Add a softer side to your workouts with a therapy ball pumped up with more or less air. Also called a Swiss ball, body ball or exercise ball, it is lighter and larger -- 1 to 3 feet in diameter -- than a medicine ball. Use it for exercise, weight training, physical therapy or rehabilitation. MayoClinic.com recommends exercise ball workouts to strengthen core muscles and to sharpen coordination for neuromuscular injury or disease patients.
Abdominal Exercises
Go for a six-pack ab, or build your core muscles, including pelvis and lower back, for balance, with two therapy ball routines prescribed by MayoClinic.com. Begin by selecting a ball size you can sit on with your thighs parallel to the floor, knees at a right angle and feet flat. Pump it up more for a more strenuous workout. Focus on tightening your transversus abdominis, the broad, deep muscle that tightens when you cough. Begin with five repetitions every day. Work up to 10 or 15 as you become stronger.
Do the abdominal crunch. Sit on the ball with your feet set firmly, separated about hip-width. Fold your arms across your chest and lean back at about a 45-degree angle or until you feel your abs tighten. Hold there, take three deep breaths and return to your start position. Reverse your position for the abdominal ball raise. Lie on the floor with your calves separated by about hip-distance and resting on the exercise ball. Grasp the ball with your legs by pulling your heels toward your buttocks. Tighten your abdominal muscles and lift the ball off the floor. For both exercises, begin with five repetitions. As you get stronger, gradually increase to 10 to 15.
Lower Back
Thomas E. Hyde, a chiropractor writing for Spine-Health.com, recommends a simple exercise to strengthen and rehabilitate back muscles and relieve low back pain. Lie on your back on the floor, hands at your sides. Place your heels on top of the therapy ball. Straighten your legs while you raise your buttocks and lower back off the floor. Hold for three breaths and return to the starting position. Repeat five times. As your back gets stronger, gradually increase to 10 to 15 per day.
Office Chair
Use a therapy ball as an office chair and convert ordinary seating into continual, low-intensity exercise. The March 2007 issue of the "Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic Association" reports that a group of practitioners in British Columbia documented spinal stabilization and back pain relief in this way. Select a therapy ball of the size appropriate to abdominal crunches. As reported in the "Journal of Spinal Disorders," this exercises three body systems: muscles, bones and neural control. At first, sit only as long as comfortable. Gradually increase the time as comfort permits. Some people report all-day use of a therapy ball for up to five years with complete relief of back pain.
References
- Mayo Clinic: Slide show: Core Exercises with a Fitness Ball
- Mayo Clinic: Can I Use a Fitness Ball to Tone My Abs?
- "Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic Association": The Gym Ball as a Chair for the Back Pain Patient: A Two Case Report
- Spine-Health: Exercise Ball Therapy for Lower Back Pain Relief
- Sports Injury Clinic: Swiss Ball Exercises
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