Hand Strengthener Impulse Buy and Thoughts

[MsYutai]

Hi all,

I recently purchased this NSD Spinner Hand/Grip Strengthener on a total impulse buy during an Amazon lightning deal (hey the reviews make it sound amazing!)

According to some reviewers, this product helped them with RSI or carpal tunnel symptoms! I could see this being the case as you are definitely strengthening your muscles with this tool.

Thoughts:
It is a super cool gadget as it's powered completely by a gyroscopic spinner. It is so odd to use, but you start it up by winding up the ball in the middle with your thumbs. You let go and it starts spinning. You hold it in your hand then move your hand in a motion like you are stirring a pot of soup. If your hand motions sync up with the gyroscopic mechanism, the resistance increases!

You can start feeling the burn all through your arm (including your wrist and forearm)... speed up your hand all while keeping in sync and it starts to get tough to keep a hold on the thing due to the force!!

I've only had it for 2 days but I could definitely see this helping those of us who experience RSI/carpal tunnel symptoms-- at this price I really think it's worth checking out. If you are consistent in using it I'm sure you could get some muscle definition going. Also it's just an interesting gadget that's really fun to use and challenge yourself to getting it to a super high rpm. Two thumbs up! 

[hoggy]

I tried one and it caused my symptoms to flare.  Kinda fun though.

[Oobly]

I've tried one out and while it is fun, you have to be careful what type of movements you do. I can see it being quite harmful actually.

[bubchi89]

I tried one and it caused my symptoms to flare.  Kinda fun though.

Hm, I'm not a physical therapist or doctor, but I think symptoms flaring up is probably just overuse. In particular, if your injury is sufficiently severe then you probably can't exercise your wrist/forearm much without causing pain. In other words, I can see why the ball might be useful because it ultimately strengthens your forearm which probably helps with RSI, but if you play with it too much you might overuse those muscles too. Regardless, you'd obviously want to talk to a professional if you have serious wrist issues.

Anyways, I remember how hilarious the Powerballs advertisement for these things were only 3-4 years ago (they were basically ads from the 90s which somehow were made in ~2008). I also remember this huge Greek dude who'd do videos of his WRs haha. For example...

[torham]

I was having a lot of pain this spring and I bought one of these, as well as a kinesis advantage keyboard.  Both arrived around the same time and I used both.  Today all of my forearm and wrist pain as well as the shooting pain when typing are gone, but I think it had more to do with the keyboard than the powerball.  That said it didn't make things worse. 

When you use the powerball you don't need to move your wrist hardly at all.  I think if you use only wrist movement to build up speed you could possibly injure yourself, but with proper form it ought to be safe, building speed is more about timing and very small movements.

[noisyturtle]

If you have issues with arthritis pain or in your tendons this'll make it way worse.