Standing on an exercise ball = Bad Knees!
Feb 6, 2008 by Jean-Luc Boissonneault
The other day I saw an advertisement of a personal trainer standing on an exercise ball (or swiss ball). I figured the average person probably looks at that and says “wow that’s talented”. Sure it looks fun but was is it really doing, apart from damaging your knees?
The body has 6 types of joints; pivot joint, hinge joint, ellipsoidal joint, ball and socket joint, saddle joint and gliding joint. They all move differently and should never be forced into directions that they are not suppose to move in.
The knees are a hinge joint, which means they open and close like a hinge on a door frame, they are stabilized in place by ligaments on each side. The ligament on the inside of the knee is called medial collateral ligament (MCL) and on the outside of the knee is called lateral collateral ligament (LCL). Any movement placing sheer force against these ligaments is bad, these ligaments are meant to stabilize the joint.
Standing on an exercise ball for example, forces your knees out to the side because of it’s round surface shifting the resistance from the leg muscles to the LCL on the outside side of the knee. This is basic mechanics of the body and should not be practiced by anyone that wants to save their knees for the future.
There are a lot of infomercial gadgets and fitness programs out there that are solely based on marketing and that have eliminated their sense of help and simply try to give people something that they perceive looks effective yet does more harm than good. I’m here to debunk those myths and give you the truth, peace out.
