Slashdot Mirror

CES: Can a Gyroscope Ball Really Cure Wrist Pain?

First off, let me say that I have no formal training or any sort of degree in anything even remotely related to this. I'm not medically qualified to give you professional advice on this sort of stuff. But from using using these things, I would wager that very few kinds pain will actually be cured from this. I don't know how carpal tunnel syndrome responds to this but I thought that was a condition of the nerves and I fail to see how this could help that (I'm totally sold on muscles though and, through that, maybe extremity blood flow). I would be wary of someone selling this to me heralding it as a panacea for all things past your elbow.

Have you used a gyroscope exercise ball?

Yes.

If so, did it help cure a wrist problem or help strengthen your hands and fingers? And which of these brands (if any) did you try?

I had no wrist problems to begin with but a roommate at the time called them "climber balls" and said climbers use them. So, being a software developer with terrible posture by trade and enjoying video games, bass guitar playing, piano playing, more programming, book writing, etc on the side, I felt it was in my interest to try as best as possible to preserve my wrists. So I asked for one for Christmas and received the orange PowerBall pictured here with digital back. I used it for a while and tried to do 10 minutes a day with it, alternating hands as the digital readout would let me see how fast I could get it (I think I got it up regularly to 9,000 RPM and 13,000 RPM once while incredibly intoxicated). Basically I'd burn up right off the bat with each arm and then try to get into a sustaining groove. Definitely more exerting than it looks. I would also alternate between grips. The two most comfortable ones seemed to be palming it from the back and wrapping my thumb and index finger around the grip while supporting with the other fingers. And I noticed a serious burn (a good, like exercise burn) at first in my hand and forearm but then only in my forearm. From my experience, I suspect that once your hand's grip hits a certain point it's good to go whereas the muscles pumping energy into the gyroscope are actually located in the wrist/forearm. So I believe it was working. I was, however, also doing exercises like wrist curls, inverse wrist curls, wrist extensions with a 45 lb. bar at the gym from time to time. And I was also doing other exercises that probably inadvertently helped strengthen these same areas.

So anyway, one day my friend stayed over and brought his dog. He slept on the couch, his dog whimpered in his kennel so he took him out and fell asleep with him. Dog got a hold of the PowerBall and that was that. Recently these NSDs went on sale for $25 for Black Friday (as shown here) and so I purchased two with the intent of having one at my desk in cubeland and one at home. While I'm happily using one, I left the other packaged and might gift it up because no matter how nice these balls are, they do make a good deal of noise (and the ones with revolution powered LEDs look dance-rave in the dark). The digital options on the NSDs aren't as nice or intuitive as the PowerBall LCD functions but I haven't given that a lot of time so that could just be RTFA ignorance on my part. I just use them as a straight up exercise device now with no intent of breaking records on youtube so I've stopped fussing with the electronics part of them. These NSDs are so far seemingly higher construction than the PowerBalls and are much easier to start but also seem more expensive. I suppose I would have to use this for a year before I start reporting on wear and tear. Watch for a sale on an NSD, when you

I bought a pair of WD 3TB drives just before the flood. They cost me about euro 125 each, and the cheapest price hereabouts today is almost euro 140. Note that these prices are not exactly comparable to the US prices, due to currency exchange and high VAT.

They look like they are going down to me. It's hard to directly compare, because the models change - but in general prices have been falling. I'm waiting for 3TB to fall below $100 to add capacity to my NAT.

Here's one model that is nearly back to where it started.
Here's an external in the same situation.

They look like they are going down to me. It's hard to directly compare, because the models change - but in general prices have been falling. I'm waiting for 3TB to fall below $100 to add capacity to my NAT.

Here's one model that is nearly back to where it started.
Here's an external in the same situation.

How long pre-flood did you buy the first drive?

Here's a price history on a Seagate 1TB drive. Pre-flood the per-unit price averaged $55 with occasional (sale) dips down to $40. Today it's sitting at $70, down from a post-flood high of $140.

You can get some good deals, but I call BS on that one. http://camelegg.com/product/N82E16820227791

And by "my charts" I mean camelegg: http://camelegg.com/product/N82E16822152245

The market spiked and it's slowly returning to normal. It hasn't bottomed. I think that the time required is a combination of rebuilding manufacturing capacity, backlogged demand slowly being filled, and simple price inertia.

How this helps us must be over my head. I can't see $20 or $30 per PC price difference even filtering down to us.

Well, for those of us that are savvy enough to build our own or upgrade existing, there sure has been evidence in pricing. Every memory I look at shows a pretty steady decline in price. Compare that to something like SSDs and you'll see the charts for SSDs fluctuate up and down more wildly. DDR3 especially seems to have an overall downward trend over the past couple months.

How this helps us must be over my head. I can't see $20 or $30 per PC price difference even filtering down to us.

Well, for those of us that are savvy enough to build our own or upgrade existing, there sure has been evidence in pricing. Every memory I look at shows a pretty steady decline in price. Compare that to something like SSDs and you'll see the charts for SSDs fluctuate up and down more wildly. DDR3 especially seems to have an overall downward trend over the past couple months.

Oh, it's even worse than that. If Newegg prices are a reasonable reflection of the market, Intel SSDs have fallen by quite a bit since October of last year:

http://camelegg.com/product/N82E16820167024

So apparently the real problem is that SSD prices aren't falling fast enough.