A Guide to Balance Boards That Rock, Wobble and Roll

http://www.scribd.com/doc/265560381/

A Guide to Balance Boards That Rock, Wobble and Roll The contents of this PDF file:

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videos online

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photos of feats online

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those ti tips in in de detail

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variat variation ionss and and tips tips for for some someone one who has alread already y gott gotten en the knack knack

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testimonials

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sports, sports, balanc balance e boar boards ds & the the self self (versi (version on with with masc masculi uline ne pronou pronouns) ns)

  the other pages of this file, ope n the Drawer. To go to  the   the Drawer, go to the View menu and select it. To open  the To scroll  to   to pages, select Continuous Scrolling in Scrolling  in the View menu. To find  a   a word or phrase, type it in the S earch Box at the top of the Drawer. To return to   the Drawer's display of pages after typing in the Search Box, delete what you typed.

© 2010 David Maisel

Videos Online If a video isn't found at the URL that is given here, its new location can probably be found in one of these two ways: Copy, from the URL given here, the phrase that is to the right of the rightmost slash and then paste it to the Search box at . Then, at the bottom of that Google window, click "Date, usage rights, numeric range, and more." In the resulting list of choices, to the right of "Where your keywords show up" choose "in the URL of the page." Then click the Advanced Search button or hit your keyboard's Return key or its Enter key. The other way to look for the video's new location is to delete from the URL given here the phrase that is to the right of the rightmost slash, then enter that shorter URL in your browser's address box, and then go to the page at that address and browse for a link or a photo (a still image of a video) that seems relevant to what you are looking looking for. If that doesn't find the video, delete from the URL given here the phrases that are to the right of the two rightmost slashes and then browse at that page. If that doesn't find find the video, delete from the URL given here the phrases that are to the right of the three rightmost slashes, and so on. 8 clips, each about 10 seconds long

smooth rocking: www.gopivit.com choppy rocking: www.zoomboardz.com hockey goalie: www.vaughnhockey.com/goaltending_resources/balanceboardresource/balanceboard.mov weight-lifter: www.strongobjectives.com/video/KBpresssquat.WMV on a split log: http://tsampa.org/vault/downloads/ubar/video/20040613balanceboard.wmv push-up: www.central.edu/athletics/strength/BalancedPushup.mov trick (ollie): www.indoboard.com/application/cart/index.php? main_page=custom_page&page_id=video_viewer&video_file_name=how_to_ollie.mov&is_autoplay=true&title=How%20to%20Ollie (Or at click "Getting Started," then click "Indo TV," then click "How to Ollie.")

barefoot: www.getboards.com/land/balanceboards/indo/balanceboard_movie.html 6 clips of mostly tricks, each about 5 seconds long

www.gopivit.com/pics-n-vids.asp 35 clips of tricks and fitness exercises, averaging 7 seconds long

http://vewdo.com/videos http://vewdo.com/videos/aiden_16_months.wmv Click the "Performance Riding" tab and then "Learn Tricks" to see diagrammed instructions (after a hundred hours of non-trick practice). 2 clips of sumo wrestlers (though not wrestling, only balancing)

www.gopivit.com/news.asp Click "CNN" (20 seconds long) Click "Fox" (2 minutes long) Ten female models s imultaneously, a 1950's newsreel, 0: 33

http://www.archive.org/details/BongoBoa1950 17 activities for advanced training, 1:00 total

http://www.indoboa http://www.indoboard.com/application/cart/index.php?main_page=custom_ rd.com/application/cart/index.php?main_page=custom_-page&page_id=video_viewer&video_file_name=indo_trainers.mov&is_autoplay= true&title=Indo%20Board%20Training%20Clips (Or at click "Getting Started," then click "Indo TV," then click "Indo Board Training Clips.") A handstand with the roller on a pedestal 14 inches square

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ILvL-0JOlA (The action is in the final ten seconds of this 2:45 clip. If the URL changes, find the clip by typing "balance board Boulder" in the searchbox at .) Fancy footwork on a roller without crosswise guiding, 0:30

www.indoboard.com/application/cart/index.php? main_page=custom_page&page_id=video_viewer&video_file_name=foot_work.mov&is_autoplay=true&title=Indo%20Board%20Foot%20Work (Or at click "Getting Started" and then click "Indo TV." Fancy footwork on a roller without crosswise guiding, 0:53

www.bettersportsbalance.com/site/739738/page/320197 (Or at click "See It in Action" under the "Navigation" heading.) Downloading the video video to your hard disk works better than clicking to just see it. 3 clips of another roller without crosswise guiding, each about 10 sec.

www.eastsidelongboards.com/photos/Balance%20Board%20Gallery/FrameSet.htm

Successful and unsuccessful attempts to do tricks on another roller without crosswise guiding, 4:00

wakeboardbootcamp.com/Movies/bukumovie.mov 5 clips of a board that rolls in every direction, each about 15 seconds

crouch: www.balance360.com/surfing.php beach girl: www.balance360.com/skateboarding.php beach boy: www.balance360.com/exercise.php pavement and shadow: www.balance360.com/videos/laurapaves.mov yoga squat: www.balance360.com/yoga.php 16 clips of another board that rolls in every direction, averaging 20 seconds long

http://surfball.net/surfballvideos.htm An acrobat doing tricks, including skipping rope, 6:48

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/alicja-and-sascha-gasser-rola-bola/ 318839442 Acrobats doing the gold-prize-winning act of the 2008 International Circus Festival of Budapest, 9:55

http://www.videosift.com/video/Phenomenal-Rola-Bola-Gold-Prize-2008 BongoPong, a simple homemade video game connected to a balance board by its rider, and notes on its creation, 1:32

http://www.imagitronics.org/?page_id=8/ Nintendo's Wii video game connected to a balance board by its rider, 0:48

www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXYlmTR7m6o&eurl=http://www.holoholo.tv/ (Or at click on the image of a YouTube screen above a caption that mentions a wireless remote.)

Photos of Feats Online Among the 125 photos at that were sent there by customers are ones showing these achievements: someone standing st anding on his hands on the board, pairs of people p eople standing on it together, someone playing guitar while standing on it with one foot, someone s omeone sitting on a bar-stool on it, someone standing on it with its roller atop another balance board (which is atop its own roller), children who look four or five years old standing on it. The path to the customers' photos is the "Gallery" tab near the top of the page and then "Fan Photos."

Models That Roll and Rock and Their Online Sellers Prices are in U.S. dollars. Shipping costs are for destinations in the U.S. Most dealers call the board "the deck" and call the roller "the rock."  To try out a model, phone health clubs, skateboard stores and snowboard stores and ask what balance boards they have.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------www.vew-do.com 7 models, $80-$150 (plus shipping) The roller of some of the models is tapered from the center toward the front and back for tricks and increased responsiveness. The most expensive model comes with three alternative fulcrums: one for rolling, one for rocking (which is an easy and safe introduction to balance-boarding) and one for wobbling. The board of some of the models m odels is unflat around the edges to enable skateboard-like tricks. A 16-minute DVD is included with purchase of a board, which shows fitness exercises and instruction for tricks. The website has videos, illustrated tricks lessons and fitness programs, a balance glossary, science articles, many sorted texts and a chart showing the price of nine manufacturers’ models and whether they have each of 18 features. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------www.fitter1.com $100 (plus shipping) The Bongo Balance Board is very responsive to your body’s moves because the t he roller is two wheels (front and back, on the same axle) that roll independently of each other (each at its own speed, according to your lean’s direction-- the feature of a car’s left and right wheels that lets it curve without skidding) and because the wheels contain ball-bearings. The resulting speed feels scary on your first day, and you are likely to fall if no one one is holding you. After the first week, the board's high level of responsiveness often enables you to recover your balance while staying up despite leans that you would expect to be grounded by. The almost liquid smoothness of the ride is luxurious. In the United Kingdom, this model is sold under the brand name “Scrub.” Many balance-training products and a link for requesting their printed catalog are at the Fitter website. One of them looks particularly interesting: interesting: the Trikke. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------www.inhomegames.com http://carrom.com The manufacturer is Merdel/Carrom. Their products are sold sold by Inhome Games.

The online path is this: >Carrom Classics >Balance Board $50 (plus shipping) On your first day, this model is easier and safer than the others because being made entirely of wood slows it it down. Once you can stay up (off (off the floor) for 15 seconds, the friction of wood rubbing r ubbing against wood is a bit frustrating and tiring because it responds less soon to your body's moves than some other models do; those other models, though made mostly of wood, use smoother materials (synthetics) for one or both of the contact-surfaces (where the roller's groove contacts the board's rail). This all-wood model's model's lower responsiveness sometimes makes you need to let the board land or to hop off it (to keep from falling) when other models, during a similar lean of yours, would enable you to recover your balance while staying up. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------www.zoomboardz.com $60, $65 (plus shipping) Although I haven't used this model, the fact that it is made entirely of wood makes me guess that it would present the same advantage and disadvantage that I mentioned in the description of the Carrom Co. model. The two prices are are for different visual designs on the same model. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------http://wilhowe.com/balanceboard.htm $99 (plus shipping) A 12-minute instructional video is included with the purchase of a board. The video isn't sold alone. This model was designed by a horsemanship instructor to train riders for competition and for riding fast horses. Because in its photo it looks similar to the Carrom Co. model, my guess is that it would present the same advantage and disadvantage that I mentioned in the description of that model. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------http://www.bornagainboards.com/bongopage.htm $150 and higher Each board is made to t o order and custom-made of special hardwoods, by a surfboard maker. To order a board, email . ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

More challenging: Models whose roller is without crosswise guiding In the models of this section of the catalog, the roller doesn't have a groove and the board doesn't have a rail (that fit each other), so the board can be placed either perpendicular or parallel to the roller or at any orientation between those two, and the orientation can change during a ride. Online videos showing showing this feature are cited on the second page of the Videos section of this PDF file, under headings that include the phrase "roller without crosswise guiding."

Forward-backward Forward-backward riding practices snowboarding snowboarding skills. To stay balanced, don't don't lean as far forward as you feel is necessary, especially when you start a ride. Safety Issues:

Without crosswise guiding, there is a danger of the board sliding off the roller when their lengths become (intentionally or unintentionally) unperpendicular to each other, especially if if the roller isn't isn't longer than the board's width. width. This can send the board board and you you into the air. So, notice in each website's photos how long that company's roller is. If the roller is moving fast or not in the direction of the board's length, it might not be stopped by the guard rail at the left and right ends of the board's underside. Because the height of the guard guard rails of the models in this section of the catalog is only between half and three quarters of an inch, you might want to make them more effective by attaching a strip of wood along their bottom. If the roller doesn't come with rubberized grip tape around it, you can buy that at a skateboard shop. shop. Another way to slow slow the roller down is to put some sand or water in it and cover its two openings with tape. (The roller of every model in this section is an open pipe.) To choose a safer, less challenging or more m ore challenging roller, at a plumbing supply store you can buy PVC pipe of various diameters, lengths and gauges. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------www.indoboard.com 6 models $95-$180 (plus shipping) Four strips of non-skid tape are wrapped around the roller to keep the board from sliding off the roller and to keep the roller from sliding too fast. The Kicktail models, unlike the other Indo models, don't have a guard rail at each end of the board's underside (that could stop the roller from sliding out). The advantage of omitting that safety feature is that it enables some tricks. An instructional DVD (sold alone for $13) is included with a purchase of a board. The website has instructions for doing exercises, tricks and physical therapy, other interesting texts, a few videos and many photos, including 125 photos that were contributed by customers. Some of those those photos are described in this PDF file’s Photos of Feats section. sec tion. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------http://www.wejuggle2.com/rolabola.php $47 (shipping included) The board and roller aren't recommended for people over 200 pounds. To order, click the website's Contact link to ask We Juggle 2 to send you a PayPal order form. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------www.eastsidelongboards.com/BalanceBoard.html $45 (plus shipping) This model doesn't have guard rails on the board's underside (that could stop

the roller from sliding out). out). But the extra long length of the roller (fifteen inchinches) mitigates that danger danger somewhat. The advantage of omitting that safety feature is that it enables some tricks. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------http://www.dube.com/rolabola/ $100 (plus shipping) Rubberized grip patches for for better footing are on the board's surface. Strips of rubberized grip tape are wrapped around each end of the roller to keep it and the board from rolling too fast. The roller, a heavy-gauge PVC pipe, supports heavy loads and permits stacking of rollers--alternately each one's round or flat surface facing down--without warping them. Online video showing showing this kind of stacking is cited near the end of the Videos section of this PDF file, under the heading "Acrobats doing the gold-prize-winning act of the 2008 International Circus Festival of Budapest." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Without crosswise guiding when roller perpendicular to board; with crosswise guiding and roller limited to a range of an inch when parallel to board

www.holoholo.tv 3 models $49 ($59 for a different color), $79, $89 ($99 and $109 for different d ifferent colors) (plus shipping) To make the board suit beginning, intermediate, advanced or highly advanced users and to simulate features of a ride on a surfboard, skateboard, snowboard or wakeboard, the user can configure each of the Holoholo models in a variety of ways (the same variety of ways for each of the three models). The differences between the three models are in the size of the board and the diameter of the roller. When the user places the board and roller so that their lengths are parallel to each other, the two ends of the roller fit into an indentation in each of the guard rails in the board's underside, and the guard rails (backed up by two insertable set-screws) keep the board and roller parallel to each other and keep the roller within a one-inch range under the middle middle of the board. board. This configuration enables pivoting, pivoting, spinning around and doing tricks, as as on a skateboard. skateboard. If the user wants to keep the board from rising off the roller (instead of letting it rise off at either end for other tricks), the set-screws can be inserted. An optional semi-cylinder is sold by the manufacturer for $15 that can be used in any of five ways: replacing the cylindrical roller (parallel to the board and attached to it, which is an easy and safe introduction to balance-boarding, parallel to the board and not attached to it but constrained by guardrails or perpendicular to the board and not attached to it) or together with the cylindrical roller (on top of and perpendicular to it and parallel or perpendicular to the board, both of which would challenge a highly advanced user and are probably dangerous for anyone else).

The Holoholo website includes videos of rides, including one (in a YouTube screen on the homepage) in which Nintendo’s Wii video game is connected by wireless remote control to a Holoholo board, showing the Wii screen’s animated representation of the ride being watched by the rider while he rides the board. See the intro under the above heading "More challenging: Models whose roller is without crosswise guiding." Holoholo's Holoholo's roller is a bit longer than the board width. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Without crosswise guiding, but configurable for several levels of challenge, including beginner's www.ajustabalanceboard.com 2 models $125, $135 (plus shipping) The two models differ only in the width of the board and the t he length of the roller. The level of challenge can be changed by changing the distance between the end-stops (the guard rails on the underside of the board that stop the roller). For leftward-rightward riding, there are six alternative distances between the end-stops. For beginners, the shortest of those six distances leaves only enough room between the end-stops for the roller, so that the board can c an rock but can't slide sideways sideways (or maybe can slide about half half an inch). For forwardbackward riding, there are two alternative distances between the end-stops. The product comes with an alternative to the regular two end-stops: four round knobs that can be screwed in to any of the holes in the board that the two ends of the regular two end-stops can be screwed into. This enables the the end-stops to be unparallel to the board's width, to the board's length and to each other. Strips of grip tape are wrapped around each end of the roller and its middle to keep it and the board from rolling too fast. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The most challenging: 360 degrees of tilt and roll http://surfball.net 3 models $159, $299, $349 (plus $40 to $50 shipping from Hawaii) The roller is a sphere (a 12-inch basketball), giving 360 degrees of tilt and roll-not only the left-right movement of the other manufacturers’ models, whose roller is cylindrical or barrel-shaped. To keep the ball from moving too freely, there is a one-inch-deep concave recess in the board’s underside. The smallest smallest model is plywood. plywood. The two larger models are fiberglass. The largest model is 5 feet long, almost a surfboard. For beginners, a ball that is a flattened oval is sold for $30. For beginners, the Stability Bowl, a circular frame for the top of the ball that can be attached to the underside of the board, is sold for an additional $20 (or

$50 if ordered separately). separately). The diameter of that frame can be changed for a second level of challenge. A pump for the ball is included. Online videos are cited at the end of the Videos pages of this PDF file, under the heading "16 clips of another board that rolls in every direction." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------www.si-boards.com 10 models and 5 alternative fulcrums $65-$590 (plus shipping) 45-minute instructional video included This company's models seem the most challenging, thorough and effective balance-training devices. Its online videos demonstrate exercises exercises that are based on sophisticated knowledge of physical fitness. Descriptions of this company's products should be added here in 2010.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------www.balance360.com 2 models $110, $125 (plus shipping) This listing isn't obsolete. The company returned to business in 2010. 2010.

The roller is a sphere (a rubber ball), giving 360 degrees of tilt and roll-- not only the left-right movement of the other manufacturers’ models, whose roller is cylindrical or barrel-shaped. To keep the ball from moving too freely, there is a circular rail on the underside of of the board. The height of that rail is an inch and a half. Two alternative balls are included, both of them mini basketballs: a 7-inch ball and a 4.5-inch ball that prepares a user for the t he 7-inch ball. A pump for the balls is included. The manufacturer recommends the wider model for surfers. Online videos are cited near the end of the Videos pages of this PDF file, under the heading "5 clips of a board that rolls in every direction." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Easy See the Holoholo Holoholo boards, above. They can be configured for a beginner. See the Ajusta boards, above. They can be configured for a beginner. See the Vew-Do boards, above. One model can be be configured for a beginner. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------In the next two models, the roller's small diameter (2 inches) makes them useable by people under age 6, over over 65 and absolute absolute beginners. But the ride ends ends much sooner than is desirable, usually within 15 seconds, because of the closeness of the board to the floor and the lack of crosswise guiding (a rail in the board and a groove in the roller that would fit each other). Manufacturer of the next two models: Erzi (of Germany) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://thewoodenwagon.com/c-active_play.html Name of model: Balance Rolling Board $37.50 (shipping included) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------http://www.challengeandfun.com Name of model: See-Saw Twist Articul Roller Board B oard $47.50 (shipping included) The model shown in the Challenge and Fun catalog, whose board is rectangular, has been discontinued by the manufacturer. Challenge and Fun Fun fills orders for for it by sending the model that is listed above as the one sold by the Wooden Wagon under the name “Balance Rolling Board,” whose board is oval. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Buyer beware: A third model by Erzi, called Balancierwippe by Erzi, called Balancing Seesaw Green by Challenge and Fun ($78.40, shipping included), called Balancing Seesaw by the Wooden Wagon ($70.50, shipping included) and called Seesaw Balance Game by ZebraHall.com ($53, shipping included), doesn’t roll; its 2-inch-diameter fulcrum is glued to the t he board and therefore can’t roll,  except about 15 degrees; the publicity photo and texts at those companies' websites don't indicate this. this. Even if someone someone can successfully pry the fulcrum loose, it still won't roll-- because the surface that is glued to the board is flat (the result of slicing off an arc). This model is worth considering for for someone who is under four years old or over 75. In case another seller calls it by another name, it can be identified from its publicity photo and text by this entertaining motivational feature: a user can try (by shifting weight) to maneuver two marbles through a zigzag track in the board's upper surface. That third Erzi model, Balancierwippe, isn’t the same as Erzi’s Balancierwippe Pieps, which is the model listed above as the one sold by the Wooden Wagon under the name “Balance Rolling Board.” ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------www.gopivit.com $70 (shipping included) Buyer beware: Clicking “Buy” brought a web browser’s warning about this

website’s security. All my email and and phone messages to Pivit LLC in 2008 went unanswered. Every business I contacted whose website advertises the Pivit Board says it is out of stock. Calling the phone number at Pivit's website reaches the office of a company c ompany that takes orders for Pivit's products, but those orders don't get filled (and the customer's credit card doesn't get charged). I t seems likely that Pivit LLC is no longer doing business. See the sug-  gestions for getting a Pivit or training blocks below.

This model's contact-surfaces can withstand a lot of use without wearing out because the board is made of fiberglass and the roller is made of TPR and nylon. Because of those materials, the board rolls a bit faster than other models, too fast for a beginner.

For a beginner’s first session, there are two training blocks that can be attached to the ends of the board's underside to make the ride slower, easier and safer than the ride of other models. Suggestion: A snowboard and skateboard store told me that in October 2007

it ordered and received a Pivit Board from a distributor. Maybe there are some distributors or stores that still have a Pivit Board. A store might be willing to sell its demo model. To see a list of snowboard stores and skateboard stores in the U.S. and each store's contact info, go to and to .  You can make training blocks for another model or pay a woodSuggestion:  You worker to. See the photo of a board with training blocks and and the accompanying paragraph at in Section 3.3.1 of that webpage. Clicking that photo displays information and advice. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Three distributors www.gearguys.com/all-balance-boards.html www.gearguys.com/balanceboard-buyersguide.html 8 models by 4 manufacturers: Balance 360, Indo Board, Pivit, Zoomboard $60-$180 (shipping included) Six of the eight models come with an instructional DVD included. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------www.performbetter.com Models by 2 manufacturers: Indo Board, Vew-Do Also there: many other kinds of physical p hysical training and rehabilitation equipment, videos, software, books and a schedule of seminars in several U.S. cities. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------www.bettersportsbalance.com Models by 4 manufacturers: Fitter, Indo Board, Pivit, Vew-Do The website includes tips and other interesting information. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A versatile model available in Japan http://www.m-bbb.com/ Names of model: Marumitsu Body Balance Board B oard (a.k.a. Wave Master) Aside from a roller (which isn't attached to the board), it has alternative fulcrums (which are stationary blocks, rounded on the bottom, which can be attached to the board) for tilt in alternative directions. The positions of the alternative fulcrums are shown at . There are three sizes of rollers (which are sold separately), whose diameters are: 120 mm (4.8 inches), 80 mm (3.2 inches), and barrel-shaped 75 mm (3.0 inches) center with 60 mm (2.4 inches) ends.

Although the board doesn't have a rail and the roller doesn't have a groove (that fit each other), the board shouldn't be placed parallel to the roller (or at any orientation other than perpendicular to the roller), according to the diagrams at . tml>. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Balance Boards That Don't Roll Rocker Boards: much safer and much easier than balance boards that roll Wobble Boards: safer but not always easier than balance boards that roll; useful for physical therapy Rocker boards tilt left and right (or front and back, if the user doesn't stand in the normal orientation). Wobble boards tilt in in every direction (360 degrees) or, in some models, a little less than that and they also turn a little to the left and right (or more than a little, little, if the user user intends to turn, i.e., spin). The reason rocker boards and wobble boards don't roll is that their fulcrum is attached to the board. So, they are slower and more stable than the boards boards that roll. So, unlike boards that roll, they are unlikely to cause a fall, and if they do cause a fall, its impact is much less hard than in the case of a fall off a rolling board. In different models of rocker boards, the fulcrum's shape is a rectangular block, a rectangular block whose bottom is beveled, a semi-cylinder, a threequarter cylinder and a gradual arc along a long section of the board's underside. In most wobble models, the fulcrum is a spherical cap (i.e., an outer section of a sphere), with the spherical side facing down and the flat side attached to the center of the board's underside. In some rocker models and wobble models, the fulcrum is made of a rubbery material that allows squashing, for extra tilting. The challenge level of a particular wobble board is determined by the height of the fulcrum, by how gradual or sharp the fulcrum's curve that touches the ground is and by the length of the board (i.e., how close to each other the user's feet must be). be). Those three factors combine to determine the steepness of a board's incline, i.e., the angle that its flat surface makes with the ground when the fulcrum is facing down and the board is tilted to the point that an edge of it touches touches the ground. That incline ranges from 10 to 24 degrees in different models. The ones in the least steep third of that range (10 to 15 degrees) and all rocker boards are less challenging than the boards that roll (the boards whose fulcrum is a cylinder, near-cylinder or sphere that is separate from the board). Wobble boards in the steeper two thirds of that range (16 to 24 degrees) can be as challenging as or more challenging than boards that roll in only two opposite directions (left and right or forward and backward) because tilting that steeply in every direction (360 degrees) demands the use of some muscles, tendons and ligaments that aren't used for left-right (or forwardbackward) rolling boards. This makes wobble boards useful for for physical therapy. Wobble boards in the less steep third of that range (10 to 15 degrees) also use muscles, tendons and ligaments that aren't used for left-right (or forward-

backward) rolling boards, but not as strenuously (or not as many?) as the steeper wobble models do. They, too, are useful for physical physical therapy. Models whose fulcrum is a sphere that is separate from the board (described in the above section "The Most Challenging: 360 Degrees of Tilt and Roll") are the most challenging type of balance board because they combine the features of a wobble board and a board that rolls.

Buying Most wobble boards cost between $20 and $60. An easy wobble board (one whose incline is between 10 and 14 degrees) becomes boring after a month if you are under age 60. So, you will need to buy another board then and probably a third one after a while. You can save money money by buying the later sizes in advance: either a set of boards which each have a different incline or or one board whose whose incline can be adjusted. For example: The Tri-Level Balance Board (also spelled online with a space instead of that hyphen), $14, is described below under the t he heading “A Triple-Incline Wobble Board Recommended for a Beginner.” The BlueDot Trading Adjustable Therapy Fitness Stability Balance Wobble Board (made of plastic) is configurable (by screwing its fulcrum to change its height) for a continuously variable range of intermediate challenge levels. It is sold for $17 by . The GGI International 16.5-Inch Adjustable 2-in-1 Balance B oard (a.k.a. Isokinetics Deluxe Balance Board) (made of plastic) can be set to either of two inclines: 10 or 18 degrees, $20 at . The FFP Adjustable Wobble Board (made of wood) can be set to any of three inclines: 11, 15 or 19 degrees. It is sold for $70 by its manufacturer, manufacturer, Fundamental Fitness Products and for $60 by most distributors. Fitterfirst makes two boards (made of wood) which can each be set to any of three inclines: the Pro Wobble Board 20-Inch, 10, 12 or 15 degrees, $80; and Pro Wobble Board 16-Inch, 15, 17 or 20 degrees, $70. Fitterfirst's Classic Balance Board (made of plastic) can be set to 14 or 17 degrees, $35. The Wobble Board Set (made of a high density polymer) can be set to any of three inclines: 12, 16 or 20 degrees. It is sold for $70 by its manufacturer, manufacturer, Stroops and for $60 at . Return to Fitness makes two boards (made of wood) which can each be set to any of three inclines: the Multi-Wobble 20 Inch Balance Board, 13, 15 or 17 degrees, $75; and the Multi-Wobble 15 Inch Balance Board, 16, 20 or 23 degrees, $66.

Other wobble board manufacturers: Aeromat , Altus , Cando (a/k/a Fabrication Enterprises) , FitBall , GoFit

, Sparq , SPRI , Videtto Enterprises .

A triple-incline wobble board recommended for a beginner: The Tri-Level Balance Board ($14, made of plastic) is a good choice for a user’s first wobble board because the ground-contacting surface of its fulcrum is much flatter than most models', which lets a user lean comfortably without falling or landing, which makes it less exciting and stressful than other models and encourages a user to experiment with positions, movements and stretches more than other models do. It can be set to any of three inclines, whose whose challenges feel like 12, 13 and 14.5 degrees but are actually 18, 21 and 27 degrees. (Those three discrepancies are explained below under the heading “Why the Incline Isn't a Perfect Measure of the Challenge.”) It is sold at , where it can be found by typing “balance board” in the searchbox. It is the exact same model as the Cando Cando Plastic Wobble Board that is described below under the heading “The Lowest-Priced Wobble Board” except that it includes an extra fulcrum that adds the two steeper settings.

The steepest (therefore, most challenging) wobble board: A model whose incline was 24 degrees was made by Fitterfirst until 2007. Maybe there are some some distributors or stores that still have one. A used one might be findable at . Model's name: Wobble Board 16" Limited Edition. Material: medium-density fiber board.

The lowest-priced wobble board: The Cando Plastic Wobble Board costs $10.49 at Best Priced Products . Its incline is 18 degrees, but its level of challenge challenge feels like about 13 degrees because a one-inch diameter area that is the lowest section (i.e., the center) of its ground-contacting surface is almost flat. The product described above under the heading “A Triple-Incline Wobble Board Recommended for a Beginner” is this exact same model plus an attachable alternative fulcrum that makes it more challenging and versatile.

Why the incline isn't a perfect measure of the challenge: Although the angle of the incline is a good general indicator of a wobble board's challenge level, it isn't an absolutely reliable indicator. indicator. In some models, the size of that angle undervalues the main factor: how gradual or sharp the fulcrum's ground-contacting ground-contacting curve is. An extreme example example that demonstrates the comparison is a cone-shaped fulcrum whose base is the the cone's point. No matter how short the cone is--even if it's only half an inch high--and no matter how far apart the user's legs are, it would be impossible to balance on the point of a cone. The shape of manufacturers' fulcrums fulcrums can be seen in catalogs' phophotos.

Other rocker/wobble boards: A combined wobble and rocker board is the Extreme Balance Board, which is made by the Best Sport Toy Canada Co. . Its price ranges from $110 to $150 at online distributors. It can be set to move in any of these ways and in almost any simultaneous combination of

them: tilt left and right, tilt forward and backward, turn (as opposed to tilt) left and right in addition to tilting along one of those axes, tilt 360 degrees. Three models that are each a combined wobble and rocker board are made by Chango Balance Boards & Products. Their prices are $65 to $75 at several online distributors. I can't find any Chango URL. The Zone Balance Pro model made by Vew-Do Balance Boards comes with three alternative fulcrums: one for wobbling, one for rocking and one for rocking and rolling. It costs $149. The Balancierwippe model made by Erzi that is described above under the heading "Easy" in the paragraph that starts with "Buyer beware" is a rocker board. It tilts left and right on an attached fulcrum. The fulcrum fulcrum of the other two Erzi models under the above heading "Easy" is a cylinder that is separate from the board. A motorized attached-fulcrum model is the iJoy iJoy Board. The user can set it to 3 speeds. It is sold at for $400 and, when on sale, for $300.

To search online for balance boards In the search box at any of the following listed websites, type "balanceboard -wii" or "balanceboard -wii" or "bongo-board" or "wobble-board" or "rollabolla" or "rola-bola" or "rolo-bolo" or "rolobolo" or "rolabola" or "rollabolla" or the plural of any of those terms (except "wii"). If you type "balance-board" in a search box, almost half of the resulting links will be to webpages about Nintendo’s Wii video game, and they will be mixed in with the links that are about real balance boards (not listed separately). To avoid being shown those irrelevant links, type also "-wii” in the same search box, with with “wii” as a separate word, preceded by a hyphen. A hyphen preceded by a space is understood as a minus sign, meaning “without the next word.” Google and YouTube can search for more than one term at a time if you type “OR” between words or between phrases or between a word and a phrase, e.g., "balance-board -wii -wii OR balance-boards -wii.” If the term after “OR” is more than one word, type parentheses or other syntax to indicate where it ends. A webpage will be listed in the results as long as it includes either the term before the “OR” or the word (or indicated term) after the “OR” or both of them. A hyphen immediately between two keywords (as in “balance-board”) makes them a phrase, so that the search’s results won’t be cluttered with links to irrelevant webpages in which each of those two words occurs without the other as the preceding or next word.

To search for SELLERS www.google.com/products Typing the singular doesn’t find the plural plural here.

But that’s OK because typing “x OR y” finds webpages with either x or y here. http://shopping.yahoo.com Typing “x OR y” here finds only webpages with

both x and y. y. But that’s OK because because typing the singular singular finds the plural plural here. www.amazon.com Typing “x OR y” here finds only webpages with both x and

y. But that’s OK because typing the singular finds the plural here. here. www.ebay.com Typing “x OR y” here finds only webpages with both x and y. y.

But that’s OK because typing the singular finds the plural here. A list of links to companies that make or sell balance boards that includes each one’s phone number and mailing address is at .

To search for PHOTOS http://images.google.com Typing the singular doesn’t find the plural here.

But that’s OK because typing “x OR y” finds webpages with either x or y here. www.altavista.com/image A hyphen doesn’t turn adjacent words into a

phrase here; typing quote marks around them does. Typing the singular singular here doesn’t find the plural; typing “x OR y” here finds only webpages with both x and y; so, you need to do two searches to find both the singular and plural hits. http://images.search.yahoo.com/images Typing the the singular here doesn’t doesn’t

find the plural; typing “x OR y” here finds only webpages with both x and y; so, you need to do two searches to find both the singular and plural hits.

To search for VIDEOS To see rides by acrobats, jugglers and circus performers, type "rola-bola" or any of the alternative spellings of that word that are in the first paragraph of this Searching Online section. http://video.google.com Typing the singular doesn’t find the plural here.

But that’s OK because typing “x OR y” finds webpages with either x or y here. www.altavista.com/video A hyphen doesn’t turn adjacent words into a

phrase; typing quotation marks around them does. Typing “x OR y” here finds only webpages with both x and y, but that’s OK because typing the singular finds the plural here. here. Typing a minus sign before a word doesn’t work here. http://video.yahoo.com  Typing “x OR y” here finds only webpages with both

x and y. But that’s OK because typing the singular finds the plural here. here. www.youtube.com Typing the singular doesn’t find the plural plural here. here. But

that’s OK because typing “x OR y” finds webpages with either x or y here.

Tips for Getting t he Knack and Avoiding Injury Empty your bladder Wrist-guards   helmet that protects your nose– but not a batting-practice helmet  A  helmet

 A brace (of the flexible, soft kind) kind) for each ankle ankle and knee Remove eye-glasses Barefoot or shoes with dust-free rubber soles; no shoeless socks  Within 6 ft.: ft .: no furniture, furniture, wall, glass, hard/pointy hard/pointy stationary stationary object  No  N o c o n c r e t e f l o o r , n o a l c o h o l , n o d r u g s

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------The board parallel to the wall you will be facing Heels: to know if they’re on, see distance of shoes’ toe from board edge Neck vertical Useful: a window at night, mirror or lamp that shows your silhouette ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When starting: starting:  Roller’s center 1/4 of the way  from board’s center to board’s end 3 seconds before you start leaning, start focusing on a perfectly hori zo  z o n t a l o r v e r t i c a l l i n e  near eye level and keep looking at it  s l o w l y as possible toward your higher foot; to get slow, To start, lean as sl

first make 5 false starts, each increasingly closer to a start ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Da  D a y 1 : If standing on on the board scares scares you, first sit on on it, rocking left left

and right. Then kneel on it, with your back straight. For the first 3 min s om e on e b e h i n d y ou  hold your sides, just utes of standing on it, have  som

under your armpits. For the next few minutes, do it in a doorway  that doesn’t have a threshold. Nailing or screwing a block to each end of the  board’s underside makes starting a ride easier.

 Within 6 feet: feet: No furniture, furniture, wall, glass glass or hard or pointy stationary stationary objects objects ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Your first time, it's much easier and safer if someone behind you holds your sides or you grasp someone's shoulders or a doorway. Screwing or nailing 2 blocks to the board's underside, one at each end, makes starting a ride easier.

What to wear: --WRIST GUARDS of the kind that are sold for doing roller-blading --hockey or U.S. football helmet– not  batting-practice  batting-practice helmet helmet (bottom edge too sharp) sharp) --a brace (of the flexible, soft kind) for each ankle and knee (to prevent a sprain) --barefoot or shoes with dust-free rubber soles; no shoeless socks --optional: knee & elbow pads of the kind that are sold for doing roller-blading -- No eye glasses, in case you fall on your face ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------It's much more dangerous than a fall from six inches above the floor. You're constantly throwing your weight left and right, sometimes with all your strength, and the roller acts like a catapult. So, a fall's impact is much harder than from just casually falling. It's like diving onto the floor or flying into a wall. It's like the way a judo wrestler gets his opponent to hurt himself by throwing his weight, off-balance, against the floor. The floor: --Flat, without grooves between floor tiles --Wood or linoleum is best, without padding --Not concrete, ceramic or stone (even if covered by wood or linoleum), not thick carpet --The first day, a floor with a thin carpet is good, to slow the roller. I mean a very thin carpet; if it's thick, it keeps the roller from moving freely, which makes the roller less responsive to the weight-shifting you constantly do to prevent an excessive slide. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Posture: To be sure your heel is on the board, see where the shoe's toe is when the  back of of the shoe shoe is a half inch inch behind behind the board's board's edge. Relax ankles, ankles, bend knees a bit, keep hands in front of body, palms down, feet parallel to each other, NECK VERTICAL. Put the board parallel to the wall you'll be facing.  F a i l u r e / s u c c e s s , 1 : It's hard (and dangerous) to start if the roller is near the board's

center or far from it when your second foot steps onto the board; the roller's center should be 1/4 of the way from the board's center to the board’s end when starting.  F a i l u r e / s u c c e s s , 2 : Three seconds before you start leaning, start focusing on a

perfectly horizontal or vertical line near eye level: a shelf, a window frame or a strip of something at least that long that you tape to the wall. wall. Keep looking at it the whole ride.  F a i l u r e / s u c c e s s , 3 : To get started, lean as SLOWLY as possible toward your higher

foot. (Doing it that way prevents the commonest cause of an unsuccessful start: the tendency of the starting push to slide the body and board so far to one side that the hastily attempted recovery from that imbalance is overdone, ending the ride, especially for a beginner.) To enable yourself to lean as slowly as necessary toward the higher foot when starting, first spend ten seconds to make five intentionally inadequate leans (false starts): Lean 20% as far as would be necessary to bring the board to a level (horizontal) position; then, after the lower foot's end of the board returns to the floor, lean 40% as far as would be necessary to bring the board to a level position; after landing again, lean 50% as far as necessary; after landing, lean 75% as far as necessary; after landing, lean 90% as far as necessary; after landing, lean exactly as far as is necessary to get started-- and not a bit further. This minimum is also the maximum. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------To stay up longer: Listen to music, see neck and hips in a window at night or mirror, use a clock to keep count of your seconds or minutes, catch & throw a ball while up.

Backward-Forward Riding: Tips for Getting the Knack The tips on the above page, which were written for leftward-rightward riding, apply also here, except for that page's OK'ing of shoes. 1. First learn how to to ride a leftward-rightward leftward-rightward balance balance board whose roller roller has a groove that keeps it lined up with the board. 2. Learn how to ride a Holoholo Holoholo Board Sports model backward-forward before trying to ride another another manufacturer's model in that orientation. The Holoholo models' design keeps the the roller and board parallel to each other (and attached to each other if the user sets them that way) and prevents the roller from rolling more than one inch. 3. Do it with with bare feet. Make sure your roommates roommates don't don't have athlete's foot! 4. If you stand in a doorway (or some some other place where where your hands can can find external support) at your first or first few sessions, don't continue using that crutch beyond the the second day. It keeps your body body from teaching teaching itself. 5. Don't lean as far forward as feels feels necessary, especially especially when you start a ride. When I looked at my feet for the first time, which was after several sessions, I noticed that when the board felt level it was actually leaning forward a bit, and that it was level when it felt that that it was leaning leaning backward a bit. If I lean forward about 80% as far as I think is necessary to make the board level, it works. 6. Starting a ride: After putting your feet on the board, while it's still resting on the floor, focus for 3 seconds on a perfectly vertical (or horizontal) line that is in front of you, e.g., the frame of a window or doorway. doorway. The line should occupy occupy at least a fifth of your eyes' range, the longer longer the better. Don't start leaning leaning until that line seeps into you. Keep your eyes on it throughout the ride. After the first 4 or 5 minutes of a session, 2 seconds of pre-start focusing on that line is enough. You might mistakenly expect, as I did, the wall on your left or right to be the one whose vertical (or horizontal) horizontal) line can help help backward-forward balancing. I found that turning my head sideways (to look at a guideline) is a hindrance and that a guideline on the wall in front of me is more crucial for backward-forward than for leftward-rightward leftward-rightward balancing. Hanging one end of a yardstick (or something similar) from a ceiling guarantees it will be perfectly vertical, unlike a piece of furniture or part of an old house. If you want to time your rides but don't have a clock whose second hand or dig its are big enough to read when it's in a place you can see without looking away from that vertical (or horizontal) line, use a stop-watch that you can zero without looking at it. Most cell phones have a stop-watch in their Tools menu. What made me realize that focusing on the guideline during a start was necessary was that every ride at whose start I looked at my wrist-watch or stop-watch ended

sooner than the other rides, which made me realize that at the start of those other (longer) rides my eyes had unconsciously been on a guideline (not needing to look away from the line so that they could read the watch). Even when I held a watch near my face, focusing on it broke the spell of the line. 7. Start some rides with with the floor-contacting floor-contacting edge of of the board being being the edge near your toes, i.e., i.e., by leaning backward. It may feel impossible to do, but but it soon gets doable, and the adjusting teaches something useful. 8. Start the session by standing standing on a wobble board for for a minute. minute. Most models models cost between between $20 and $60. Information about wobble wobble boards and buying buying them is in this PDF file's "Models " Models That Don't Roll" section.

Variations for D eveloping Skill To increase the time of a learner's ride Once a learner can stay up for 20 seconds, catching and throwing a ball (while riding) causes a leap in balance-board skill. Using a slightly smaller ball every minute, e.g., 5 sizes starting with a soccer ball and ending with a tennis ball, yields extra progress; so does gradually making the catcher reach further. I’ve seen young children need about 10 sessions to reach 20 seconds and then, after 2 minutes of ball practice, they reached an average high of about 100 seconds (on the same day they first reached 20 seconds). One 8-year-old went from a high of 17 seconds (which took him about 20 sessions to reach) to 215 seconds soon after 3 minutes of ball practice; he reached 90 seconds immediately after the ball practice and 215 seconds about 10 minutes later.

More-challenging variations Have someone push or nudge you from the front, side or back. Dangerous for a beginner: Try starting a ride with the roller near the board’s center. Try stepping on the board sideways, one foot in front of the other (each foot parallel to the board’s length), each foot on a different side of the roller. Easier: one foot side ways and the the other in the normal orientation. orientation. It’s easier if you start with with both feet in the normal orientation and slowly turn one sideways. Some people feel more control with their feet diagonal to the board (but still parallel to each other) than with them perpendicular to it. Two opponents on balance boards can face each other in a tug-of-war. Winning means the other player landed or let go of the rope. Besides pulling hard on the rope, two ways to try to win are faking the intention to pull or suddenly loosening the grip  while the other other player is pulling hard. This exercise exercise is used used by the U.S. U.S. Ski Team, Team,  with players players standing on unspecified unspecified balance balance devices, devices, according according to the book book  B a l a n c e :  In  I n S e a r c h o f t h e L o s t S e n s e  by Scott McCredie (pub. Little, Brown and Company, 2007). In the book's appendix, McCredie lists this among several exercises provided to him by the team's trainer, Per Lundstam. If he has the team do this on balance  boards that that roll, I hope he lets them them wear wrist-guards wrist-guards and and helmets. helmets. Photos of someone swinging a baseball bat at a pitched ball while on a balance  board and of someone playing playing ping-pong ping-pong while on a balance balance board are are at . I saw the juggling of three balls while on a balance board by an administrator of Springfield, Mass. public schools and by a Stanford University graduate student. The Stanford student told me he saw his biology lab’s director stand on his head on a balance board. That professor was 53 when he first used a balance board and when he stood on his head on it. An online video of a handstand done on a balance board is cited under “handstand” in this PDF file’s Videos section. Turn your head or eyes or your head and eyes all the way to the left or right.

Dangerous and for almost anyone undoable for more than 2 seconds: eyes closed.

Free Downloads: The Fitness Users Guide is at .  At m> these four four tabs lead to descriptions descriptions and/or and/or illustrations illustrations of exercises: Health & Fitness, Tricks, Indo TV, P.E. Curriculum: Student Assessment.  Very challenging challenging variations variations are described described at om> at the "Beyond Getting Started" link.

Sold for $9: The Great Balance and Stability Handbook  by Andre Noel Potvin & Chad

Benson (pub. Productive Fitness Products, 2003) is a 62-page book of 85 exercises to do on wobble boards and other balance devices that are more stable than balance  boards that that roll. Experienced Experienced riders can can experiment experiment to find out out which of those those exercises can be done on a balance board that rolls. There are a few photos to illustrate each exercise's instructions.

Sold for $10:  Ba  B a l a n c e T r a i n i n g : S t a b i l i t y W o r k o u t s f o r C o r e S t r e n g t h a n d a S c u l p t e d  B o d y  by Karon Karter (pub. Ulysses Press, 2007) is a 110-page book of 71 exercises

to do on wobble boards and other balance devices that are more stable than balance  boards that that roll. Experienced Experienced riders can can experiment experiment to find out out which of those those exercises can be done on a balance board that rolls. There are a few photos to illustrate each exercise's instructions.

Less-challenging variations Pass a stick or a ruler over your shoulder to your other hand behind your back. Then do that again with that other hand, and so on. Keep your hands in your pockets.  While two people on balance boards boards face each other, other, one mimics mimics the other's movemovements.  A spectator spectator calls out out commands commands for the rider rider to perform, e.g., e.g., "Touch your your left knee/ear/elbow with your right thumb."  A spectator spectator calls out out commands commands for the rider rider to perform verbal/co verbal/cognitive gnitive tasks, tasks, e.g., counting to 20, counting down to zero from 20, skipping the even numbers, reciting the alphabet forward and backward, doing arithmetic, reciting literary texts memorized in school, and doing any of those tasks in a foreign language. All those, even counting to 20 in English (my native language), were much harder for me than I expected. They shortened my ride. They were exciting, though not to the degree of being frightening.

Testimonials The following quotations are at .

"As a karate instructor I encourage all my students to ride a Vew-Do Balance Board as often as possible. It's been an integral integral component of our balanced development program since day one." …Jon Bottomms Sensei, 4th degree black belt Koro Ken Karate DO "I recommend Vew-Do Balance Board riding to many of my clients. It's an excellent means of finding inner balance and peace." …Carrie Lenhardt Certified Massage Therapist "Balance, coordination and agility are key to achieving grace. The Vew-Do Balance Board gives us one training device to help us get the results our clients want. The exercises we have developed d eveloped can be used by anyone looking for low impact to high impact total body workouts." …Radu Teodorescu, personal trainer to Cindy Crawford, Matthew Broderick, Regis Philbin and other celebrities "In my business balance goes beyond diet d iet and nutrition, it's bringing together mind, body and spirit, and Vew-Do brings brings it together as a whole. Joy of life is a question of balance." …Bruce Last President-CEO, At Last Naturals “Vew-Do Boards are an incredible enhancement to t o the Patriots Cheerleaders’ training program. It not only provides a complete and effective total body workout, but it’s a great tool for promoting concentration and focus as well. It has added a spark to our strength and conditioning program, creating a fun, new challenge with proven results.” …Tracy Sormanti Director & Choreographer, New England Patriots Cheerleaders "It's a great addition add ition to our rehab and training programs, adding fun and excitement to our workouts." …Jim Ramsay, Head Athletic Trainer, New York Rangers The following quotations are at .

"When people understand how a simple concept like 'balance' added to any fitness program can make big changes in mobility, performance and stamina, EVERYONE will be on the Bongo Board!" B oard!" …Suzanne Nottingham- Balance Training expert California Governors Council on Physical Fitness & Sport

"I love the Bongo Board for my own training, but find almost immediate results when clients learn to use it. Adjustments made by the body to simply stand alone on the board is valuable enough training for anyone. For athletes, the board's versatility allows me to guide and extend their range of safe effort and movement ability. The dynamic responses to improve balance on the Bongo Board help bridge the transition for my less aggressive clients to break comfortably into sports participation. If we as fitness professionals are not considering fundamental movement skills like balance as part of all programs we teach, we aren't presenting the whole picture to the exercising public." …Keli Roberts Multi-sport Personal Trainer, Group Fitness Instructor and American A merican Council on Exercise Media spokesperson "Balance board training can improve your coordination as a runner and thus your running economy, a key predictor of endurance performance. Balance B alance boards also increase the active strength of the muscles in your feet, ankles, and legs, enhancing your efficiency of running and lowering risk of injury." …Running Research News, December 1998 "A few minutes a day spent on a...Bongo board eases muscle and joint pain, and helps people improve their efficiency of movement." …John Blievernicht, President of Sports Health C.A.R.E., a Chicago sports-rehab clinic (excerpt from Newsweek, December 14, 1998) "Bongo Boards are fun and are used by many national ski teams for coordination drills." …Chris Fellows, Director of the North American Amer ican Ski Training Center (excerpt from The Edge, a PSIA publication) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Teams in the National Football League that use Vew-Do balance boards in their players' training: Miami Dolphins, Tennessee Titans, Pittsburgh Steelers, Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles. The National Hockey League's New York Rangers players are required to use a balance board regularly during the off season.

Why an Athlete Needs Several Balance Boards James Brent Klassen, in a Canadian patent application that he made in 2009 for balance boards that he designed, d esigned, wrote on pp. 1, 2 and 7 of the application’s Description section: There are three main modes of balance correction employed by humans. For simplicity of explanation, all examples examples here are for for a static standing mode. Rotational acceleration acceleration of body body mass is used for angular attitude correction. correction. In this mode of balance balance correction, rotational rotational arm swing acceleration is most commonly used to cause a rotational acceleration of the body in the oppposite direction. CG (Center of Gravity) correction is used to move the CG over the top of the desired CF (Center of Force). This is commonly commonly accomplished naturally by humans at low disturbance levels by moving the hips horizontally to keep the CG as directly directly over the preferred CF as possible. Platform correction is used to keep the preferred CF under the CG without necessarily moving the CG. At high disturbance disturbance levels, this can involve taking a step forward or backward or sideways to move the platform back under the user’s displaced CG to “catch one’s balance.” At low disturbance levels, simply changing the CF of the foot contact area is all that is necessary to keep the CF as close as possible to below the CG. This can be accomplished accomplished by by applying more pressure to the toes or the heels or one or the other side of the foot. Various combinations of these modes can be used at the same time. CG correction is the most natural method of balance correction and re quires low amounts of energy. It is, however, not the ideal ideal mode of balance correction for many sport activities because it requires movement of the upper or entire body system which can a" ect e   ct the precision of the movement and power transfer through the upper body. Platform correction is the ideal mode of balance correction for many aspects of many sports such as, but not limited to, golf and basketball because it can be accomplished by simple and precise ankle movements which result in a change of the CF under the feet and cause minimal disturbance on the rest of of the body. This stable platform, platform, generated from the ground up, allows higher precision and power transfer through the rest of the body. This allows the upper body movement to be dedicated more completely to the task [i.e., the sports task, e.g., aiming a ball] rather than detracting from the task by also using the upper body for maintaining balance. …The balance training system [of the balance boards invented by Klassen] is believed to cause the user to make intuitive/instinctive balance corrections using ankle movement instead of CG or other balance mode corrections. corrections. It does this by by creating an artificial artificial regulated instainsta bility in the direction of imbalance which, in order to maintain or regain

balance in embodiments [i.e., balance boards] where the balance axis passes through both feet in a normal stance (feet side by side, approximately shoulder width), requires the users to push down more on the toes or the heels or one or the other side of their feet. Another feature believed by the inventor to occur in use of at least some of the disclosed embodiments of the balance training system is the minimization or elimination of extraneous horizontal movement of the user’s feet as the platform changes angle. angle. This is done by constructing the balance training system in such a way as to position the rolling or pivoting contact of the platform as close as possible to the vertical position position of the sole sole of the user’s shoes or feet. feet. This the “ground plane” e" ect e   ct and it serves to train the same proprioceptive feedback as when the user is standing on solid ground. This is the ideal scenario for a balance training device because it simulates, as closely as possible, the forces and movements that are required in actual life or sport performance. Another feature of embodiments of the [inventor’s] balance training system is a stability zone which is perceptible to the user when the platform is at or near horizontal. horizontal. This stability zone is a larger radius radius curvature (as compared to the curvature outside the stability zone) that feels similar to a flat spot spot to the user. It helps the user to recognize recognize where the desired platform position is and trains the lower extremities to search for and maintain that position. This “stability zone” provides a positive feedback to the users to make them aware of when they are in the correct correct position. The size of the stability zone can be set or adjusted for easier balance training with a larger stability zone or more precise balance training with a smaller stability zone.

Why does an athlete need to practice on several kinds of balance boards?  Answers to that question that are each specific to each kind of balance board are indicated in the drawings and descriptions of James Brent Klassen’s 24 balance board designs, which he included in the abovequoted Canadian patent application. Each kind of balance board simulates a different subset of the forces, circumstances and purposes that change an athlete’s CG and CF.

That patent application’s official number is 2732384. It can be downloaded here: http://brevets-patents.ic.gc.ca/opic-cipo/cpd/ eng/patent/2732384/summary.html?type=number_search

Brains, Balance Boards, Music and a 2007 Book In the British journal The Therapist (Spring, 1998) there was an article > about an opera ope ra singer sin ger,, Angela Angela Caine, who lost her ability to sing after an injury, who then regained that ability through the use of a balance board, a treatment that her trainer based on the Alexander Technique's explanation of the role of neck posture in use of voice. An article that includes information about Angela Caine's use of a balance board in the training of her music students (singers and instrumentalists) was in The Note, the newsletter of the Royal College of Music (Spring 2003). That balance board use can develop d evelop not only a musician's performance skills but also musical abilities that are more fundamental than performance can be understood from the paragraphs that follow here. A balance board that rocks but doesn't roll (whose fulcrum is stationary) st ationary) is used to develop reading and cognitive skills in children who have developmental disabilities: autism, dyslexia and attention disorders. This balance board was designed by Frank Belgau, Ed.D., formerly director of the University of Houston's Perceptual Motor and Visual Perception Laboratory. The article "Balance and Sensory Integration Program" at explains how cognitive skill depends on sensory integration and how sensory integration depends on development of the sense of balance. The Belgau Balance Board and the accessories to it that are used in its educational program are sold at that Autism Coach website and at Belgau's website, . Here are five excerpts from that article, comprising about a tenth of it: 1. "…The three-dimensional three-dimensional model of the world world provides the framework into which all other sensory data must be integrated. Because the vestibular system is the basis of this three-dimensional model of the world, the e" ectiveness e   ctiveness of the various senses in communicating information accurately to the brain is limited by the precision of the vestibular system.…" 2. "Studies have suggested suggested a link between a well-developed well-developed sense of spatial awareness and artistic creativity, as well as success s uccess in math. It can also be important in the development of abstract thought. The ability to organize and classify abstract mental concepts is related to the ability to organize and classify objects in space. Visual thinkers, in particular, will tend to use their visual imagination to organize abstract thought. "Because spatial awareness is so important in all activities of human life, from the most basic to the most advanced, deficiencies in spatial awareness can hold people back from achieving their true potential. However, because spatial awareness requires integrating the informa-

tion from the di " erent e   rent senses into the three-dimensional model of the world provided by the vestibular system, activities which refine the vestibular system and develop sensory integration can refine all aspects of brain processing.…" 3. "The first sensory system to develop and provide the brain with meaningful information is the vestibular system or balance sense. Soon after conception, the human brain begins developing an intelligent response to its environment by utilizing its ability to sense three-dimensional movement and reference it to the force of gravity. The ability for an individual to perform motor actions, control various parts of the body in space, and project objects into visual and auditory space is possible because of the ability of the vestibular system to overcome the inertial and gravitational problems encountered in these types of activities. "The motor system and other brain systems that control body, limb, finger, tongue, lip, jaw, and eye position, and which are responsible for gross and fine motor skill, also sense movement and position in space utilizing gravitational and inertial information. These senses, as well as the auditory and visual systems, are built on, integrated with, and highly dependent upon the inertial and gravitational foundations provided by the vestibular system. "The three-dimensional referencing system provided by the vestibular system allows our brain to develop structures to create language, to think and create linguistically, and to read and write. The coordination of all of the brain's ttiming iming processes is probably dependent upon and referenced to inertial gravitational information provided provided by the vestibuvestibu lar system. In order for the brain to successfully integrate its many senses and systems, it must depend on a stable, highly evolved coordinating mechanism. It is most likely that the mechanism the brain uses to accomplish this task relies heavily upon the information provided by the inner ear with regard to the acceleration of gravity. The brain's ability, or inability, to achieve the necessary resolution required in this process determines the resolution and e#ciency of all other brain processes. The resolution of this calibration is also relative to the resolution of an individual's balance. To put it simply, the individual's ability to balance is indicative of the e #ciency of his or her brain processes. …" 4. "Sensory integration activities that require require individuals to balance precisely, make spatial judgments and provide a means of allowing feedback are the most powerful and e " ective e   ctive activities available for maintaining and improving brain-processing e#ciency and allowing an individual to become an e#cient learner and improve academic success.…" 5. "We understand that the complexity complexity of the task dictates dictates the level of neural involvement required. Balance activities that incorporate increasing levels of di #culty on the Belgau Balance Board have the e " ect e   ct

of constantly building and creating more extensive neural networks. Because the neural networks that are created in this process are the same ones that are responsible for the resolution and e#ciency of the brain's visual, auditory, motor, and sensory processes, balance activities improve the e #ciency of the brain.…"

The role played by sensory integration in a child's cognitive development and the primacy of the vestibular system in that process were first explained by Anna Jean Ayres, Ph.D. (1920-1988), a psychologist at the t he Institute for Brain Research at the University of California at Los Angeles who was also an occupational therapist. She identified the condition that she named Sensory IntegraIntegrative Dysfunction. Her book Sensory Integration and the Child, originally published in 1979, was reissued in 2005 by Western Psychological Services in an edition revised by ten of her colleagues. The reaction of the neuroscience community to her theory and Belgau's, which is based on hers, has become gradually less skeptical as increasing numbers of therapists who treat children with disorders that they find more acutely characterized by the term Sensory Integrative Dysfunction than by any other term base their treatment on the theories of Ayres and Belgau and report impressive results with tens of thousands of children. Ayres' theory was based on the brain research of educational psychologist Marianne Frostig (1906-1985). In the book Balance: In Search of the Lost Sense by Scott McCredie (published in 2007 by Little, Brown and Company), 17 pages are devoted to Belgau's ideas and treatment methods, the work of clinicians who have made use of them and adapted them and the work of researchers who have tested those adaptations. The author of the book, McCredie, isn't a scientist. He is a nature journalist. McCredie's book's contents: a survey of scientific understanding of the sense of balance in the 19th through 21st centuries; descriptions of people (e.g., pilots, toddlers, patients, acrobats) and animals whose normal or abnormal sense of balance enables the reader to understand and feel what scientists have explained; analyses of the constant and mostly unconscious operations of the sense of balance in the management of many of a person's basic activities and functions; descriptions of how sophisticated, limited and precarious the normal human sense of balance is; current theories of the influence of the sense of balance on a child's cognitive development and on human evolution; a survey of prostheses and other bio-engineering solutions currently being developed to restore the ability to sense balance input in people whose injuries have damaged or destroyed that ability; and how-to information for the general public on improving one's balance balance skills. McCredie's book isn't isn't as lush or or playful as Diane Ackerman's Natural History of the Senses, but it belongs with that book in its ability to portray a fundamental aspect of human biology and life with the clarity, accuracy, empathy and energy that come of reading and talking to researchers and paying attention to one's own inner reactions reactions to events. For example, on p. 92: Karen Perz's patient Kate, you'll remember, was vulnerable to dizzy

sensations when shopping in places like Home Depot, where the environment is full of unusual visual motion. She was prone to a type of illusion called vection, the perception of self-motion induced by visual cues. As I described before, before, this phenomenon can also occur when when your car is stopped, stopped, and the car car next to you rolls forward slightly. slightly. You may mistakenly sense that your vehicle has rolled backward and instinctively step on on the brakes. If you had closed your eyes, eyes, you'd sense no illusion, for the vestibular system and proprioception would have correctly informed informed your brain that there was no motion. Why they don't in this case has to do with your experience and expectations; because you know it's possible for a car to roll backward when stopped, your brain overrides the correct vestibular and proprioceptive inputs and instead believes believes the false false visual input. This phenomenon would seem to mean that vision, of the three sensory inputs for balance, is the one the brain relies on as the most "trustworthy," at least in certain conditions. In this particular case, because your brain holds powerful powerful memories of times when your car has rolled backward when stopped, the combination of memory and vision is enough to override the other two inputs. Vection can also occur while you're watching an IMAX movie in which a camera is mounted mounted to an airplane. airplane. You're seated in a chair with your feet firmly on the ground, yet when the plane banks to the left, say, as it soars across the Grand Canyon, you catch yourself leaning to the left. Your eye perceives perceives that you're "inside" "inside" the plane. plane. After a while you may perhaps even start to feel a little queasy, the first sign of motion sickness. Those sensations are coming from visual input alone, alone, because if you close your eyes you no longer feel the motion and thus don't feel sick.

Two chapters of McCredie's book and the book's index can be read online for free: -- The index of the book is linked to at . -- The chapter on circus performers ("Extreme Equilibrium") in its entirety is linked to near the top of . -- The chapter on aviators ("'Ear Deaths' and 'Graveyard Spirals'") almost in its entirety is in the May 2008 issue of Lost Magazine at . The last words of the book’s subtitle allude to three phenomena that are discussed in the book. book. The traditional list of five human senses overlooks this this sixth one, which was actually the first one in the evolution of the species and is the first one in the development of each new member of the species, in the womb. Guessing the causes of this long omission is easy: Because the information that the balance sense processes feels less specific and less external than the input that the other senses perceive and because we don’t feel the recep-

tion of the input in a particular organ that we can consciously engage or disengage (other than the balance input that t hat is received through the eyes), we don’t notice that our balance systems are operating (receiving external facts, making calculations about them and engineering reactions reactions to them). The second alluallusion to the lostness of this sense is to the fact that at about age 55 it begins to atrophy gradually and with consequences that are more severe than from the average loss of the other senses senses in old age. The third allusion is to a new trend. Because cars, TVs and computers are making our lifestyle increasingly sedentary, the lack of opportunities to stimulate and cultivate this sense is causing it to be lost at an earlier age and more thoroughly than for earlier generations, as is indicated by statistics of injurious falls per capita. So, hiking on uneven ground (e.g., in the woods), buying a balance board or standing on one foot while brushing your teeth before getting gett ing old will pay off handsomely later.

Sports vs. Balance Board vs. Life

fem. pron.

From the point of view of a workhorse, what it's all about is catching cat ching up to the carrot that is dangled in front of her. If you ask a galloping horse, it's about the spur that she is outrunning. If you ask her rider or driver, what matters is not those two motivations but just the motion in the right direction. When athletic competition heats up, the ferocity is a thrill. Whupping an opponent opponent into the dirt is a sublime delight, especially when it means getting even. Self-identification via partisanship is a sweet dose of righteous zeal that speeds through the veins. But the opponent isn't the adrenaline. The opponent is what the adrenaline is injected by. Like the carrot and spur, the opponent opponent is only an instrument. How does adrenaline operate? Where is the the fiercest athletic drama performed? What challenge is the most unrelenting? unrelenting? Sports, even when involving interaction with opponents, pit a player ultimately against herself-- against her own limitations, such as her weakness, clumsiness, laziness, excesses and inability to judge realistically. The role of the opponent or the non-human opposition (such as gravity and the wind) is to concon front a player with her limitations and provoke and activate her against them. How obvious this dynamic is varies from from sport to sport. In basketball and tentennis, this ultimate, underlying dynamic (the fact that a player is playing against herself) is obscured by, varied by and complicated by the role of the opponent, whose presence is right in your face in the former and whose response is frequent in the latter; in swimming, this ultimate contest isn't only an ultimate fact but is felt as as a constant fact. On a balance board this ultimate struggle struggle against oneself is played out more simply, blatantly and consciously than in any sport I've tried or imagined. No circumstances intrude. No bumps, no mud, no glare, no slopes, no advantages of size or strength, no cheating, no faking. faking. A balance board offers no help, no unfair unfair surprises and no excuses. The opponent and and oneself switch roles more often than once per second. The opponent is is entirely oneself (or one's one's recent self): one's excess. Every effort in self-defense becomes, within one second, an attack against oneself from the right or the left. Trying to stay up on the board for two seconds or an hour is like an x-ray or pantomime of one's inner life-- that other constant fight (and eventual defeat); maybe not only an image of it, but also an influence influence on it. On a balance board, as on other stages, the realization that the key opponent is part of oneself can turn a child into more of a person and turn an adult into into more of a person. This intuition sometimes lets you sense where a spur that pokes your flank is coming from with pinpoint precision. You can keep trying to outrun outrun it or you can reorireorient your haunches acutely enough and briskly enough to flip it off along with its unseen source. That's an efficient way to get even: even: poise.

Sports vs. Balance Board vs. Life

 masc. pron.

From the point of view of a workhorse, what it's all about is catching cat ching up to the carrot that is dangled in front of him. If you ask a galloping horse, it's about the spur that that he is outrunning. outrunning. If you ask his rider or driver, what matters is not those two motivations but just the motion in the right direction. When athletic competition heats up, the ferocity is a thrill. Whupping an opponent opponent into the dirt is a sublime delight, especially when it means getting even. Selfidentification via partisanship is a sweet dose of righteous zeal that speeds through the veins. But the opponent isn't isn't the adrenaline. The opponent is is what the adrenaline is injected by. Like the carrot and and spur, the opponent opponent is only an instrument. instrument. How does adrenaline operate? operate? Where is is the fiercest athletathletic drama performed? What challenge is the most unrelenting? Sports, even when involving interaction with opponents, pit a player ultimately against himself-- against his own limitations, such as his weakness, clumsiness, laziness, excesses and inability to judge realistically. The role of the opponent or the non-human opposition (such as gravity and the wind) is to concon front a player with his limitations and provoke and activate him against them. How obvious this dynamic is varies from from sport to sport. In basketball and tentennis, this ultimate, underlying dynamic (the fact that a player is playing against himself) is obscured by, varied by and complicated by the role of the opponent, whose presence is right in your face in the former and whose response is frequent in the latter; in swimming, this ultimate contest isn't only an ultimate fact but is felt as as a constant fact. On a balance board this ultimate struggle struggle against oneself is played out more simply, blatantly and consciously than in any sport I've tried or imagined. No circumstances intrude. No bumps, no mud, no glare, no slopes, no advantages of size or strength, no cheating, no faking. faking. A balance board offers no help, no unfair unfair surprises and no excuses. The opponent and and oneself switch roles more often than once per second. The opponent is is entirely oneself (or one's one's recent self): one's excess. Every effort in self-defense becomes, within one second, an attack against oneself from the right or the left. Trying to stay up on the board for two seconds or an hour is like an x-ray or pantomime of one's inner life-- that other constant fight (and eventual defeat); maybe not only an image of it, but also an influence influence on it. On a balance board, as on other stages, the realization that the key opponent is part of oneself can turn a child into more of a person and turn an adult into into more of a person. This intuition sometimes lets you sense where a spur that pokes your flank is coming from with pinpoint precision. You can keep trying to outrun outrun it or you can reorireorient your haunches acutely enough and briskly enough to flip it off along with its unseen source. That's an efficient way to get even: even: poise.