Physical Therapy Using A Smart Balance Board

Using a smart balance board in your physical therapy is a great way to add levels of challenge and complexity for a better overall recovery.

Why does your physician recommend physical therapy? Physical therapy primarily focuses on rehabilitative and preventive goals.

Weight training and core strength training is important for pain relief, increased stability, and to prevent future injuries.

Adding smart balance board training to your physical therapy regimen increases the variety and intensity of your rehabilitation.

Using a balance board is a superior way to build core strength and balance. And every physical therapist will affirm that the benefits of balance and core strength are numerous when recovering from an injury or degenerative health condition.

Learn more about using a balance board in physical therapy and then give it a try!

How Physical Therapy Benefits From Balance Boards

Balance boards have become popular tools for physical therapy because of the benefits they add to standard, traditional rehabilitation methods.

Using a balance board adds another layer of intensity and challenge, and offers many new options for your workout.

Just take a look at how your physical therapy can benefit from using a balance board:

1. Relieves Pain

Contrary to what many people expect, exercise helps to relieve pain. Working the muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints makes them stronger and more functional, which helps to decrease pain from the injury.

Exercise promotes the body’s natural healing mechanisms. And using a balance board provides many new avenues to exercise to often-unused muscle groups.

2. Enhances Performance

Building core strength is essential to enhancing your overall performance through physical therapy.

Using a balance board in your rehabilitation enables you to exercise and strengthen seldom-used muscle groups in ways that will add to your balance, stability, and overall control.

This, in turn, adds to speed, take-off, endurance, and overall performance.

3. Prevents Injury

Strengthening your muscle groups and joints helps to prevent injury. Stronger, healthier muscles hold you erect, help you maintain stability, and therefore prevent many accidents that lead to falls and further injuries.

Prevent injury with a balance board while getting a superb workout, becoming stronger, and having fun with the different games and challenges available.

4. Improves Stability

Stability, balance, and coordination are all key to success with your physical therapy.

Indeed, a primary goal is to help you become more stable and confident to live your life and carry out day-to-day tasks and pursuits.

Using a balance board strengthens core muscles and the joints that are essential to maintain balance and stability.

The Use Of Balance Boards In Physical Therapy

There are numerous ways for using a balance board in physical therapy, including the addition of weight training to your balance training.

Many of the exercises you can perform on the balance board can be made more intense and challenging when you are holding weights. Even the addition of ten pounds can make a huge difference.

Using a smart electronic balance board in physical therapy further adds the benefits of recording performance data for later comparison and evaluation by your therapist.

Smart balance boards typically have apps that can be loaded onto your smartphone or tablet so you can see just how well you are progressing.

And most of them provide real-time data and even allow you to design custom workouts.

Try some of these exercises with your balance board in physical therapy:

1. Sitting Leg Rotation

Sit in a chair with the balance board under your feet.
Rotate the board to the left and right.
Try this with ankle weights for added resistance.

2. Standing Rotation

Stand on the balance board with feet shoulder-width apart and rotate to the right and left. You may hold on to a chair at first and just exercise your joints.
Try maintaining your balance and rotating from side to side.
Add hand weights and repeat.

3. Circle Rotation

Rotate the balance board in a complete circle without losing your balance or allowing the edge of the board to touch the floor.
Do this for three minutes.
Add hand weights for more challenge.

4. Squat Balance

Squat on the balance board and maintain your balance.
Add weights for more challenge.

5. Squat Rotation

Squat on the balance board and rotate in a complete circle without losing your balance or allowing the edge of the board to touch the floor.
Add weights for more challenges.

6. One Leg Balance

Stand on the balance board and raise one leg.
Maintain your balance for two minutes.
Repeat with the other leg.
Add weights for more challenge.

7. One Leg Rotation

Stand on the balance board and raise one leg.
Rotate the board in a complete circle without losing your balance or allowing the edge of the board to touch the floor.
Repeat with the other leg.
Add weights for more challenge.

8. Push-Ups

Position your hands on the balance board about shoulder-width apart.
Do push-ups while keeping the board balanced.

Ask your physiologist or therapist for more suggestions to work specific areas of your body to aid in your physical therapy.

Conclusion

The exercises above, paired with what your therapy specialist recommends, can enhance your balance training, strength training, and injury prevention measures for a substantially better recovery and quality of life.

Moreover, the smart balance board provides additional options for measuring performance, recording and comparing data to track improvement, and even designing your own customized workouts for even greater challenge and intensity.

Physical therapy using a smart balance board is the new level of rehabilitation for both young and old.

This article is not meant to be taken as medical advice. Always consult with your physician before beginning any new exercise routines.