Power Balance Bands, is it just hype?

Getting out of bed this morning was trying, my legs are heavy and tired.

We ran just over 21 miles yesterday, however despite the aches and pains and general stiffness post training run, I am amazed I don’t feel that bad.

Could it be down to the beach training, I undertook in Spain last week, the Lucozade gel that we used mid run, or could it be down to a rubber band I wore around my wrist?

I was given a Power Balance band to try out, and I am wondering if there really is something in it. The innocuous looking band, is very thin and has two holograms on the sides, to be honest it looks a bit like a charity awareness bracelet, like the yellow Livestrong ones.

One the website the makers claim:

POWER BALANCE’S Mylar Holographic Disk (the same substance used to keep static electricity from damaging electrical components) has been imbedded with an electrical frequency that restores your body’s electrical balance, promoting a free exchange of positive and negative ions and align your body’s energy pathways.


The high density disk acts much like a switch, resonating within your system and turning on your energy field while it clears the pathways so the electro-chemical exchange functions like the well-tuned generator it was designed to be.

When the static Power Balance Hologram comes in contact with your body’s energy field, it begins to resonate in accordance with each individual’s biological, creating a harmonic loop that optimizes your energy field and maintains maximum energy flow while clearing the pathways so the electro-chemical exchange functions like the well-tuned generator it was meant to be.

It claims to improve strength, flexibility and balance, but to be honest looking at it and its price tag of £24.99, I was extremely skeptical.

My previous long run, 18 miles was tough and ended in shoulder pain preventing me from running any further. Yesterday’s run was very different, even up to the final few metres we were still able to talk well and on a respiratory level, I felt quite fit. On a muscular level, my legs felt like dead weights but after the run, I did not feel the need to lie down for hours unable to function, I felt ok.

It is really hard to tell if the band had any impact or if the placebo effect gets you through it is a tough one to call.

I will most definitely be using the band again, and will compare it against a long run without it.

Power Balance have many celebrity endorsers including London Wasps and Shaquille O’Neal to name just two.

Rachel, a strength conditioning coach, PT and physio said : “I really dont know too much about the science behind it although I do know that I am heaps strong when I use it!”

It could be all in the mind but if it helps me get across the finish line, any faster or feeling stronger then I am definitely going to buy into it for now and wear the band on all training runs.

Getting it in the neck

It appears my body is not as resilient as I thought. First my knee, and now my shoulder and neck. After a week off after my 19 miles and feeling some tension and pain in my shoulder, it was disappointing to feel pain returning almost at the start of my subsequent long run yesterday.

My running partner Elen kindly offered to take my lucozade bottle but despite this act of kindness it did not abate the pain.

What started off as a dull ache built in to a sharp stabbing pain. I moved my hand around in different positions, lengthened my neck, pushed my shoulders down, but nothing seemed to stop the twinge.

I began to accept that this would be another painful and trying run, and started to wonder if I wasn’t as strong as I thought I was. Elen hasn’t had any problems apart from the general aches and pains of a long run, why is my body any different? Am i a complete hypochondriac?

During our third lap of Hyde park, the throbbing increased in intensity and despite the two of us still being able to maintain a conversation I knew my game was nearly up.

Almost four laps round and I had to give in to the pain, I wondered if it was physcological, but I don’t give up easily. I researched shoulder problems when running on the internet upon my return home and it amazing what rubbish it

A visit to the sports therapist and a very painful deep tissue massage later, and it appears that all my muscles, tendons and ligaments in my shoulders, arms and neck have been so tight that to be honest it isn’t so surprising I didn’t experience injuries sooner.

So fingers crossed with more stretching, ice, ibruprofen, and strength training, my shoulders and the rest of me should hold up.

If training was easy it wouldn’t be worth doing, and at least I am saving money and my liver, by not going out so much. So its not all bad is it.