Wii Balance Board

Training Balance With a Technological Marvel

Balance Boards have been around for sometime used by athletes to develop their balance and motor coordination skills. Balance boards are also used for leisure, therapy, improve neural communication between the left and right hemispheres of the brain, help musicians to hold their instruments, prevention and rehabilitation of injuries, improve the sense of balance – which reduces the risks of falls, training for sports and martial arts, yoga, self-awareness and calm among many other uses (checkout wikipedia for balance boards).

The Wii Balance Board is an electronic balance board developed as an accessory to Nintendo’s Wii console, available exclusively with Wii Fit and Wii Fit plus but compatible with more than a hundred games and health & fitness programs. Using motion centers and Bluetooth technology it measures the users center of balance. The board interprets the movement of the user’s feet and transmits this to the video screen, in sensing your weight and balance it provides an even greater level of control in the games. This allows the user to be even more actively involved in the game. Used with any Wii Fitness game it can also tell you how many calories you have burnt during an exercise session.

The Balance board has the appearance of a set of household body scale, being roughly the same size. Run from four small batteries (AA size) which can power it for up to 60 hours, support a standing weight of 330 pounds and an impact force of over 600 pounds. It should be use barefoot or with non-slip socks. There is a widely range of accessories like silicon covers available which serves for protection of the board, keeping it clean and improving the grip.

Nintendo is gaining increasing numbers of endorsements and positive feedback from the medical profession for its innovative approach towards health. The Balance Board is no exception. In a study by the University of Melbourne in Australia, the balance board has been found to be as effective in assessing the balance capabilities of patients, and is considerably cheaper than previous methods used.

As part of a regular exercise regime, balance exercises increase coordination, and flexibility, they are excellent ‘warm up’ and ‘cool down’ techniques that can be used at the beginning and end of an exercise session. Combined with other games available on Wii, they provide a full and beneficial programme of exercise. If you are new to exercising, the balance board is an ideal tool to prepare your body and build stamina, which will help to make exercising in general much easier.

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