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Old 04-27-2008, 12:05 PM   #18 (permalink)
Ian Kay
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Watertown, MA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kfisherx View Post
I don't get why you don't see that as a legitimate recovery technique.
I think there should be a very distinct division made here: Those who are talking about PT "rehab and recovery" work, and those talking about the use of unstable surface for a healthy individual for the purposes of increasing strength and/or athletic performance.

Notice the first section of Eric's link:

"Initially reserved for rehabilitation programs, unstable surface training (UST) has recently grown in popularity in strength and conditioning and general exercise scenarios. Nonetheless, no studies to date have examined the effects of UST on performance in healthy, trained individuals. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of 10 weeks of lower-body UST on performance in elite athletes."

So Eric's study wasn't calling out PT's and their methods for treating injured patients.

Retraining a badly injured ankle on a BOSU is different than training curls while standing on a BOSU... when the intent isn't ankle rehab, but ankle and generic "core" strengthening.

Think of it this way: the BOSU (or similiar methods) are used by PT's to bring your injured parts back to normal (you can walk and stand properly). The argument changes when you then claim that these same unstable methods should be used to enhance strength beyond the norm (you can run and jump and swivel more effectively than you could before).
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