED:

Keeping your balance while standing on a CTA bus or train can seem nearly impossible at times. A sudden stop, jerk or acceleration can propel you off-kilter and into the lap of a stranger, into the arms of a co-worker or down to the grimy floor. Talk about awkward.

While it might seem unfeasible to maintain an upright position during a forceful jolt on your commute, there are a few things you can do with your body to improve your overall balance.

“Keeping your feet wide, your knees bent and your stomach tight is always the best way to keep your balance,” said Seth Shanahan, health navigator for Advocate Health Care. “Your core has to be engaged.”

A wider stance lowers your center of gravity, which makes it easier to stay upright than if your feet were together in a narrow stance. When your feet are farther apart and your stomach muscles are working, it creates the support your upper body needs to move more freely without causing you to lose your balance.

But what should your arms be doing?

“You always want to grab onto something and keep it close to your body,” said Shanahan, 34. “The more you reach, the less leverage you have with that arm. If you’re ever relying on that arm for balance, you want to keep it as close to your body as you can.”

Terry Kiely, 54, co-owner of Om on the Range yoga studio in Lakeview, said putting your phone and other devices away when standing on a bus or train can improve your balance by freeing up some of your senses.

“Balance comes from a lot of different senses—sight, touch, sound,” he said. “If you can see what will be happening, you’ll be in a much better position to adjust to the different fluctuations that will occur.

“The thing about balance is that it’s inherently moving. If you try to hold on too tight, you’re going to be thrown off balance. You want to hug into your core and keep your joints relatively soft. You don’t want to stand lock-kneed or hold your elbows. And breathe. When we stop breathing, we get rigid.”

To strengthen your quads and core muscles, Shanahan suggests doing body squats or a yoga chair hold.

“If you have 10 minutes to do it, it’d be one minute in a chair hold and one minute in a plank hold and just go back and forth for 10 minutes,” he said. “So that way you’re improving your balance and you’re improving your core strength.”

When you’re forced to stand on a CTA bus or train, you’re generally given the option of holding onto a pole, a strap loop or nothing at all to aid you. In a RedEye Twitter poll, which was conducted over a period of 24 hours and received 495 votes, 77 percent of voters said they preferred to hold onto poles. Only 8 percent of voters prefer holding onto the loops, and 15 percent prefer to hold onto nothing at all (because they’re clearly balancing ninjas).

“Slips and falls are extremely rare on CTA buses and trains because they are designed with customer support and comfort in mind,” CTA spokesman Jeff Tolman said. “Seating as well as poles and straps provide stabilization for customers.”

We’ve likely all seen someone lose their balance on a bus or train, and it’s likely we too have lost ours at one time or another. I was once sitting on the bus with a lap full of groceries, bread on top, when we suddenly lurched forward and a man nearby lost his footing and sat on me. But don’t worry, my loaf of bread broke his fall with a squish. *eye-roll*

“I punched an old woman in the face when a crowded train lurched and her face was next to the bar I reached for!” 32-year-old Logan Square resident Levi Baer tweeted.

“Stood next to a man with a cane on a crowded bus. Every time we hit a bump, his cane hit my lady part! So crowded I wasn’t able to move away,” 32-year-old North Center resident Elizabeth Woods said.

“Another time, I was on a date,” Woods added. “We stopped, got coffee and then got on the Blue Line. I hadn’t sat down when the train began to go. I started to fall backwards and tripped over someone’s luggage. I fell on my bum but managed to not spill any coffee. I got off the train a few stops later and started up the escalator. Someone tapped my shoulder and said, ‘Don’t trip.’ They were a complete stranger.”

Rogers Park resident Catherine Winer, 24, didn’t directly experience the devastation that ensued after a spill on public transit but definitely could sympathize.

“My boyfriend was on his laptop and someone fell on him, crushing his laptop,” she said.

@RianneCoale | rcoale@redeyechicago.com

The Transit Diaries runs in RedEye’s print edition every week. If you have a story you’d like to share, email us at redeye@redeyechicago.com with “Transit Diaries” in the subject line.