Rehabilitation with Medicine Balls

Medicine balls are for those of you who haven’t been to a gym. Or someone who never accidentally kicked the medicine ball thinking it was like a soccer ball.  They are heavily weighted balls that come in a variety of sizes and weights usually with a diverse range of fitness applications. But why are medicine balls called this when, at its core, a medicine ball is just a big heavy ball?

For starters, medicine balls are usually noted to be the most diverse pieces of exercise equipment one person can own, useful for toning almost every inch of your body, and they are also extensively used in various types of physical therapy.

While some details are very sparse on the history of medicine balls, we can reliably track their usage back to just about 3000 years. This is where the medicine balls were used mainly by the Persian wrestlers looking to become much stronger. In Ancient Greece, Hippocrates considered them to be an essential tool for helping the injured people regain their mobility. He also advised people to use them as a general, all-purpose way of remaining healthy.

A medicine ball can also be known as a fitness-weighted ball, or an exercise ball is a weighted ball-shaped exercise tool often used for strength training and rehabilitation. Medicine balls are available in different weight sizes, usually ranging from 2 to 25 pounds, medicine balls are distinct pieces of weight equipment used by children and adults for exercise or physical therapy.
The rehabilitation of sports-related injuries has changed dramatically in the past decade. Advances in surgical procedures, clinical outcome studies, and changes in third party reimbursement have resulted in a new rehabilitation environment. Today’s clinicians must efficiently and more address an athlete’s physical impairments and functional limitations. The outcome is to return to playing as quickly and safely as possible. Medicine balls have become an essential tool in achieving this goal.
The use of medicine balls in rehabilitation has always been a logical crossover from sports training. Medicine balls will provide your clinician a low-cost and portable option that is available in a wide range of different weights and sizes. This exercise tool can be incorporated early in the rehabilitation process and even in the final phases of your recovery. Clients will frequently purchase a medicine ball as part of their home program and use it to transition into a more free program.

Medicine balls are used extensively in the rehabilitation process of spinal, shoulder, and knee injuries. The ability to perform multiplanar exercises at slow to high speeds with a medicine ball has made it an essential tool for the rehabilitation specialist.

A medicine ball refers to a weighted ball that can be used for doing a broad range of exercises that will help improve your fitness, strength, and coordination, as well as help athletes, recover from injuries. This type of ball can be made from leather, nylon, vinyl, rubber, polyurethane and other materials. The medicine balls come in many different weights, ranging from 2 lb to 25 lb. The standard medicine ball has a diameter of 14 inches, but other sizes are also available.

History of the Medicine Ball

The earliest documented use of the medicine ball dates back to just about 3,000 years ago when Persian wrestlers trained with bladders that were filled with sand. Later on, in the time of ancient Greece, famous physician Hippocrates stuffed animal skins with sand to create medicine balls. As part of his injury rehabilitation therapy, his patients were ordered to throw the balls back and forth. In the late 19th century, the words “medicine” and “health” became synonymous, and the medicine ball was commonly used for promoting health. It became one of the “4 Horsemen of Fitness,” which also included the dumbbell, the wand, and the Indian club. This marked the origin of the modern medicine ball.

Uses of the Medicine Ball

Medicine balls are commonly used by athletes to help improve their core strength, especially in the chest, arms and legs. Athletes who might have sustained injuries also perform medicine ball training to recover their former strength and fitness. Medicine balls are effective exercise equipment for professional boxers, who use them to build strength in the abdominal muscles. A medicine ball is dropped onto a fighter’s abdomen from a certain height to simulate a punch from an opponent. Individual schools use medicine balls as fitness aids for students, who are required to perform a broad range of exercises to stretch their muscles and improve their strength.

Medicine Ball Exercises

Medicine ball exercises are useful for improving sport-specific as well as overall strength, fitness, flexibility and body coordination. They can be performed alone or with one or more partners. Some of the standard medicine ball exercises include; squats, lunges, lunge crossovers, slams, crunches, oblique twists, single leg V-ups, reverse curls, overhead lateral flexions, kneel to push ups, diagonal chops, figure eights, two-arm wall passes, hammer throws, sit-up passes, front lateral raises and standing Russian twists.

Medicine Ball Safety

It is imperative that just about every athlete performs some medicine ball exercises with the right techniques so that they can get better results and prevent any injuries. Athletes should always warm up thoroughly before they start exercising with medicine balls. Choosing a ball with the right weight is very important, as it will ensure that the activities will be performed smoothly. For each exercise, the person who’s is training or athletes should do 1 to 3 sets of 8 to 10 repetitions. When you’re doing a standing throw from behind your head, they should not overextend their spines, and standing exercises should be done with feet firmly planted on the ground. They should keep a bend in their knees and keep their backs straight when picking up the medicine ball. When lying on their backs to perform exercises, athletes have to make sure that their lower backs are touching the ground.

It might sound kind of funny that by using a medicine ball you can build your muscle power and strengthen your core muscles. But the fun fact is that when these exercises are performed correctly and precisely it will show how well a medicine ball can be added to your daily regime to develop a hardcore physique.

The medicine ball workout is a replication of your daily chores you do in your day to day life and hence why it is easy to develop your core muscles.
Instead of focusing on just one muscle power, you will be concentrating on many core muscles at the same time.
The medicine ball will give you help so you can balance out your body energy.
The medicine ball workout regime helps you to build up resistance and lift things which are heavy like grocery bags, buckets, furniture and much more.

source http://www.healthy4lifeonline.com/rehabilitation-with-medicine-balls/