The action of speed bag punching can be a very effective as a rehabilitation activity. It includes all of the benefits described in the benefits section. It may also be vital to someone in need of recovery from some upper body loss of function or range of motion. It is an excellent activity for those who may be physically challenged, partially or temporarily disabled.
- Why Use the Speed Bag for Rehabilitation
- Wheelchairs with Speed Bag
- Other Rehabilitation Uses
- Rhythm-&-Rehab
- Rock Steady Boxing
Why use the speed bag in Rehabilitation?
Because it is simple, cheap and effective as a rehabilitation activity.
- The equipment cost is low in comparison to other “rehab equipment”.
- It is a relatively safe activity with low injury potential.
- It is easy to use at the beginner skill levels
- It is very adaptable to the home environment. This may be it’s greatest asset. You don’t have to go somewhere else to use it!
- It is unique and fun to use. Most rehab exercises are boring or get old quickly. The sound of the bag, and the ability to create with it, may hold a persons interest a little longer.
WheelChairs and the speed bag
You do not have to stand up to hit a speed bag. It works perfectly well sitting down. For people in wheelchairs, hanging a wall frame lower is an alternative, as well as using a free standing frame.
Using a speed bag while sitting down can help develop trunk strength and body balance. It also requires little strength, and just the weight of your hand can push the bag. In fact, a helper can keep the elbows elevated if the user cannot raise the elbow up due to shoulder injury or loss of nerve function. As long as there is some function in the Tricep muscle of the arm, the bag can be used to offer resistance for pushing, and if there is any bicep function.
Other rehabilitation uses:
Speed Bag punching may be useful in a variety of physical and emotional disorders.
- It may be especially useful in various movement disorders such as Parkinson disease, cerebral palsy or other conditions that respond to some external visual or auditory stimuli to help guide and smooth out tremulous or spastic movement.
- The forceful act of punching is a great source of stress relief, and many programs for people with psychiatric illness or emotional disturbance may find it to be beneficial.
- SpeedBagCentral.com endorses the speed bag for stress relief in the home. Please punch or kick the speed bag and spare the spouse, kids or pets the unwanted abuse.
- The visually impaired or blinded may find their balance and sense of space improve as a result of the punching motions. To overcome the fear of being hit by the bag, a blind person might want to use an older model football helmet with a single bar across to protect the face.
Rhythm & Rehab
There is currently only one educational or training video available that focuses on Rehabilitation with the speed bag. The program is called “Rhythm & Rehab”.
This is a 2-hour video dedicated to teaching how the speed bag can be used for rehabilitation and as a home fitness activity for those with physical challenges. It covers equipment, the most basic punching and elbow striking techniques, How to learn them and how to set up a personal and targeted rehab or fitness program for your own individual needs. It is also captioned for those with hearing impairment. Much of the information is related to The Speed Bag Bible, but it is taught at a much different level. The speed bag can adapt to everyone, of any level physical capacity – and this video will show you how. It is aimed at both Therapists who might want to consider adding a speed bag to their treatment facility, as well as individuals who may be looking for a simple and safe home fitness activity.
“Rhythm & Rehab” program was developed as a result of a personal experience of temporarily disability and how the speed bag was used for recovery. Click here to ready about it.
For a more detailed information concerning the wide variety of Research studying Rhythm, Beat, External Auditory Stimulation and Music in Rehabilitation go to our Speed Bag Research Page.
Rock Steady Boxing.
Rocky Steady Boxing (RSB) is a program specifically designed for using the unique aspects of boxing equipment and boxing based drills to combat Parkinson’s Disease. Read here to find out much more about this amazing program.
Of course, the totality of the program includes much more than boxing movements, addressing all aspects of life and challenges created by having Parkinson’s disease, one of the most prevalent degenerative movement disorders in humans. To find out more about it, click here.
But the program started with Boxing in 2006 and throughout it’s growing international expansion, Boxing movements on boxing equipment have been it’s key foundation. Many boxing gyms have stepped up to create and sponsor a program, sending coaches and sometimes competitive boxers to the program and coaching certification programs based in Indianapolis Indiana. But a boxing background is not required and many an interested person has become a certified RSB coach and initiated an affiliate program. All that requires is an serious compassion and desire to fight back against Parkinson’s Disease. The program has spread to virtually every country in the world and has attracted many researchers and Professional Parkinson’s associations to align with the RSB program and recognize it’s undeniable benefits of both slowing the progression of the disease, as well as significant regaining of some lost functions. Many a “boxer” with Parkinson’s has started the program mostly confined to a wheelchair or canes and over time got back out of that chair or need for the cane. The program works.
Speedbagcentral has a great interest, and relationship with the Rock Steady Boxing program because THE SPEED BAG is a core activity utilized in the program. And universally the “boxers” seem to love it, even though most of them never had a “boxing” background. But speed bag equipment easily adapts to everyone, and a knowledgeable coach can creatively use speed bag punching and specific drills to help restore more rhythmic and coordinated arm and hand movements, as well as repetitive movement coordination. Most of the attention in Parkinson’s goes to Leg and walking mobility, but the arms and hand targeting are also affected and the speed bag is perfect for addressing these, along with other activities.
Speedbagcentral is convinced that the unique repetitive beat of the bag, like a metronome, is one of the key attributes that makes the speed bag so useful in this area, for the same area in the brain that is affected by Parkinson’s Disease is also the same area of the brain the “recognizes” and “responds” to “the beat”, or external auditory cueing that can guide movement – The BASAL GANGLIA. For a much deeper dive into this topic, again, please see the Speed Bag Research Page
In the most recent past, since 2018, Speedbagcentral has had the honor to attend Rock Steady Boxing international “Coach-Con” training conferences to present and teach speed bag techniques to the many hundreds of certified coaches, as well as attend numerous RSB local programs to work directly with their coaching staff and boxers. This began with the First Annual Coaching Conference in Philadelphia PA.
We attended the next Conference in September 2019 in Phoenix Arizona.
ROCK STEADY BOXING videos on Youtube.
Head Coach Kristie Rose
Check out their videos on the RSB website
https://www.rocksteadyboxing.org/about/videos/