First thing first, Balance Ball is also known in a variety of different names. However, the most common name for Balance Ball is called, the Stability Ball. Balance Ball is also known as Swiss Ball, Exercise Ball, Fitness Ball and Physio Balls.
The Balance Ball has had long-standing success in the world of clinical rehabilitation. However, due to their effectiveness in developing balance and core strength, athletic trainers, coaches, personal trainers and physical education teachers have begun to integrate them into their programs. Now they are the new craze in the world of athletic and functional conditioning.
The history of the Balance Ball originates back to the early 1960s. It was made by an Italian toy maker, Aquilino Cosani, and sold primarily in Europe as the Gymnastik.
The balance ball is a conservative treatment option for back pain sufferers and is designed to help prevent further episodes of low back pain as part of a rehabilitation program. The exercise ball is effective in rehabilitation of the back because it helps strengthen and develop the core body muscles that help to stabilize the spine.
Once limited to the rehabilitation and clinical setting, the Balance Ball has permeated to all sectors of the health and fitness community. In clinics they are still used to provide gentle proprioceptive stimuli for individuals recovering from surgery. The balance ball is fun, it’s colorful and everybody from pediatric patients to geriatric patients literally find the Balance Ball to be something unique and that they can generate some enthusiasm about. The unique thing about the Balance Ball is that they utilize the neuromuscular system in a way that no other exercise equipment I have come across has. That is that they incorporate the use of:
1. Multiple muscle systems
2. Neurologically induced muscular responses
3. A normal and natural process of balance
4. The body’s own normal processes, to establish and restore balance.