The Balance Master

Description

Gain with no pain!

BalanceMaster™ does not challenge the aerobic system nor does it encourage the development of lactic acid, which means customers actually enjoy its use.

It carried none of the perceived barriers to exercise and allows the user to gain confidence to progress and to stay with their exercise programmes.

BalanceMaster™ provides progressive, safe, rhythmic movement patterns that improve joint mobility, proprioception and dynamic muscle stability for the lower limbs and pelvic regions.

This is achieved by a series of rotational stretching exercises involving eversion, inversion, plantarflexion and dorsiflexion of the ankle joints and simultaneous rotation of the hips about the sacroiliac joint.

The user progressively increases the angle of the inclination and rotary speed of the foot platform.

BalanceMaster™ has a growing application in health and fitness sites where it is used to improve balance - a key element of fitness now, quite rightly, assuming prominence in health club provision.

Features

Prevention is better than cure

The next prescription a patient receives from their GP may take them a little further than the chemist. In a move to combat a series of national health scares, the NHS is offering preventive measures to tackle a raft of health problems such as obesity, heart disease and falls-related injuries. BalanceMaster is set to play a pivotal role in this challenge.

In the wake of the alarming obesity statistics issued by the National Audit Office, along with the news that England has one of the highest rates of heart disease in Europe, and that falls and fall-related injuries are costing the NHS over £1billion a year, the Department of Health has launched the first national guidelines for exercise referral schemes in an attempt to target rising inactivity levels in the UK.

Under the standards, GPs and registered nurses are able to prescribe NHS workouts to a range of patients, including those who suffer from coronary heart disease, hypertension, obesity and diabetes. Workouts are also prescribed as part of rehabilitation programmes, particularly for older people, following falls and accidents.

Exercise Referral Systems: a National Quality Assurance Framework outlines the skills and standards required to run schemes. Implementation of the guidelines is improving the effectiveness of existing exercise referral systems and encouraging the development of others. The National Service Framework for Older People requires GPs to do everything they can to help reduce the risk of falls in patients.

It is here that BalanceMaster will play a pivotal role by providing sites with a system of exercise that is both gentle, non-antagonistic and quickly beneficial for those referred by doctors for exercise.

Older people regularly using the machine in clinical trials have found it presents no barrier to them exercising and that it quickly raises their levels of confidence during use.

Such non-intimidating forms of activity in gyms present a major opportunity for clubs and centres to offer programmes of regular activity to a new sector of the public that has never before used fitness facilities.

Technical Specification

Using the BalanceMaster as part of an overall fitness programme will lead to achieving greater results from training programmes and ultimately improved physical performance.

As part of the warm up or cool down part of a programme the BalanceMaster provides a controlled and progressive system of preparing the lower limbs and other areas for rigorous exercise and for relaxing afterwards.

Paul Rudge, a Fitness Advisor at an Occupational Health and Welfare Department, has installed a Balance Master at their Training Centre.

"The machine is excellent to use for warming up prior to more energetic exercise. Based on the success we have had with the BalanceMaster, I firmly believe that it will be commonplace in the commercial health industry in the not too distant future and consider it an excellent facility."