page_title: Balance board
section_title: Sphere-and-ring boards
hierarchical_section_title: Balance board / Types / Sphere-and-ring boards
caption_attribution_description: English: A photo showing Mikee of FBBB pulling off a grab on his CoolBoard. See more information at Sphere-and-ring boards.
context_page_description: A balance board is a device used as a circus skill, for recreation, balance training, athletic training, brain development, therapy, musical training and other kinds of personal development.
  It is a lever similar to a see-saw that the user usually stands on, usually with the left and right foot at opposite ends of the board. The user's body must stay balanced enough to keep the board's edges from touching the ground and to keep from falling off the board.
  A different challenge is presented by each of the five basic types of balance boards and their subtypes. Some of them can be attempted successfully by three-year-olds and elderly people, and some, because of their steepness and speed, are difficult and dangerous for professional athletes.
  In their design, what differentiates the five types is how unstable each of them is, i.e., in how many and in which of the three dimensions of space each board turns and/or sways and how freely its fulcrum contacts the board and the ground.
context_section_description: A sphere, either an inflatable rubber ball (such as a basketball) or a solid polyurethane ball, is the fulcrum on which the board is balanced, and the fulcrum is kept contained under the board by a guard rail or ring on the underside. By redistributing his/her weight across the board, the rider can move the board in any direction– side to side, forward and backward, twisting, diagonal, and full rotations or any combination of these movements.  A rider can move the board vertically by doing an advanced maneuver called an ollie. It can also be tilted in any direction and fully rotated. Sphere-and-ring boards provide the greatest freedom of movement of any type of balance board, allowing rotation about all axes (yawing, pitching and banking) and translation (i.e., sliding) in both transverse (i.e., lateral) and longitudinal directions. They, like wobble boards, simultaneously exercise muscles that are not exercised by use of boards that tilt about only one axis (in two opposite directions).
  When balancing or riding on a sphere-and-ring board, the difficulty and ride speed, which is how fast the rider can move the board on the ball, are determined by the following:
  Ring shape and size
  Larger rings allow more movement of the fulcrum. Different shapes change how the fulcrum might move.
  Sphere's size, weight, and rigidity
  These affect how fast the fulcrum moves and how much strength is required to move it.
  Board's shape and size
  Changing these can affect the weight and weight distribution of the board, changing how much strength is required to move it.
caption: The fulcrum is an inflatable rubber ball.
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