Anyone using a Powerball - any benefit?

[Pork Pie Hat]

Hi guys,

I came across this item on Amazon today, and wondered if anybody was using one?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nsd-Powerbal...4675645&sr=8-1

Supposedly great for musicians to strengthen hands & arms, good for RSI etc.

As I am not still young as I was, with playing bass and trumpet I sometimes get aches in my knuckles, and with a recent purchase of an Eminence I could probably do with strengthening my hands for pressing the strings.

Does anybody have good/bad news to tell about this thing, seems they were developed by NASA to help astronauts in zero gravity maintain strength.

Thanks for any feedback.

[hdiddy]

Bah, never bothered with such things. Just get this book: http://www.amazon.com/Conquering-Car.../dp/1572240393 Start doing the stretches now before you get any onset of RSI.

[padmavyuha]

I can recommend the Handmaster Plus, which is a squeezy ball with a kind of rubber tree going through the middle of it that goes round the fingers/thumb. The thing about stretch with the hand and wrist/arm is that it's essential that you get stretch in both directions - which is why a simple squeezy ball is bad for you. If you just stretch one way, you're likely to exacerbate RSI rather than heal it. No muscles play solo.