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?

Comments

Personal Anecdote FWIW

[eldavojohn]

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

Re:Personal Anecdote FWIW

[Joce640k]

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.

In other words ... your anecdote is completely worthless.

Re:Personal Anecdote FWIW

[Dr_Barnowl]

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is down to inflammation of the tendons ; the carpal tunnel is the sleeve bearing that the finger tendons pass through in your wrist. The other things that passes through there is the median nerve.

If you get tendonitis of these tendons, the inflammation can compress the median nerve, which is what causes carpal tunnel syndrome. It makes some sort of sense that strengthening this overall group of muscles can improve matters - if you predominantly use one or two fingers for your grip, spreading the load will lead to less strain on these tendons and less inflammation.

The muscles involved in grip strength are predominantly in your forearm, and connect to these tendons. Muscles in the fingers and hand are mostly limited to fine posture - like the ability to flex the finger at the most proximal joint while the other joints remain extended (like an L shape), and the ability to splay your fingers.

Through bad posture or excessive exercise (like a two week rowing course) I sometimes inflame the tendons on my little fingers and get a kind of bi-state "clunk" when the swollen part passes through the sheathe, and that finger will only hold postures either side of the lump - straight, or claw. And I sometimes get a generalized soreness of my fingers if I drive a lot (I tend to lean on the wheel badly). I have a Powerball of the type you describe, but not the discipline to use it regularly.

My main problem is that if you drop one, the metal axis of the 'scope nicks the inner plastic bearing it runs on, making the thing useless (it goes *tick tick tick* and you can't speed it up as much). I thought about buying the all-metal version but as I said, I don't use it enough to justify it.

Re:Personal Anecdote FWIW

[sribe]

Your description of carpal tunnel is correct, but slightly incomplete. Tendonitis is not necessary, certain kinds of overuse (like typing and mouse use) combined with never using full range of motion and no stretching can cause shortening of the muscles and tendons such that the "fatter" part of the tendon gets "pulled" into the carpal tunnel and compresses the nerves. Fortunately, that flavor of CTS, with which I am intimately familiar, is very easy to relieve ;-)

Re:Personal Anecdote FWIW

[viperidaenz]

You pasted the paragraphs from the document powerballs.com gave you to spam too many times.

Re:Personal Anecdote FWIW

[PopeRatzo]

In other words ... your anecdote is completely worthless.

Where did you get the notion that anecdotal reports are "worthless"?

You rely on "anecdotal" evidence for most of your life. Anecdotal information is the most basic way that human beings learn.

This is one of those logical shortcuts, like "correlation is not causality" that people like to repeat to make themselves sound smart.

I don't know one way or the other about these gyro ball thingies. But people who ignore anecdotal information tend to get lost a whole lot.

Re:Personal Anecdote FWIW

[beelsebob]

The key to this is very simple. Carpal tunnel problems do not have to do with being too weak, instead, too strong They're caused by the tendons slowly getting bigger through use, and then rubbing. The rubbing then causes the tunnel of sinews they travel through to inflame, further constricting them and compounding the problem.

Strengthening the tendons further will not help, it will hinder the problem.

Re:Personal Anecdote FWIW

[PopeRatzo]

I'd agree with this. At the end of the day we don't have any information EXCEPT for anecdotal evidence

Anecdotal evidence is especially important when it comes to dealing with pain management.

When it comes down to it, almost all pain research is based on anecdote. "Rate your pain from 1 to 10. Now do "X", and rate your pain from 1 to 10."

The same people who scoff at using anecdote about a gyro-ball for pain management, look for Gizmodo reviews of new tech to determine whether to buy it.

Eldavojohn is not a dope. I don't know him personally, but his comments seem to be pretty well-reasoned and earnest. If I had pain in my wrists, and read Eldavojohn's account of a device helping him (or not), I would definitely take that into account for my own situation. It would mean more to me than a review at Amazon. Especially if the gyro-ball in question only cost a few sawbucks.

Re:Personal Anecdote FWIW

[sribe]

How do relieve it? Programmers everywhere want to know.

Stretching. I started to look for a link to post about the particular ones that help me, but heck, the obvious google search brings up all sorts of instructions, videos & images--and what is best for me won't be best for everybody. So google it and try some out. (For me, it's stretches that involve flexing the palm and fingers back...)

Don't avoid the doctor if you need it--the simple stretches that work for me when I work my muscles/tendons into that short/thick state will not relieve your pain if you have tendonitis, nor if you have inflammation of the sleeve itself (I forget the medical term).

And if you've given yourself De Quervain's, that's somewhat different stretches needed.

And if you've jacked yourself into thoracic outlet compression, that's a whole other set of stretches and exercises :-(

Re:Personal Anecdote FWIW

[dinfinity]

My tip: massage the muscles near your elbows. A slight table soccer addiction, constant stylus use and typing caused me to have sometimes numb, sometimes 'painful' hands, but once I discovered this trick any discomfort was (and is) easily resolved.

A lot of people mistake simple cramped muscles for RSI (I've 'cured' at least six people with the trick). They focus on the wrist and hand (because that is where the discomfort is felt), even though everybody should know that a lot of the motion there is controlled by the muscles in your forearm and to a lesser extent your upper arm ( http://www.bisonstrength.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/posterior-forearm-muscles.jpg ).

Like with all massages, the trick is to find the muscles that are cramped and coerce them to relax. A two finger pinch or one finger 'twang' is usually best for small muscles. Just start with one finger and twang away at the muscles above and below your elbow until you find the muscles that feel like strings instead of mushy ropes. I guarantee that when you encounter one and give it a good twang, you will feel it all the way to the tips of your fingers. During the massage, you will experience increased blood flow in your lower arm and the numbness will generally go away.

Looking at the issue from this angle, it seems fairly obvious why and when some other methods are effective and some are not.

Disclaimer: not a doctor and I said 'often', not 'always'. Inflammations, actual muscle damage etc. will obviously not be cured instantly by massaging.

Better than a gyro ball

[Overzeetop]

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.

Nope, didn't help

[sandytaru]

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.

Re:Nope, didn't help

[SpzToid]

I had carpal bad for awhile and tried all kinds of stuff. What finally worked was my noticing part of the chiropractor's treatment, which I was able to replicate myself whenever I felt the need. I told him what I was doing and he gave my 'treatment' his endorsement.

The chiropractor had me stand straight up, with my arms down at my side. Then he'd pull down hard on my thumb until it 'popped', (as best as I can describe it). So I tried this myself by gripping my right thumb with my left hand and pulling horizontally across my chest to do the same thing.

It seems that computer mouse-work builds up a kind of stress and this releases it, and whenever I feel the need I do this, and I've been good ever since. YMMV.

Always go with NSD..

[Anonymous Coward]

.. 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

These things are cool

[GoodNewsJimDotCom]

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.

Re:These things are cool

[lewiscr]

Forearm strength is a side effect of being 8 hours away from your girlfriend.

Yes

[Jmc23]

The movement required to keep the motion going is rhythmic and needs to be controlled. You are constantly using tons of tiny stabilizing movements.

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.

Wrist Gyros

[interval1066]

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.

Prevention vs. cure

[Shoten]

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.

Re:Kind of helped

[Pinky's Brain]

I wouldn't be surprised if that's really the way it helps people, to pause the repetitive strain for a while and do something different instead of just going on with the pain.