VANCOUVER -- Exercise balls are used to activate postural muscles to improve core strength, but they may also have other benefits, particularly in a classroom of fidgety 10-year-olds.
There are some grade five students who are doing a series of ball exercises to improve their core strength.
The balls they're working on are their chairs.
Their teacher brought the balls in after a therapist suggested movement would help correct a learning output problem for one of her students last year. The balls worked and they seem to have helped others as well.
Lynne Hastings, Teacher at Westwind Elementary School, says, "it's been totally good. I did have an ADHD child that did have a lot of trouble staying in his seat. Now, focuses better and in terms of injuries, I have a little girl. She had a back problem and hasn't had back pain in 4 months.
There isn't much research on the use of exercise balls with children, but there is growing interest on how they may help combat rising obesity.
Teri-Lynn Fraser, Physiotherapist, says, "using an exercise ball at home or while they're working on the computer or playing on the computer is going to give them more strength in their core muscles and hopefully that will transfer them to the playground to more sport and perhaps want to take on more activity."
That's certainly what this class is doing. They're now using their balls for exercise breaks...that all helps to get their work done.
As you can imagine, it hasn't been all clear sailing. But Lynne has firm rules to keep her class safe and under control. Anyone who uses the balls inappropriately is grounded from them. Some students now have ball chairs at home and other teachers at the school are now considering using them in their classrooms as well.
Thursday April 13, 2006
