Power Balance once used highly subjective applied kinesiology tests to demonstrate that the bracelets work. In these types of “tests,” one person analyzes another’s resistance and balance by applying pressure in various ways. (The applied kinesiology videos are no longer on Power Balance’s website, www.powerbalance.com.)
A volunteer running the test course.A volunteer running the test course.
The applied kinesiology method of testing the bracelet’s effectiveness is problematic and full of flaws for a number of reasons. There is no way to know from videos of these tests how much pressure the tester is exerting, whether the technique used to apply the pressure is identical each time, or whether the resistance from the person being tested is the same each time. Most people’s flexibility seems to improve from their first stretch to their second stretch regardless of whether they are wearing the bracelet. (I invite you to try this for yourself using no bracelet.)
Also, the people being tested may unconsciously change their own resistance when they know the bracelet is on and think it should be helping. Indeed, the psychological effect of believing the bracelet will help may be the only real effect Power Balance can claim. Every athlete knows that confidence is an asset.
To remove this suggestive influence of the bracelets, we decided to test sixteen volunteers, including former Olympic gymnast Dominique Dawes, on a brief obstacle course that included a 16’×4”×4” balance beam, a figure-eight–shaped course (which our volunteers ran while holding two thirty-pound dumbbells), and a stretch test. Dawes was there with Yahoo News, which shot some video of our test for a story. Dawes, by the way, arrived with a healthy skepticism that seemed to get even stronger when she learned of the test results.