Swiss balls and balance boards

My coach suggested I get a Swiss ball or a balance board and work on my balance to improve my athletic ability on the field (American football). What should I do exactly with the stability ball and the balance board?

Very little. 

OK, I don’t mean to be keen and blow you off, but I do want to help you.  The application of these devices – balance boards and swiss balls – which have earned ‘hip’ titles like ‘unstable surfaces’ – should be kept in check.  Interesting….anyway.  Their role is over-rated. They hid in the physical therapists clinics around the world for various years until some smart marketers, looking for a new market niche, grabbed them and promoted them as having application right down to almost mixing your protein drink!

Does this mean they are bad or useless? Not at all.  Let’s address them one at a time.

The wobble board has fantastic application to increase the specific joint control around the ankle, knee and hip in that order. It is great for post rehab work for leg injuries, and great for situations where apparently non-symptomatic people have deficiencies in joint control.  This is injury prevention oriented – not performance enhancement. Now I personally put injury prevention before performance enhancement, but I am not going to tell you that an injury prevention drill has significant direct ability to make your more athletic!

The Swill ball is a tool for variety, and some specific positions or drills that may not be available in other devices – but is not indispensable. So don’t jump off the bridge or cancel your gym membership if your gym doesn’t have one. They probably have a greater contribution to interior decorating than to injury prevention, as see, you can get them in a variety of bright, beautiful colors…

I am undeniably more cynical about the Swiss ball because it has, in my opinion, been promoted more fraudulently than the wobble board.

Two final point I want to touch upon is in relation to the alleged transfer from these ‘unstable’ environments to sport or daily functions. Generally speaking, whilst the world is believed to rotate on its axis (or something like that!), it doesn’t behave like a wobble board or swiss board – it doesn’t wobble or roll in any direction! The ground, if you are a land based athlete, pretty muchly doesn’t move – you move on it!!!! So the concept of transfer and specificity is like telling you to put crossing your fingers is an effective birth control technique!  Now if you are in a sport such as kayaking or similar, where the surface is unstable, there more be more application but again, it will not be totally similar so the transfer will be limited.  Once you have gained the intricate injury prevention benefits, don’t expect long term or significant performance enhancement benefits.

And finally, the finer the movement, the lower the stress, the shorter the beneficial window of opportunity as it relates to exposure. When I see physical therapists giving a person a low-load, fine motor skill control drill  for six months – I feel sorry for that person. Ensure that you are progressing in load and level of difficulty at a rate that is appropriate to you, and chances are, that progression will probably not optimally involve either of these injury prevention devices!

I think I have poor flexibility in my shoulders. I can reach one hand over my shoulder and bring the other up behind my back and my fingers are miles apart!  I was told this is a sign of poor shoulder flexibility.  If so, how will this poor flexibility affect me in the gym and how do I fix it?   

Just when I was ready to get off my soap box on swiss ball bashing I realized that I haven’t given you any specifics as requested!  The options could fill a few manuals, and no doubt have! (10,077 ways to do it on the Swiss ball, etc!)

Here are some of the basics :

Wobble Board

Master each of the following drills then progress. When I say master, look to be able to do 1-2 mins continuously on each drill.

2 leg balance eyes open

2 leg balance eyes closed

1 leg balance eyes open

1 leg balance eyes closed

2 leg balance catching and passing a ball (if you are in a ball sport)

1 leg balance catching and passing a ball (if you are in a ball sport)

2 leg start, alternate lifting the one

1 leg, moving the other around to challenge the balance

Swiss Ball

Master 1 from each of the following groups. When I say master, the duration of each movement is listed.

(5 second holds, 10-20 reps)

Sit on the ball, knees together, chest up – lift a leg up off the ground 6 inches, knee going straight up, keeping hips flat

As above, both feet just off the ground

Kneeling on ball, maintain balance whist trunk vertical

As above, but lying with upper back on ball

(5-10 second holds, 10-15 reps)

Feet on ball, in push up position, lift alternate arm.

Feet on ball, in push up position, lift alternate arm and opposite leg.

(normal speed reps, 10-20 reps)

Kneel on ball, arms on bench – roll knees (and ball) towards chest and back out

Kneel on bench, elbows on ball – roll ball to as far as you can tolerate and back in

© Ian King and King Sports International, Inc. This article is not to be reproduced in part of whole in any format without written permission of the author.

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