WEBVTT - Do Power Balance Wristbands really work?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from house Stuff Works dot com

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<v Speaker 1>where smart happens. Hi. I'm Marshall Brain with today's question.

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<v Speaker 1>Do these power balance wrist bands that you see on

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<v Speaker 1>TV actually work or is this a scam? If you

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<v Speaker 1>watch certain channels on TV, you have been bombarded with

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<v Speaker 1>ads for power balance wrist bands and people have been

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<v Speaker 1>buying them. The band is supposed to immediately improve your strength, flexibility,

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<v Speaker 1>and balance by working with your body's electrical field. There's

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<v Speaker 1>all kinds of stuff about the natural resonant frequency of

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<v Speaker 1>your body, and you know the amazing things that happen

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<v Speaker 1>when you get your body in tune with nature and

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<v Speaker 1>so on. That's the pitch, and there have been many

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<v Speaker 1>celebrity endorsements as well, everything for basketball players to horse

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<v Speaker 1>jockeys have one tournaments or one races using the power

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<v Speaker 1>Balance wristband. If you look at the ads on YouTube,

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<v Speaker 1>you can see the hype. There's all kinds of stuff

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<v Speaker 1>about how great this thing is, as well as some

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<v Speaker 1>really convincing demonstrations. For example, they'll have a person stand

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<v Speaker 1>on one leg with their arm outstretched and press on

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<v Speaker 1>their arm and obviously the person falls over. But then

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<v Speaker 1>they'll have them hold this power balance wristband. Do the

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<v Speaker 1>same thing again, and now when someone presses down on

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<v Speaker 1>their arm, they stand there firmly. There's no loss of balance.

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<v Speaker 1>It looks like a miracle. There's also tests of strength

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<v Speaker 1>that are demonstrated and tests of flexibility. The person is

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<v Speaker 1>asked to rotate their torso as far as they can.

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<v Speaker 1>Then they're given the power balance wristband and they can

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<v Speaker 1>rotate even further. So it appears that this actually works.

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<v Speaker 1>So what's going on. It turns out that this is

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<v Speaker 1>not the first time that this particular picular scam has

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<v Speaker 1>been perpetrated. This thing has been going on for a

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<v Speaker 1>long time. It's really just a carnival trick, and you

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<v Speaker 1>can find videos on YouTube that will show you what's

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<v Speaker 1>going on. Let's take the balance test for example, when

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<v Speaker 1>the person stands on one foot and the salesman comes

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<v Speaker 1>and knocks him off balance simply by pressing on his arm,

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<v Speaker 1>that's obvious. The person really is just pressing on his arm,

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<v Speaker 1>or maybe pressing on the arm with a little outward

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<v Speaker 1>pressure to draw him off balance more quickly. That's what

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<v Speaker 1>you would expect to happen when they have the subject

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<v Speaker 1>hold that wrist band. However, they press down on the

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<v Speaker 1>arm and they apply a little bit of extra force

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<v Speaker 1>towards the center of the person's body. Instead, that moves

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<v Speaker 1>that forced towards the person's center of gravity, and obviously

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<v Speaker 1>they're not going to fall over anymore. So if you're

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<v Speaker 1>watching the demonstration, you can't see this subtle shift in

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<v Speaker 1>the angle that the pressure being applied, and the person

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<v Speaker 1>who's holding the wristband isn't going to feel it either,

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<v Speaker 1>because there's no easy way to measure it. But that

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<v Speaker 1>subtle shift in the direction of force on the person's

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<v Speaker 1>arm is enough to determine whether they fall over or

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<v Speaker 1>whether they stand firmly with that wrist band in their hand.

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<v Speaker 1>The same kind of thing is happening with the strength test,

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<v Speaker 1>and it's even happening with the flexibility test. And that's

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<v Speaker 1>just a funny thing about your body. If you tell

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<v Speaker 1>your body to rotate the torso as far as it

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<v Speaker 1>can in a certain direction, it's only gonna go so far, obviously.

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<v Speaker 1>But the thing about your body is if you just

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<v Speaker 1>hold that position for a couple of seconds and then

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<v Speaker 1>try it again, you'll be able to stretch further. Your

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<v Speaker 1>muscles have gotten you know, stretched out a little bit,

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<v Speaker 1>there's a little more freedom, and you can always add

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<v Speaker 1>a couple more degrees to it. If they hand you

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<v Speaker 1>the wristband in that interval of time when the muscles

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<v Speaker 1>are relaxing and so on, they're going to be able

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<v Speaker 1>to show you that you have more flexibility. But you

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<v Speaker 1>would have had that flexibility with or without the wrist band.

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<v Speaker 1>It's just a carnival trick. Now. The great thing is

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<v Speaker 1>that regulators finally caught up with the company and the

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<v Speaker 1>company has been forced to admit that this really is

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<v Speaker 1>a scam. If you go to their website, you can

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<v Speaker 1>find this notice. In our advertising, we stated that power

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<v Speaker 1>Balance wrist bands improved your strength, balance and flexibility. We

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<v Speaker 1>admit that there's no credible scientific evidence that supports our claims,

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<v Speaker 1>and therefore we engaged in misleading conduct in breach of

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<v Speaker 1>section fifty two of the Trade Practices Act of n four.

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<v Speaker 1>If you feel that you've been misled by our promotions,

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<v Speaker 1>we wish to unreservedly apologize and offer a full refund.

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<v Speaker 1>So Power Balance wrist bands don't work. That has been

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<v Speaker 1>proven with videos and lots of demonstrate and now it's

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<v Speaker 1>also been admitted by the company, so you don't need

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<v Speaker 1>to spend your money on this. For more on this

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<v Speaker 1>and thousands of other topics, visit how stuff Works dot com.