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CES: Can a Gyroscope Ball Really Cure Wrist Pain? (Video)
Timothy ran into these NSD people at CES. If we were giving out a "best huckster" award, NSD booth dude Doug Lo would surely be a finalist for it. He's one heck of a talker. The exercise balls he's pushing? A number of companies have been making and selling similar products for many years. They seem to have some medical benefit as physical therapy aids for people with wrist or carpal tunnel problems, and may also be useful exercise devices for people who want to strengthen their hands and fingers. Have you used a gyroscope exercise ball? 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?
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
My work here is dung.
I travel with one, and use one at my desk. It helps tone muscles and I can target most any muscle up to my shoulder with ease. I don't honestly think it does anything for carpal tunnel, but it's a great distraction, burns a few calories, and if you get one with a counter you can try to break records, etc. I consider a toy, not a medical device work workout equipment, but I've gotten my money's worth.
I've got a magnetic copper bracelet that aligns the molecules in my bloodstream so I've never had any wrist problems at all. I got it from some guy selling tiger protection rocks and submillimeter wave scanners.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
My dad got one of those when he broke his elbow. Was never able to get the hang of it - but we kids did (and drove him crazy with the noise).
That was 40 years ago.
And the worms ate into his brain.
Over 20 years I have been "mousing" for 8 hours a day and I firmly believe the only thing that saved me is using a big honking trackball from Kensington
I tried a completely different type of mouse. Was hard to get used to for the first couple days. Now my wrist and forearm pain is a thing of the past. The vertical mouse keeps your hand, wrist and forearm in a relaxed position.
I had to switch to an ergo mouse. Nothing else fixed my wrist pain - not exercise balls, not a wrist brace, not an ergo keyboard. I've been using the Vertical Mouse 4 but I think any ergo mouse can offer improvement. Just find one that's comfortable and works.
Occasionally living proof of the Ballmer peak.
I used to use these gyro balls quite a bit. I've owned three DynaFlex (slightly more expensive) and a couple of the knock-offs, I believe PowerBalls. The latter are indeed cheaper: they squeak more, rattle more, don't rev up as far, and don't feel as good on my hand. But a well-built gyro can be a good exercise tool (and frustration venting tool) for years. Some of the newer ones light up with LEDs from the spinning power, which is quite an impressive show in a dark room.
Some of them come with a string to start the gyro, others come with a battery-operated stand. If you use the gyro for a few minutes a day for a week or two, you'll get the hang of it and will probably be able to forego these helper tools right away.
and I imagine Slashdotters' wrists are especially well-developed.
I can't say the exercise ball eliminates pain, but I can say that I had major injuries to both wrists from a bike accident, and the exercise ball was the only PT method that brought my wrists back to near full capability. I was a semi-pro jazz guitarist, and could not play after the accident for about three years. The ball brought me back to playing out. I had the one from Ireland, "Powerball".
Some habanero will cure most of my arthritis and carpal tunnel
It has some chemical that prescription pain relievers have without the crazy side effects
.. for one reason - if your PowerBall breaks or you treat it like crap and it starts knocking when you use it, you can send it back to the factory for a free replacement. No questions, just send your old ball and you get a new one. That's pretty good to me.
http://www.powerballs.com/guarantee.php
Whenever I have wrist pain, from being on the computer too long, I use my gyro ball for about 30 minutes, after that the pain is mostly gone.
Yes it helped me. :/
- http://www.milkme.co.uk
They definitely strengthen your arms and wrists. At first I couldn't do one for more than a minute. Then eventually I could do one for 8 hours straight on a road trip from Pittsburgh to Virginia Beach to meet my girlfriend back in the day.
God spoke to me
Not sure how related they are to a 'gyroscope ball', but I used Chinese Medicine Balls to cure carpal tunnel some years back. The doctor suggested them. Rotating two balls in the palm of my hand -- first in one direction, then the other -- stretched and toned the muscles to the point where my hands were strong enough to type as much as I needed them to.
I'm not sure how useful they are as immediate pain relief, but I'm sure there are many exercises that help you build long-term strength and stability in your wrists and hands. Chinese medicine balls are one such exercise. I wouldn't be surprised if Gyroscope balls serve the same purpose.
Genocide Man -- Life is funny. Death is funnier. Mass murder can be hilarious.
I've had wrist problems - not carpal tunnel as such but nevertheless pain.
I spent ages going from pillar to post - I eventually discovered that apparently office ergonomics are more of an art than a science. Nobody can tell you what will fix your problems, all they can do is suggest a few things you can try. It's down to you to try them and find a solution that works for you.
Four things I tried which helped:
- Replace the mouse with a trackball. There's a tendency with a mouse to move your wrist - you're not meant to do this, you're meant to use your whole arm. But I don't know anyone who does. It'll take you a few days to get used to, after which you'll never use a mouse again.
- Invest in an adjustable split keyboard (eg. Goldtouch). The adjustable aspect's important - you're meant to change it every so often so as to even out the wear on your wrists.
- Relax. Book a couple of days off - say, a Friday and a Monday - and have a long weekend away. Leave your phone, laptop, iPad and anything else technology related at home.
- Book a couple of sessions with an osteopath.
About 15 years ago I spent a couple of weeks working in a remote site for my company where the ergonomic setup left a lot to be desired. I was getting tendonitis/RSI on my writs and elbows by the end of it, and happened to spot one of these devices in Sharper Image (I think).
I gave it a try, and I am convinced that it contributed to making the injury much worse - the pain I felt when exercising was rather similar to the pain that then developed full time, and caused be to have to get treated for RSI, and being unable to type for weeks/months.
Looking back I felt stupid for not realizing I was damaging myself more by using it.
Maybe use carefully if you are uninjured, but stay away if you already have problems!
You must be climbing in a canyon now. I heard an echo... echo... echo...
Now the problem is when you have wrist problems it's not always easy to get a fluid motion going, or you're too used to extreme flexions which is what constricts nerve passages in the wrist in the first place. You can however use your shoulder to hold the rotation, or even your elbow if your isolations are good. Once the thing is spinning you can then experiment with wrist movement that doesn't hinder the spinning. Visualization is a good technique to use with this as well. Liken it to a game of Operation, except that you are trying to keep an open channel in your wrist. Pretty much anytime your skin get's wrinkled that's touching the side, and the gyro will pull or push you hard.
What's frightening is the amount of misinformation of how to use your wrists is out there. I was talking to some woman off on physio for rsi and she proceeded to show me how she knew the 'correct' way to type as she showed me a broken wrist. This is what OT are teaching?? Wrist rests? Yes, let's just discourage proper posture and restrict with pressure.
My JRA had gotten so bad that I had to stop working, couldn't type or use my right hand for weeks. Gyro balls were one of the tools I used to learn proper motion. Just did a 30s handstand no problem over the weekend.
Don't complain about syntax, grammar, or spelling. There is no.hell like input on android.
Had pain in my hands in the morning when waking, with stiff wrists and knuckles. I got a PowerBall LCD and if anything it made the pain worse, quite simply putting more stress on an already stressed area should make it worse right? What solved my problem was to simply always take my hands off the mice when not in use (I dual wield) What I was doing was keeping my hand on my mouse at all times, and resting my wrist on my desk, when reading an article or coding I would have my hand there the whole time, even if I was only using the mouse a few seconds. This habit wasn't too hard to break. I also started taking glucosamine, a joint lubricant, after a few months all of my pain went away.
I used to live in Taiwan back in the 90s and discovered these balls at the local night market. They were marketed as kids toys back then. But I discovered they rapidly increased the strength in my wrists and fingers and decreased my carpal tunnel symptoms substantially. I bought half a dozen and keep a couple around my house and still keep the others packed up in case one breaks/dies. I had no idea these balls were still around, let alone being used for curing symptoms which I had independently discovered a long time ago. So yeah, I 100% recommend these things.
All you need is atleast 3 people in the whole world to say "Yes this cured my problem" and a really good salesman that doesnt even need facts or science, all he needs to do is be able to make things sound good. Even complete and outright lies and untrue things can sound perfectly reasonable if you have the right person pitching it.
You can convince people your all natural peanut butter and jelly combination will cure testicular cancer when applied nightly directly to the balls and sell it for 550 dollars an ounce if you have patrick stewart selling it or someone who is as suave or smooth talking as he is. Why? Because people are stupid, gulliable and will believe anything you tell them.
I have met many people with RSI. I have tried devices like this. If you have an injury, this will make it worse. Stay away from them and people who sell them - they know nothing about hand injuries.
Had one of these at my desk during several jobs in the 90's. I think the main benefit was in having coworkers ask me what the hell they were and them demonstrating them, but I've always had one, enjoyed using them, and never had significant wrist problems. Ringing endorsement? No, but worth $20, sure.
Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
For carpal tunnel, I tried them, also acupuncture, harnesses, etc.. any gizmo to try to increase wrist strength or protect them. Except for surgery I think I've tried all methods. None of them made much difference at all.
There is only thing that worked for me: yoga and working on my posture. In fact the first time I did a full on yoga session I felt an amazing tingling in my fingers like blood was rushing back in. I am no yogi master, but just doing a few basic pauses makes a tremendous difference.
So my anecdotal conclusion is that carpal tunnel is due to blood flow problem in the muscle and nerves from keeping the same posture and doing repetitive gestures far too many times.
I hate it, but we have a few employees that love them. I think it's a week getting used to and then they have stopped complaining about problems with arms and neck.
I can target my armpit muscles
http://dilbert.com/fast/1991-03-24/
Of course, I do it only when my muscles aren't too pumped up from using the mouse
http://dilbert.com/fast/1993-02-27/
was to start using the mouse with my left hand, and I got a stylus pen for my right. It was very slow at first, but the pain has been gone for over 10 years & now I'm fluent in mice. I don't use the stylus much anymore. Pat
I've never suffered from RSI. I also have a pair of the large size Chinese therapy balls (chrome plated iron balls, 1 kG each).
One side effect: I can almost tighten a spark plug by hand (no socket).
Have gnu, will travel.
Background:
One of the things that OTs (Occupational Therapists...like a physical therapist, but focused exclusively on hands and sometimes feet) will advise to defend against (not cure) carpal tunnel is to strengthen your grip, essentially. What they are really looking for is strengthening of the muscles and tendons that relate to hand motions using more natural (read: non-impactful, unlike typing) activities. I've been using a keyboard for over 30 years (young when I learned how to code), and have started developing carpal tunnel syndrome on several occasions. I'm currently not suffering from CT, nor have I for several years now.
Short Answer:
I've used one of these, and it works for strengthening your muscles...REALLY works. It's actually really wild, and you'd never believe how much of a workout it is until you try it.
Caveat:
But here's the catch: when you already have CT symptoms, more exercise is not what you need. You first need to recover a bit. It's like having a hurt ankle because you twisted it, due to weak stabilizing muscles...the exercise that will strengthen your muscles will also aggravate the injury. So you have to heal first, and then prevent it from happening again. If your tendons are already pissed off at you, subjecting them to extra exercise (usually on top of everything that has caused this problem to begin with) is not the solution.
For your security, this post has been encrypted with ROT-13, twice.
My mom worked in the call center of a outdoor gear retailer that may or may not have involved equipment of the recreational variety. She was working on a computer 40 hours a week. For some reason the company started passing out DynaFlex, probably in an attempt to get the call center to push it. My mom tried it out for a few weeks, and said it really strengthened her hands and wrists, but she didn't keep at it.
I have minor CTS, with occasional tingling in the wrists after long computer use, and when I complained about it with my mom in earshot she got me one as a "present". I used it for 10 minutes on each hand every day for two months. While I certainly felt like I had stronger wrists and hands, my CTS symptoms were no less frequent than they were before. What did help me was getting an ergonomic keyboard and mouse, with a new desk, and taking more breaks when I worked.
In all, I'd say you should avoid them unless you specifically need to strengthen your hands and wrists. They don't have any evidence showing CTS symptoms being relieved, and they certainly weren't in my case.
This thing is at least forty years old...I had one in the Seventies, under the name Dynabee. You started it spinning by sweeping the exposed side of the ball across a tabletop, and then kept it moving in a conical motion. When you had the motion right, you could feel your hand coupling angular momentum into it, and hear a rising whine as it gathered speed.
Nice classroom demonstration of the dynamics of precession, but it made my wrist hurt like hell.
I'm an occupational therapist and a physical therapist for 7 years now. This is absolute junk. Do not use this if you have carpal tunnel!
The plural of "anecdote" is _still_ not "data".
I know, because I did. If you try to make it go really fast, it will place a LOT of strain on your wrist. We had the one that lit up, pretty cool toy.
Used it after getting hit by a car and having my wrist pinned together. Helped me regain a lot of mobility, flexibility, and was essentially my own therapy for my wrist after the cast came off and pins came out.
Warning, you can injure yourself with these things. They produce a damn good bit of torque when in motion, enough to strain every tendon in your wrist if you aren't careful/expecting the force. Made the mistake of handing off one of these to my friends at about 12KRPM, and he strained the hell out of his wrist.
In short: Yes, they do work, yes, they do have benefits.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
Since we're on topic. Here's what I did to get better.
1. Take 4 *grams* yes *grams* of MSM supplement.
You can't OD on it, it's harmless like drinking water, and it REALLY helps tendons and hand pain.
2. Take B12 supplements (Generic dosage)
3. Take FishOil with medical grade DHA. (serious here, the cheapo's are worthless and won't help, ask at the pharmacy)
4. Stop when it hurts, stand up, walk around, and come back after 5 minutes.
I'm still having minor pain here and there. But I can type 8hrs as a full-time programmer and then program at home for fun too without much pain at all. I used to be sore about 15 minutes in to work after 10hrs of sleep.
MSM is literally the best thing I've used. Night and day difference but you can't be scared to take a higher dose. Read first though and you'll find the same thing I'm telling you.
You make a compelling argument. I think we should just merge our positions and get him to stop doing *anything* with slashdot.
I own and have tried one of these Powerballs to treat RSI. I'm a software dev and so have wrist trouble fairly often. I think the Powerball does a good job at strengthening your wrist and your grip. It didn't do a great deal for my RSI (though I didn't do the 10 minutes a day thing very regularly).
However, after moving to a vertical mouse (Evoluent) and split keyboard (Kinesis Freestyle), my RSI hasn't re-occured.
Ergonomics - 1, Powerball - 0.
I have (or had) one, and liked it, but I can't find it. I got tired of being stared at on the Washington DC subway with a large round thing in my hands making a loud whirring grinding noise. It's in a closet somewhere.
Did it actually help? I don't honestly know. It felt good.
the repetitive movements of these exercises actually gave me an injury. I started with no wrist pain and now I am in constant pain.
No, they won't fix carpal tunnel problems.
And asking it is helps 'wrist pain' is pretty meaningless since there are so many way to get wrist pain.
Also, acupuncture cures nothing, and homeopathy still doesn't work.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
I have been using a Dyna-flex powerball for the last few years for my carpal tunnel. I find it does help with store thing my hands, wrists and whole arm.
My father is a physician who developed "Tennis Elbow". He started using the gyroscope ball way back then to treat his condition. It apparently worked.
If you have ever used one, you would learn that it is fairly rigorous excercise for your forearms. I don't know about anything other than anecdotal medical benefits, but the gyroscope ball is certainly fun to play with.
Q: How do you get it to change color? A: it's only 20 dollars!
I bought a Dyna-Flex PowerBall years ago, maybe '05? I have been working with computers for about 30 years, but don't have any sort of problem with my wrists, so I can't comment about using them for rehabilitation. I will say that they are good for building forearm and wrist strength, you just have to be consistent about using them and you have to be able to fight through the pain. It's kind of like tapping your foot while keeping your heel on the ground. It's easy at first, but after a short period of time it really starts to burn.
If you make a hard fist in your right hand and then rotate it clockwise, you'll fire the muscles in your forearm that the ball targets. It also works the top of your wrist, down the middle, as you try to stabilize the ball against the force of the rapidly spinning gyroscope.
The only problem I have had with mine is that it has worn out the groove that the gyroscope rotates along. This now causes the mechanism to slip while first trying to get the gyroscope up to speed.
I have an NSD Powerball (cheapest model I think). I had no wrist pain, but I found my wrists and the muscles in my forearm increased in strength noticably, while stiff muscles in my shoulders, neck and upper back (from stress and using keyboards and mice far too much) improved a lot.
They work because you have to control the energy you put in it yourself, and the better you're trained in it the more energy there is to keep under control. I've handed it to others after getting it to rotate as fast as I'm used to and they generally were quite surprised at how much strenght was needed to keep it under control.
I remember once playing with one from another brand someone else had. The ball was lighter than my NSD's and it didn't do much for me. I don't think a much heavier ball than the one I have would be good for me, I have a feeling it would probably increase the chance I overdo it and hurt myself. It seems to me that the balance between how fast the movements you make are and the force they result in needs to be right for you, so I guess the weight and size (but I don't think size varies much) of the ball needs to be right for you. But I would have to use a heavier one than I have now to be sure about this, perhaps I just wouldn't speed it up too much and be happy with it.
Free
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/aligyro/id579926700?mt=8
You can turn down the sound, use it in the office...
Relieves carpal tunnel? I think it would give me carpal tunnel. Oh ya, and sex sells. Sheesh!
cured my carpal tunnel. Changing my workstation helped as well.
It's non repetitive and strengthens your hands and wrists
I had a really bad case of chronic tendonitis (not carpal tunnel syndrome) for about 3 years without any relief. I had inflamed tendon pain throughout both my wrists and arms all the time and I was getting ready to quit my job because of it (I am a programmer).
This device does a really good job of building arm strength but did not help my tendonitis all that much. I think something like this may have been helpful at preventing my tendonitis, but by the time I started using it my arms were so bad that no amount of strengthening/stretching would help because ultimately my tendons needed to heal.
Thankfully, I found a therapy that did a great job of helping my wrist/arm tendons heal and I haven't had problems with tendonitis for a couple years now. For anyone struggling with wrist/arm tendonitis, I HIGHLY suggest you do the following at least once a day until your tendonitis is gone:
Get around 10 pounds of ice from a gas station and put it in a bucket wide enough that you can fit both of your forearms comfortably in the bucket (I used a plastic foot bath bucket). Fill the bucket with water so that the ice moves around freely and it is easy for you to completely submerge both of your forearms in the bucket. Now that you have the ice bucket ready, fully submerge both arms in the ice water for between 10 to 20 seconds. Continue to do this every 10 minutes for about an hour.
I often did this for up to 2 hours, usually while watching tv or something. All in all it took about 6 months of doing this everyday before I was tendonitis free (though my arms felt much better after just a couple weeks), but it was well worth it, as I was getting ready to change professions.
I found this therapy from a book I bought from this site: www.tendonitisexpert.com
As the site explains, the above therapy addresses a vicious cycle of inflammation that prevents healthy blood flow to the tendons. By forcing blood in and out of the affected areas with ice the cycle is disrupted, your tendons slowly start to heal. Definitely give it a try, it changed my life!
Due to a rather strange side-effect -- the low-frequency rumbling from the powerball made my gf feel ill when she heard it......
You can keep your jokes and snarky comments to yourself, thank you.
I have a NSD powerball (250Hz) and a Prohands Pro medium finger exerciser (tension of 7lb per finger). I use the powerball when I feel my wrists are getting sore (after all day behind the computer or playing the guitar) and the finger exerciser when I'm thinking at work (I'm a programmer so I do a lot of that :) ).
I get regular pains from typing at work and sometimes the situation flares up for me when I'm typing more regularly. My symptoms are weak grip, dull wrist pain and when it gets worse, tingly fingers. Sometimes the problem was enough to cause worry. Using a Powerball (the plastic versions) has really helped. So much, I'd say that it definitely cures it for me. I only have to use it a few consecutive days for about 5 minutes, doing about 5-9,000 on the little counter (just enough to warm the wrist muscles up), and that, is honestly enough for a few weeks. The benefits are felt almost immediately. I believe it helps with the blood flow to the fingers. My recommendation to anyone with these symptoms is to get one!
I broke my wrist in a motorcycle accident. After the cast was taken off I started working out with a titanium Powerball. I made 100% recovery in six months, and while it's impossible to say how much the exercise helped, I'm sure it did.
"We have an A-Bomb...what more do you want, mermaids?" --I.I. Rabi, speaking in defense of Robert Oppenheimer
Squeeze the boobies of the blonde depicted on the poster in the background. I guarantee (if you squeeze the actual boobies, not the cardboard simulation) your wrists will feel better. Unless you're gay. There's no cure for gay. You'll just have to buy the gyro ball thing after all.
10 years ago I started getting stiffness and numbness from my right wrist up to the shoulder. I switched to an ergo keyboard which helped a bit, but the DynaFlex Powerball helped a lot. Since then I've gone through 3 powerballs. A couple of years ago my knuckles started stiffening and freezing up on me. To help with that I've been taking Fish Oil, which I didn't think was working until I stopped it for a week, and have been using this great ergo mouse.
Australian running a company that does C# / C++ / Java / SQL / Python / Mathematica
I had my first one of these 25 years ago when I started getting signs of carpal tunnel, numb pinkies, from working at keyboard and playing guitar. The solution to my problem was learning to use my hands with my wrist in the right position. Harder than it sounds. I did this by wearing brace to keep my wrist in the right position and exercising my wrist. I really had to train my muscles to work differently. A ball like this was the funnest way for me to do that. Kind of a useful novelty item.
I have one of these from DynaFlex that I got ages ago. I'd like to use it at work, but the damn thing is so loud when it's running. Anyone have any recommendations on ones that are quiet when running?