Improving Ankle and Knee Joint Stability

Proprioceptive Balancefit Discs Drills

First book to present several physical exercises using Balancefit discs aimed to enhance the ankle and knee joint stability, as well as to improve proprioception, Improving Ankle and Knee Joint Stability. Proprioceptive Balancefit Discs Drills is addressed to a more specialised audience (coaches, physical trainers, Physical Education teachers or students). Why Balancefit discs? Mainly, the joint stability can be improved using tools such as Bosu, Wobble Board, balance board etc. But we think that the Balancefit discs (also known as Balance discs, Bobbled Balance Discs, Core Discs, or Stability Discs), in this case, are most appropriate for the drills we proposed. The advantage of the Balancefit discs, from the point of view of an increased effectiveness over the anatomical-physiological and biomechanical characteristics of different motor acts, is that they allow a lot more strains to be put on the muscles and ligaments, regarding the plans and axis of the movements we are trying to train. In comparison with the balance boards and the wobble boards that have a flat, hard foot contact surface, the Balancefit discs strain the plantar surface of the foot right through that mobile and flexible contact area. Hence, the stress found in the ankle joint is not reduced to controlled and limited eversions and inversions, dorsiflexions and plantar flexions, but there are also tendencies to slide back and forward, and all of these movements can be combined. The complexity of the exercises can be directed and controlled also through the degree of inflation of the discs. Another great advantage of using the Balancefit discs is that many of the drills presented in this book can be adapted for a multitude of athletic disciplines, from sportive games to winter sports. Also, we must emphasize that the Balancefit discs can be used in the Physical Education lesson, as well as during any sportive recreational activity, where they can be important and great fun means of developing the coordination and static and dynamic balance, starting with children even as young as four. Many of the drills presented in this book can be coupled with or introduced in Pilates programmes or improving core stability programmes, adapted to the specifics of each sport. All these drills (stimulating proprioception in special conditions - on mobile surfaces, Balancefit, Wobble board, balance board etc.), performed in a particular manner (with eyes closed), can contribute to an increase in the quality of athletic performance, especially during game situations with a high psychological stress (the end of a match, a tie-in, the team/athlete being qualified for a superior phase in a competition, numerical inferiority situations etc.), as well as during situations demanding technical performances in unnatural body positions (unbalances in the air, passes, throws, hitting the ball from a fall determined by a rough action from the opponent etc.).