Swiss/Stability Ball Exercises

[Hudsn]

Hope this doesnt come across too dumb soI am recovering from acl surgery but also had shoulder surgery. I am in physical therapy but my therapist said I have a weak core told me to do lots of stuff on the swiss ball at home. I am havingg problems doing even a simple crunch as its hard to stabilize my knee. I dont know if I have lousy form or need to build up to it.

Does anyone have any suggestions or links to proper form for exercises on the swiss ball? or even other core.ab exercises. No Im not trying to spot train but anyhelp would be great


Btw So far I am doing planks (which Im not even sure if I am doing them correct as some people told me to keep arms straight others told me to lean on my elbows???), rotations with the med ball, a sorta single leg crunch thing, and these bridge type things with the med ball.

thanks guys

[SMillard]

how soon after surgery are you? If your leg isn't stable enough to support you on the stability ball you shouldn't be using it.

You might want to let most of the air out of it to create a more stable platform and increase the air as you can handle it.

When doing your exercises you might also want to have your feet in a wide base for more stability and move them in as you gain more strength.

To be honest with you the swiss ball is very over hyped, If you do your rehab exercises with good form your core strength will improve. When you can safely do walking lunges, squats, bent over rows and pull ups you will be pleasantly surprised how quickly your core with strengthen.

Good luck, I'm going into the 8th month after my acl surgery, not a pleasant experience but it gets better if you stick with it.

[Hudsn]

Thanks a million. Yeah I'm at about 3 months post-surgery.

I am still not ready for lunges yet, unfortunately the rehab process had a few bumps in the road.

At home Im just doing a lot of what I mentioned, plus arious straight leg raises.

Everyone always is like blah bla blah swiss ball is amazing so I thought since my core is weak I would try a few things

[zop]

You can't do a lunge so they wanted you to bounce around on a ball? Oh yeah that sounds much safer. I'm not an expert soooo goodluck.

[Reloaded]

Are you wearing a brace?

If leg stability is an issue you can always try roman crunches... basically place your legs on a chair to keep your knees at 90 degrees and then do a normal crunch. I lift until my shoulder blades are off the ground and keep the move slow.

An ab-wheel might be a good one too however put a lot of padding under your knee, like a pillow for support.

Also, think about taking Arnica 30CH... I recommend it all the time here as it helps promote recovery from tissue damage and bruising and has zero side-effects. It's the shit basically.

Take your time in your recovery, good luck.

[Hudsn]

Thanks for the input. I got a prace, and I am sometimes lax about wearing it I gotta get into the habbit.

I do some very sfae stuff on the ball at physical therapy (mostly where my legs are on the ball, im on the ground) but I was looking to try some core stuff as Im very weak in that area.

The roman crunches sound great and Im gonna check out Arnica.

thanks

I have an ab wheel which I used for the 1st time tonight it wasnt bad just rought on the knees next time lots of pillows.

[GunsforGuevara]

Over in the S&P forum there's thread dedicated to listing various core exercises. Have a look through them and see what exercises are possible for you to do.

[Hudsn]

thx for the link gonna def check it out

[Vidar79]

Yeah anything on the swiss ball is going to be tough with your ACL still on the mend. Your core also includes you posterior chain which will be tough to strenghten with a weak knee. Keep up with the rehab I know it sucks but you will be 100% in no time.

[Hudsn]

yeah iwas really just trying to be creative without injuring my knee