Safe and effective exercises for the shoulders with The Fitness Balloon
By Chris Melton on Aug 27, 2007 in physical therapy, rehab products, shoulder exercises, shoulder stretching
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed so that you can stay up to date on the latest shoulder rehab devices, shoulder articles, shoulder training techniques and shoulder videos.
Today’s article was contributed by Jane Davis, a physical therapist whose experience ranges from pediatrics to geriatrics. Jane has translated her experience into the creation of The Fitness Balloon – A Manual for Exercise.
We met Jane in Daytona at the Florida Physical Therapy Association’s annual conference and were immediately uplifted by her enthusiasm for helping her patients and her joy of telling the world about her extremely user-friendly program.
The concept of using a heavy-duty balloon for resistive exercise actually was born in the late 1990s while my staff and I were goofing around with birthday balloons … we batted them around and did the “funky chicken dance” with them … then it hit me! Compressing the balloon between the rib cage and humerus would be an excellent ”closed chain” exercise to strengthen the rotator cuff muscles. At that time, we had numerous referrals from several orthopedists who performed rotator cuff repairs, impingement relief surgeries and total shoulder joint replacements. What began as a game developed into a safe, EFFECTIVE series of exercises not only for the shoulder, but also for virtually every muscle group in the body.
For now, let’s concentrate on the shoulder techniques: resisted flexion, extension, abduction, adduction and external and internal rotation are performed by compressing the balloon with the upper arm (humerus) or forearm as needed to activate the appropriate muscle groups. This resistance is SAFE because the infinitely compressible balloon (no “dead end feel”) provides as much resistance as the patient can exert, yet not one millimeter more.
The exercises are FUN (assuring compliance) because most everyone has a positive emotional memory associated with balloons. One wants to pick the balloon up and manipulate it … this can be done whether the individual is confined to bed, is sitting or standing. Two or more children or adults at all skill levels can work (play!) with the balloon.
“The Accordion, The Funky Chicken, Kneading Bread, I’ve Been Working on the Railroad, The Crosscut Saw” are some of the pet names that people use to identify their favorite activities with the balloon.
The Fitness Balloon – A Manual for Exercise is filled with step-by-step instructions for the exercises, photographs, helpful hints for therapists and for the layman. Each manual comes with two (2) heavy-duty balloons with directions for inflation and maintenance. Check out the web site and blog linked here for further information on this NEW, FUN, SAFE and EFFECTIVE way to rehabilitate the shoulder muscles.
RELATED TOPICS:
