Wobble board helps against injuries

VICTORIA, British Columbia, July 20 (UPI) -- If teens gets injured in sports, many stop playing because of fear of another injury, but Canadian researchers say a wobble board is the answer.

A survey of Victoria, British Columbia, teens found that nearly 40 percent had sports injuries serious enough to limit their normal daily activity. Nearly three-quarters of the injuries occurred in organized sports. Unorganized sports, such as biking, rollerblading or skateboarding, had much lower injury rates, according to Dr. Bonnie Leadbetter of the University of Victoria, who conducted the survey.

Dr. Carolyn Emery, a physiotherapist from the University of Calgary, says training on a wobble board -- a disk perched on half a ball, with the rounded side of the ball touching the floor -- can help prevent knee and ankle injuries.

When a physiotherapist worked one-on-one with physical education students in a pilot study, there was an 80-percent reduction in sport injury, according to Emery.