Do Power Balance bracelets really work?

This is something that has been in the media quite a lot recently. Good friends of mine swear by these, good respectable, intelligent friends. Someone directly asked me today, did I wear them. No, it seems silly to assume a bracelet will give me more energy, doesn’t it?

Power balances claims: how exactly does the bracelet work?

Apparently, the holograms on the bracelet are meant to work with the body’s natural energy field. On the power balance web site, their directly quoted answer to this question is thus:

‘The thin polyester film hologram is programmed through a proprietary process, which is designed to mimic Eastern philosophies that have been around for hundreds of years.’

I am not entirely sure what this is meant to mean, though! If you use enough fancy words, is it meant to make it more believable?!

Research: does it really work?

Porcari et al (2010) did research for the journal of sports science, into whether the power balance bracelet improved balance, flexibility, strength and power. They made some interesting observations.

42 athletes were tested on four tests, trunk flexibility, balance, strength and vertical jump. These tests were the same as those on the power balance test videos. The test was repeated twice, with a placebo bracelet then a power balance bracelet. There were negligible differences between the test results the first time, but much more promising the second time. They explained this as being a result of either being more warmed up, or the practice of having done the test once already.  

Porcari states that this method of testing is often used by companies, to demonstrate results that they deem to be favourable. It is known as the ‘order effect’

‘The improvements in the second trials were attributed to the fact that subjects were either: (1) more warmed up, or (2) habituated to the task. This would explain why the public sales demonstrations of Power Balance and similar performance-jewellery products appear to have beneficial effects on flexibility, balance and strength.’

‘But in reality, these sales demonstrations are essentially carnival tricks. By altering the way you apply force to the body, explains Porcari, you can easily change the outcome. "If I'm pushing a certain direction, and then I change the angle of pull or push a little bit, I can get you to lose your balance easily," he says.’ (Hall, 2011 ‘Power balance products: a sceptical look’)

Harriett Hall goes on to challenge their claims at length, with several questions, related to quotes from their web site, for example:

·     It resonates at certain frequencies – so how did they test which frequencies work best?

·     We are a frequency – we are a bunch of cells help together by a frequency she quotes, but states a frequency is ‘the number of repetitions of a periodic process in a unit of time’ therefore cannot exist in isolation.

She also explains a positive test done by a power balance representative on national TV, and explains how the flaws make it look like a positive test.

I would certainly be interested to try it if power balance UK wanted to give me a neoprene strap to wear, however, so far, it seems there is very little reliable evidence to suggest that it works at all.

WE TESTED IT OURSELVES!

A friend and gym owner friend of mine conducted a test on the power balance bracelet. He had seen the demonstration done by a sales rep, and helped construct a test to see if they really worked. Here is what happened. Read the review of how we tested it and what we found by following the link to our full gym test

To read more about the power balance bracelet research, click here.