Round Out Your Fitness Routine with a Stability Ball

Bounce Your Way to Fitness
-- By Sara Hambidge, Physical Therapist

You see large, colorful exercise balls lying around gyms, but what are they? They go by many names-Swiss balls, physioballs, stability balls, birth balls-and have even more uses. Physical therapists have used them for years to treat a variety of injuries, but now these oversized balls are showing up in fitness centers, birthing centers, and even many households. They're versatile tools for exercise and useful during birth. So how can they benefit you?

Using stability balls during exercise is quite simple. Here's an easy example. Stand up with your feet wide apart. Pretty easy, right? The wider your base is when standing, the more grounded you are. Now bring your feet completely together. Still simple, but a little harder to hold your body still. Now lift one foot off the ground. This is a lot harder because you have to balance yourself. Your muscles in your legs have to work harder. Your foot is probably shaking back and forth a bit to keep your body upright. Your entire core-your abs, obliques, lower back, and hips-are working overtime.

These are endurance muscles (they work for long periods of time throughout the day) that help you balance. Any time you are walking while carrying a heavy bag, any time you lift up to your tiptoes to get something off a top shelf, any time you bend over to pick up a child- your core muscles are there supporting you so that you don't fall over.

Using a stability ball makes what would be normal exercises harder because it provides an unstable surface. So rather than sitting on a bench to do a biceps curl, you have to balance your body weight on a round ball, engaging your core the entire time- without much effort on your part.

Use of the balls facilitates the neuromuscular system, increasing core strength, balance, and posture. During birth many midwives and doulas use them, since they provide a comfortable place for the mother to sit or lean, as well as helping turn a posterior baby to the correct position. The ball can even be used while sitting at a desk or watching TV- so that, without conscious effort, you receive the benefits of both better posture and core strength.

The balls are also helpful before, during, and after pregnancy for stretching and strengthening your muscles, and you can use weights and exercise bands to increase the intensity of your workout with a stability ball. Since balance is required to sit on the ball while you do upper and lower body movements, you'll also work your core while increasing the intensity of your workout.

After the first trimester, when most experts recommend that you don't lie on your back to exercise, you can still lie on a stability ball in an inclined position to do chest presses and crunches. (If you don't feel completely stable using the ball by yourself, have someone hold it for you.)

In fact, the benefits of using the ball during pregnancy and birth are almost endless:

Sitting on a stability ball (and getting up) may be easier and more comfortable than using a chair in late pregnancy.
Increases pelvic mobility.
Uses gravity in the sitting or squatting position to assist in fetal descent.
Provides perineal support without undue pressure.
Lessens strain on the hands and arms in the hands-knees position.
Provides a softer surface than a chair for sitting.
May speed up labor.
Supports squatting during birth, which helps widen the pelvic outlet to its maximum.
Aids the use of other techniques designed to counteract "failure to progress," thus lessening the likelihood that Caesarean delivery will be needed.
Kneeling and leaning over the ball helps re-position a posterior baby to anterior.

The birth ball provides a variety of positions during birth without interfering with fetal monitoring, and can even be used with a light epidural anesthesia. In studies done to ascertain which position is most beneficial during the second stage of labor-- the pushing stage-- experts concluded that sitting up or lying on your side to push instead of lying on your back results in:

A shorter second stage of labor.
A small reduction in assisted delivery (where vacuum and forceps are necessary).
A reduction in episiotomies.
A smaller increase in second-degree perineal tears.
Reduced reports of severe pain during the second stage of labor.
Fewer abnormal fetal heart rate patterns.

Postpartum, the ball provides a softer, more comfortable surface to sit on than many chairs. You can use it as a rocker, sitting and swaying or bouncing lightly. The ball has also been shown to help with colic, by allowing you to place the baby on its stomach on the ball.

Costing between $18-$40, the balls are available in a variety of sizes suited to different heights. They're a great investment, not only for the childbearing years, but also for lifelong exercise benefits. And-- in this season of exchanging gifts-- they'd be a novel present under the Christmas tree for your favorite mom-to-be!

Check out BabyFit's Exercise Demos for pictures and detailed instructions for exercises (and stretches) you can do with a stability ball.