New role for old gear

BY KATE NEWTON

They've been a staple of physiotherapy treatment for years, but now exercise bands are making their way out of the physio's office and into the gym.

All the usual suspects are at Wellington's Mind/Body gym today - the cardio junkies thrashing it out on the treadmill and the weight-trainers cranking through bench presses.

Over in a corner, however, among the Swiss balls and hand weights, one woman is standing on what looks like a giant, bright-yellow rubber band with handles, stretching it up over her head and then slowly lowering her hands back down to her sides.

More of the colourful bands dangle from a handrail nearby.

The bands are not a novelty to anyone who has sought a physiotherapist's help for joint problems.

Known as Dyna-Bands or Thera- Bands, they have been a standard piece of rehabilitation equipment for years because of the way they build strength without putting excessive strain on patients' bodies.

The design is simple - a rubber band, about a centimetre thick, with two handles at either end to grip on to.

Simpler versions are just long, flat strips of rubber that can be grasped at either end.

Despite their physiotherapy pedigree, however, very few gyms - Mind/Body is the exception in Wellington - have put them to use as an exercise tool.

Mind/Body owners Johnny and Tania Godinet introduced the bands, which Mr Godinet calls Handy Bandies, about a year ago, after coming across them by chance during a holiday in Rarotonga.

Despite being "a bit suss" about whether they could provide a decent workout, Mr Godinet started playing around with them and was quickly won over. Back in New Zealand, he bought a couple of the bands and started to experiment at home, gradually developing a series of exercises that he has introduced at the gym.

Many of the gym's members are in their 40s or older and the Handy Bandies proved a good alternative to standard weight training, Mr Godinet says.

"A lot of [the members] had niggles in their bodies. The weights were good, but more often than not, that was doing some damage.

"The Handy Bandies fix all of that."

Among his converts is a 70-year-old woman with hip and back problems.

"She doesn't need to be lifting heavy weights at all. The movement is all she needs."

Jude Haggart-Baty, 55, has been using the bands in place of weight training for about three months.

The Wellington receptionist has had ongoing problems with an old neck and shoulder injury and, as a result, has avoided exercise in the past.

"Whenever I go on the weights, my neck and shoulder just flare up."

But she says there has not been a whisper of a problem with the bands.

"They are the sort of piece of equipment that you can do that suits your own strength and flexibility, so you're not putting stress on those parts of your body."

She can now carry heavy grocery bags and back her car out of the drive without straining her neck.

"I'm just amazed."

The different resistance levels - indicated by the bands' colours - mean they are still useful for people with greater strength.

Phoenix football midfielder Troy Hearfield "got wasted doing the Handy Bandies", Mr Godinet says, and Hearfield grudgingly confirms that.

Wellington physiotherapist Catherine Millar says the bands work well for people with niggles because, unlike weight machines, the exercises mimic day-to-day movement.

"If you go and do a bench press, it's not a very functional movement.

"You can do more functional exercises with them and you can work through a full range of movement." She prescribes them every day, because her patients find them easy to use.

"You can take them home and do them whenever and wherever you like."

The different resistance levels mean they can be prescribed for anyone's strength and ability, she says.

"You can use them for old people, you can use them for children and you can use them for elite athletes."

- © Fairfax NZ News