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Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Arthritis / July 2004Exercise Balls?
Do any of you use an exercise ball at all to help strengthen you muscles/joints or for weight loss or both? If so, do you use an organized program with it like pilates or do you just kind of do your own thing? Do you like the exercise ball and find it easy to use/work with? Anything you want to add about using an exercise ball (either positive or negative)? All input appreciated!!! Donna G i use my very large exercise ball in the back yard, letting my sheltie pretend it's a sheep, herding it all over the place. finally, a good use for it! diane, not big on exercising these days. I use an exercise ball to strengthen my back and abs. It is about the only way I have found that doesn't kill my neck. ROFL............Diane C. you are too funny! Glad your sheltie likes his new "sheep" to herd around the yard! LOLOLOL! Donna G >large exercise ball in the back yard, letting my sheltie pretend >it's a sheep, herding it all over the place. I bet that is fun to watch. Char "Remember, I'm pulling for ya'. We're all in this together." Red Green > i use my very large exercise ball in the back yard, letting my sheltie > pretend > it's a sheep, herding it all over the place. finally, a good use for it! > > diane, not big on exercising these days. ROFL! I love it!  SignatureNann remove the Gator cheer to email me Simply the thing I am shall make me live --- William Shakespeare LOL, you should videotape that and send it to America's Funniest Home Videos :) Carole > i use my very large exercise ball in the back yard, letting my sheltie pretend > it's a sheep, herding it all over the place. finally, a good use for it! > > diane, not big on exercising these days. > i use my very large exercise ball in the back yard, letting my sheltie pretend > it's a sheep, herding it all over the place. finally, a good use for it! > > diane, not big on exercising these days. OK, now he has his sheep. Time to get a couple of lambs and maybe another sheep for him. Jo >Do any of you use an exercise ball at all to help strengthen you >muscles/joints or for weight loss or both? If so, do you use an [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > >Donna G Yes, I use an exercise ball for my knees and my back. Most of the exercises I do were given to me by a physical therapist. I had bilateral TKR's 11 months ago. I use the ball to keep flexing them. I had back surgery before the knees and the PT gave me balance, stretching and strengthening exercises using the ball. I also take a "Strengthening Bone and Balance" class at a gym. We use the exercise ball about one third of the time. I think it is great even if I only bounce on it and rotate my hips - that really helps loosen up my back muscles which get real cranky sitting at the computer. My sister-in-law was supposed to use one in an exercise class but hated it! She said "I spend all my time trying not to fall off it." I didn't tell her that improving your balance was the point. -- BettyB -- www.flamingo-code.com "A pessimist is correct oftener than an optimist, but an optimist has more fun" Robert A. Heinlein - Time Enough For Love Thanks Betty and Nan for the input on the exercise ball. I have heard it is good for strengthening and especially for strengthening the "core" areas the pilates so often focuses on. Hey Duckie, do you use this at all with your Pilates stuff? While I swim a couple of days a week, I need to do some other exercising and the ball seems like a good way to do some strengthening stuff without getting all the way down on the floor and without a lot of jarring of the joints. Donna G >While I swim a couple of days a week, I need to do some other exercising >and the ball seems like a good way to do some strengthening stuff >without getting all the way down on the floor and without a lot of >jarring of the joints. > >Donna G I can't get down on the floor, or at least not back up, so I don't do the Pilates. Since I had both knees replaced I have a lot of balance problems. The ball really seems to help with both the balance and the core strengthening. I also use a rocker board for balance exercises. Strengthening without jarring really seems to be the thing to do. Good Luck with it all. -- BettyB -- www.flamingo-code.com "A pessimist is correct oftener than an optimist, but an optimist has more fun" Robert A. Heinlein - Time Enough For Love I do not. Only once did I see it used and that was at the gym. See above note. I think you can start the core training by actually sitting in a chair. I have been giving this a great deal of thought because it has been so good for me and my back pain is all but gone now. I keep trying to think how it could be introduce to the arthritis foundation as pilates for the rest of the world. :) Certainly the breathing and the tightening of the muscles can be done standing so they could also be done from a chair. Actually, the heavier you are with the more tummy you have, the harder it is to actually sit on the floor properly. My teacher will hand out something for people to sit on to elevate them a bit so they stay on their sit bones. That is hard to do if a tummy is getting in the way. I will have to think on this some more and maybe we can work up some sort of work out that even a wheelchair person can manage. What we have been using this summer is something called a magic circle. It is a ring with two cushion areas and you use it between the knees, between the hands, between the ankles,... If you have a Marshall's near you, they are selling one there at the moment for $9.99. it is much lighter and less sturdy than the 'real' one but those can be priced at anywhere between $30.00 and $50. They are also heavier and frankly when you are out of shape, lighter is better. You can use that without pilates knowledge at all. Duckie > Thanks Betty and Nan for the input on the exercise ball. I have heard > it is good for strengthening and especially for strengthening the "core" [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > Donna G Signature_('> (_<_) _ _('< -quack (_<_) _ __('< *QUACK!* <_{__) _('< "|,,|_" (_<_) _('< "AFLAC!" (_<_) Hi all, I recently saw a chair that is essentially a frame that holds a balance ball--you sit on the ball, but the frame keeps it from rolling all over. I've since seen several others, way more expensive, but this one is reasonably priced (under $100). You can google for "ergonomic ball chair" and see the expensive chairs, and you can google for "Gaiam Balance Ball Chair" to see the less expensive version. Several people I know use the balance balls alone as a desk chair, but this looks like a bit easier. Cheers, Evelyn > Do any of you use an exercise ball at all to help strengthen you > muscles/joints or for weight loss or both? If so, do you use an [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > Donna G >Hi all, > [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > >Evelyn There are also rings that stabilize the exercise ball, kind of like a ring for a wok. The ball sits in the ring and you sit or lie on the ball - training wheels you use until you get your balance. You can order on the web: $25 http://www.sissel-online.com/models/225_sp-301.php $17 http://www.sportsunlimitedinc.com/gaiamstabilize.html www.fitterfirst.com has lots of different equipment. -- BettyB -- www.flamingo-code.com "A pessimist is correct oftener than an optimist, but an optimist has more fun" Robert A. Heinlein - Time Enough For Love Wow, Betty, I had no idea such things existed, and they're really inexpensive. I wonder if you still get all the muscle-strengthening benefit if you use the stabilizers? But it would certainly make it easier to use a balance ball for an office chair if you had one of those. Evelyn > >Hi all, > > [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > > www.fitterfirst.com has lots of different equipment. If you are talking about that big ball meant for balancing on -- the answer would be a huge no for me. One pilates class I took at the gym was using that ball. Damn scared me. Slipping and falling off the thing would be worse than not moving at all. Of course, my wrists and hands need to be protected and I can't or shouldn't rely on them to catch my body weight which is considerable. I have seen them at the PT so they must use them there but I wouldn't use them alone. I have used a nine pound weighted ball [bit smaller than volley ball] at the gym instead of hand weights to do a two fisted curl. But don't think you are talking about that. Duckie > Do any of you use an exercise ball at all to help strengthen you > muscles/joints or for weight loss or both? If so, do you use an [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > Donna G Signature_('> (_<_) _ _('< -quack (_<_) _ __('< *QUACK!* <_{__) _('< "|,,|_" (_<_) _('< "AFLAC!" (_<_) |
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