“The StrongBoard Balance® has been a great addition to my clinical practice.”
“This lightweight, portable device implements an intuitive design with a quad-spring core and a level surface platform that hovers in a dynamic flux. There is no cheating, if you’re on the board, your muscles are in motion. The proprioceptive biofeedback is invaluable as the board stays in motion until acted upon by an outside force – the outside force is the patient. The StrongBoard is great for both closed and open kinetic chain exercises and almost every static exercise or weight lifting regimen can be enhanced by adding the dynamic motion of this board. I have had great success implementing this board in patients with isolates muscle weakness as well as the complicated neuro-rehabilitation patients with vestibular dysfunction. The StrongBoard Balance has been an invaluable new addition to both our Orthopedic and Neurological Rehabilitation clinics and I believe its integration into home exercise regimens is a tremendous opportunity for our patients.”
Ryan H Kotton, MD, ABPMRAssistant Professor, Medicine and Pediatrics
UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine
Medical Director, Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
“Working with rehabilitation at every level from children with congenital anomalies to world-record-holding champions, it is extremely difficult to find one piece of equipment that works for every body. StrongBoard Balance is just that: you can challenge every plane of motion to any intensity, without putting your patients at risk. For someone like me, who’s handling a diverse population daily, often at acute stages of treatment, this is an essential tool to expedite my clients’ rehab. For example, countless hip injuries are caused by over using hip flexion and extension without counter balancing these motions with lateral and medial rotation (side to side) motions. With StrongBoard you can pick the angle or joint aspect to focus on and build the program your patient needs in any direction. That applies to the hips, knees, ankles, shoulders and even the low back. When utilized with a specific and targeted movement, specific to the weakened area, StrongBoard stability work decreases rehabilitation time.”
Gabe Luban, MES, LMTRehabilitative Bodyworker
Santa Monica, CA
“StrongBoard Balance is helpful in strengthening the core, abdominal, and back muscles in a way that restores balance. This simple yet ingenious technology requires trunk muscles to fire in the maintenance of balance using the bodies weight as the resistance. By doing so, it avoids the potential for injury which can occur with lifting heavy weights.”
“StrongBoard Balance is effective in firing erector spinae, multifidus, and abdominal – internal and external obliques and rectus abdominus which are all involved in maintaining balance. This is not to mention the muscles of the pelvis such as gluteus region, adductors, abductors, and the lower leg muscles.”
“I endorse this exercise technique as it involves and integrates all the muscles of the spine, pelvis, and legs without the risk of serious injury, which can occur with weight lifting.”
“I plan to recommend it and incorporate it into spinal rehabilitation for my patients with back pain as well as following spinal surgery.”
“I highly recommend StrongBoard Balance for anyone wanting to improve the health of their back.”
John Regan, MD Board Certified Orthopaedic Spine Surgeon Medical Director Spine Group Beverly Hills
“This is a great piece of equipment that I personally use with my clients because it brings a new dynamic to efficiently challenge the mind while training the body and improving balance. It is truly a revolutionary training tool that has become a staple in all of the workouts at my facility,” – Mike Z. Robinson, ACE Certified Personal Trainer and owner of MZR Fitness.
“Stability and balance are the foundations for effective movement. The primary goal of the StrongBoard Balance is to strengthen the body through emphasizing the use of the core to balance and stabilize the body. The product consists of two platforms joined by 4 compression springs. The springs are positioned such that the bottom platform rests on the ground while the user stands, sits or places their hands on the top platform, which is elevated by the springs about 6 inches above the bottom platform. The springs are centered toward the middle of the board to create a unique unstable surface. The shape of the platforms allows the user to use the board both with a narrow foot or hand position or a standard foot or hand position. This variability significantly changes the amount of stability required to perform an exercise.
Like many of the other stability products on the market there is a broad range of exercises that can be performed on the StrongBoard Balance. With correct coaching and proper progression the board could be an effective tool for any Fitness Professional. From rehab to sports performance, bootcamps and group training this equipment had a broad range of applications. There is the option to order the springs in different colors which provides a different look and would allow the board to fit a club or team colors giving it a more personalized look. The website shows a number of exercises targeted for different parts for the body with a short easy video to demonstrate the movement.
For the majority of people getting on and off the board the first few times is challenging. This is easily overcome by a quick review of the correct way to step on and to dismount – also provided on the website. It is important to step up into the correct starting position because once on the board it can be challenging to change one’s foot position due to the instability.
Overall the StrongBoard Balance provides the ability to train balance, core strength and posture. Its portability makes it easy to take anywhere and there is no set up required. It is shipped ready to use.
What we liked
- Creates a fun way to try traditional exercises
- Offers many different exercise options for a very wide a variety of populations
- Can be used on its own for balance movements or combined with other equipment such as dumbbells
- For use indoors and outdoors” ~American Council on Exercise
“StrongBoard Balance is the best balance board on the market and an asset to any sports training facility. Persons who implement this exercise device into their workouts will rapidly improve their core strength and over all stamina.” –Steve Sax MLB Player, ROTY Coach, Motivational Speaker and Author
“As a chiropractor, I had great interest in StrongBoard for measuring balance in athletic patients, and it continues to impress me. While the StrongBoard offers an efficient method to strengthen the body, its role in measuring neurological balance (proprioception) will hold value to anyone performing such testing. StrongBoard Balance is stable yet flexible and easy to engage upon, allowing the user to establish a neutral position before beginning activity. Since introducing it to our patients, we’ve discovered new ways to use StrongBoard to improve balance and fitness, and patient health and wellness is our primary concern.” –Michael Dorausch, D.C., Adio Chiropractic
“As a Certified Athletic Trainer working in a physical therapy setting, the usage of the StrongBoard Balance has drastically changed my abilities in rehabilitation with patients. StrongBoard Balance makes it possible to educate patients on muscle control, neuromuscular facilitation, and core stability better than other devices on the market. Other balance devices I have used in the past such as BAPS boards, and Foam Pads, do not provide patients with enough dynamic movement that they are truly able to challenge all movements of muscles. In saying that, StrongBoard Balance offers enough variation in style that I can put a professional athlete on one, and yet I can put an elderly person with a gait disorder on another style, and feel confident and safe with both. StrongBoard Balance offers flexibility unlike any other device on the market, and makes rehabilitation challenging and fun. All of the variations of StrongBoard Balance keep patients challenged, allowing for marked progress because of the variation in spring flexibility, and make workouts fun for the patients. StrongBoard Balance is a great rehabilitation tool in not only the athletic population , but also in those with severe gait/balance disorders.” –Monica Somers, ATC
“I have been coming to physical therapy for the rehabilitation of my knee following and ACL reconstruction. One of the first things I noticed upon starting therapy were the balance devices they had me use. I had never seen any like the ones I used, and this wasn’t the first time I had received physical therapy for an injury. I consider myself a very active person and physical therapy has never been really considered a challenge or a workout in the past. But these balance devices, StrongBoard Balance, made my perception of that change. There are so many variations in design, that once you master one, you can move onto a harder one, or you can simply add another component to the one you are on. The design makes me feel totally safe and confident in the equipment I am using, and I never get bored as they always offer a challenge. I have requested already to purchase some of the designs, as well as others I have told are also interested in purchasing them as well. They make rehabilitation a continual process, as once I master one, and move on to the next, I realize my body still has more strength to be gained. I have no doubt that StrongBoard Balance will be distributed on a nation-wide basis, and will drastically change the face of rehabilitation for many.” –Lee Kort. ATC Patient
“I work out five days a week with a combination of weights and balancing. Since I have been using StrongBoard Balance, I find it to be more efficient and to confuse a lot of muscle at the same time. I can see the difference in my core and butt area.
It is a fabulous tool and to feel your whole body working. You save time and you gain great shape. I can’t wait to get back on it day after day. Our body can endure most anything, its our mind we have to convince.” –Simone van Kempen, Photographer
“I thank StrongBoard Balance for strengthening my balance and skill in my surfing, skateboarding, and even in my lacrosse play. I love Strong Board because I can set it down in the living room and basically surf it while I’m watching TV. Besides, it’s just plain boss.” —Flynn “Flyzzard” McCue (10), Santa Monica, CA
“StrongBoard Balance is fantastic! It provides multiple planes of instability, creating some of the most challenging training available! It is one of my favorite and fun tools to greatly improve my clients’ motor coordination skills while strengthening the core, the lower, and the upper body. My clients simultaneously use StrongBoard Balance in combination with weights, resistance bands, and ropes providing maximum caloric expenditure resulting in fat loss in minimal time. Wish I had invented it!” –Ray Velazquez, Santamonicatrainer.com
“The Strongboard Balance device is possibly the simplest tool I have found to improve balance and enhance proprioception in my clients. DO NOT however confuse the word “simple” with “easy”! Because of the simplicity it is effective for all ages and fitness levels. I have used it to increase the functional stability of many of my clients who range from teenage athletes to injured adults who want to improve daily performance. I would recommend it to anyone who is looking to improve balance no matter what their current level.” –Russ Suchala, 38, Certified Personal Trainer
“At the early age of 6 I started playing basketball. As I got older and played more aggressively, I would roll my left ankle often. The pain was bad enough to where I couldn’t play for several weeks. I had to resort to wearing lace up ankle braces if I wanted to play.
When I was a freshman at Palisades High School I tried out the girl’s basketball team and landed a spot on the JV squad as the lead shooting guard. Shortly into the season I forgot to wear my ankle braces one game and rolled my ankle so bad that I missed out on playing a lot of the season.
The next year I made the Varsity team. My biggest fear was damaging my ankles and I didn’t want to rely on having to wear ankle braces. To overcome this fear, I decided that it was time for me to get help from a professional sports trainer. I met Mike Curry and explained to him my chronic ankle problem. On day one, Mike put me through a series of exercises using his creation, the StrongBoard. I had never seen anything like this before. My first reaction was this thing is hard to stand on, but after a few minutes of getting used to it, it forced me focus on maintaining good balance.
I used the StrongBoard for the duration of my high school basketball days. I would do a lot of double and single leg squats, these exercises work great for ankle strength. In addition to ankle conditioning, I would balance on the StrongBoard and have someone throw a basketball to me in a random order, high, low, left, right. After doing this type of drill for a few days, I would do the same drill while standing on one leg at a time.
Since graduating high school and finishing playing basketball, I still maintain overall conditioning using the StrongBoard. I make up a lot of my own exercises using the StrongBoard. I’ll be the first to admit that exercising is boring and not a lot of fun. Using the StrongBoard takes the boredom out of working-out.” –Kristen Thomason, Student
“Like most young boys, I always wanted to master a sport. I played basketball, football, and baseball before starting high school but really didn’t enjoy any of them enough to do in high school, besides, I lacked coordination and quickness.
The sport I did have an interest in was gymnastics. As a freshman in high school, I signed up for the gymnastics team. At the time I wasn’t so sure if this was the sport for me because my first year doing gymnastics, I had two concussions, three broken toes, and four broken fingers. My coach told me that my biggest problem was that I lacked coordination and balance, but if I worked on these areas there was hope for me. A few years later, I became a well respected high school gymnast and went on to be a collegiate gymnast where I competed for UCLA.
When my competition ended I continued with gymnastics to maintain my conditioning and to retain my “cat like balance and quickness”. After spending so many years acquiring these physical gifts, I didn’t want to lose them. When I turned 51 years old, my shoulder joints, knee joints, and lower back were giving me signals that I was getting to the age where I had to give up gymnastics. After a short layoff from the sport, I started doing distance running along with weight training. Running was great but I had a tendency to roll my ankles because of previous gymnastics injuries. This forced me to have long periods of time when I couldn’t run at all. To strengthen my ankle I would do squat jumps up to a 12” platform, this was even becoming difficult. I was also noticing that my “cat like balance and quickness” was starting to taper off. Now I was starting to wonder, “Am I just getting old”?
A friend of mine knew how much of a fitness fanatic I am and introduced me to Mike Curry. Mike is a personal trainer and the inventor of the StrongBoard. When I told Mike I was interested in trying to regain some of my balance and coordination, he suggested that I try the StrongBoard. The first time I stood on the StrongBoard, it felt very similar to standing on a trampoline, FUN! Mike worked with me for a few sessions, where the majority of our conditioning used the StrongBoard.
For the past two years I’ve built-in the StrongBoard into my work-out routine. I now place the StrongBoard on a 12” platform and do sets of squat jumps onto it. I stand on the StrongBoard and do dumbbell curls, and squats on the StrongBoard while holding two dumbbells. I stand on the StrongBoard while doing a series of heavy rope exercises, and kettle bell exercises. The best way to describe the StrongBoard is it’s a “dynamic piece of equipment” that works differently than anything I’ve ever seen or used. For the past two years, I’ve noticed my knee joints don’t hurt, my ankles have gotten much stronger and they don’t roll at all. My lower back hurts much less, my shoulder joints are still the same but that’s OK with me.
Last year at the age of 54 I ran the world famous Camp Pendleton Mud Run where I finished the race in 1hr. 7 minutes, 7th place in my division and 199th overall out of 6,500 entrants. This year at the age of 55 I finished the race in 58 minutes, 3rd place in my division, and 170th overall out of 6,500 entrants. This past year I upped my workout strategy and incorporated the StrongBoard in even more of my weekly workout routine. The StrongBoard itself didn’t give me this kind of results; it made working-out fun and challenging.
The StrongBoard isn’t magic. It’s a very simple devise that works, and adds a whole different dimension to physical conditioning that makes working-out fun and forces you want to challenge yourself. For me, it’s been a very instrumental means in helping me achieve my goal to regain my “cat like balance and quickness”. –Rodger Thomason
