SI Jan Feb 2012 NEW_SI new design masters 11/15/11 9:03 AM Page 14 [SPECIAL REPORT Power Balance Bracelets a Bust in Tests Members of the Independent Investigations Group and sixteen volunteers, including former Olympic gymnast Dominique Dawes, conducted a test of Power Balance bracelets. The results will not be surprising to skeptics. JAMES UNDERDOWN Power Balance bracelets are silicone body and others negatively. When the Power Balance once used highly sub- wristbands that are embedded with two hologram comes in contact with your jective applied kinesiology tests to Mylar holograms (see right). On Octo- body’s energy field, it allows your body demonstrate that the bracelets work. In ber 21, 2010, the Independent Investi- to interact with the natural, beneficial these types of “tests,” one person ana- gations Group (IIG) conducted a dou- frequency stored within the hologram. lyzes another’s resistance and balance by ble-blind test to determine whether This re sults in improved energy flow applying pressure in various ways. (The Power Balance’s claims that the holo- throughout your body.” (See Harriet applied kinesiology videos are no longer grams on their bracelets (then selling Hall’s excellent article about these claims, on Power Balance’s website, www.power online for $29.95) work with the body’s “Power Balance Technology: Pseudo - balance.com.) “energy field” to improve strength, flex- scientific Silliness Suckers Card-Carry- The applied kinesiology method of ibility, and balance by “optimizing the ing Surfers,” in the May/June 2010 testing the bracelet’s effectiveness is body’s natural energy flow.” The com- SKEPTICAL INQUIRER; also available on- problematic and full of flaws for a num- pany’s website also included a tangle of line at www.csicop.org ber of reasons. There is no way to know information that attempted to draw /si/show/power_balance_technology.) from videos of these tests how much connections between Eastern medicine, The company relies heavily on testimo- pressure the tester is exerting, whether “body frequencies,” and “positive en- nials from blue-chip pro athletes like the technique used to apply the pressure ergy.” The following excerpt, once avail- Shaquille O’Neal of the Boston Celtics, is identical each time, or whether the re- able on the Power Balance site, gives in- Lamar Odom of the Los Angeles Lak- sistance from the person being tested is sight into the company’s rationale ers, and Derrick Rose of the Chicago the same each time. Most people’s flex- behind its product: “Most everything Bulls. Odom and others are paid to en- ibility seems to improve from their first has a frequency inherent to it. Some dorse the product and do wear the stretch to their second stretch regardless frequencies react positively with your bracelets during games. of whether they are wearing the bracelet. Former Olympic gymnast Dominique Dawes and IIG A volunteer running the test course. The test was double blinded: neither the test partici- founder James Underdown. pants nor the testers knew which bracelet was the “real” Power Balance band. 14 Volume 36 Issue 1 | Skeptical Inquirer SI Jan Feb 2012 NEW_SI new design masters 11/15/11 9:03 AM Page 15 (I invite you to try this for yourself using no bracelet.) Also, the people being tested may un- consciously 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 ef- fect Power Balance can claim. Every ath- lete knows that confidence is an asset. The Power Balance bracelets and their hologram stickers. To remove this sug gesti ve inf lue nce of the bracelets, we decided to test six- In random order, each of the sixteen course a total of sixteen times. We dis- teen volunteers, including former volunteers went through the course four tributed the bracelets equally among Olym pic gymnast Dominique Dawes, times: once with the real bracelet on and the volunteers through all four rounds on a brief obstacle course that included three times with each of the bracelets of trials to ensure that no bracelet had a 16’×4”×4” balance beam, a figure- that had no holograms. The test was a numerical or sequential advantage at eight–shaped course (which our volun- double blind; we taped over the any given time. (We considered that the teers ran while holding two thirty- bracelets so that no one—volunteers experience of running the course in pound dumbbells), and a stretch test. and testers alike—knew whether each early trials might help the subjects im- Dawes was there with Yahoo News, volunteer was wearing a real Power Bal- prove their times in their subsequent which shot some video of our test for a ance bracelet or one that had had the attempts. To correct for improving story (http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ holograms removed. The power of sug- scores due to familiarity with the weekend-edition/power-balance-wrist- gestion was therefore eliminated. course—sometimes called the “Order bands-053237028.html). Dawes, by the By the end of the test, each of the Effect”—four people wore bracelet A in way, arrived with a healthy skepticism four bracelets (labeled A, B, C, D)— the first round, four different people that seemed to get even stronger when three sans hologram and one “gen- wore bracelet A in the second round, she learned of the test results. uine”—had been carried through the and so on, for each of the four rounds.) IIG Power Balance Test, OBSTACLE COURSE TIME (Seconds) IIG Power Balance Test, FLEXIBILITY (Inches) 20 20 15 15 8.3 8.3 8.6 8.3 13.1 13.1 12.8 ) ) 12.9 s s e d h n c o n c I ( e S 10 10 H ( C e A m E i R T 5 5 Table 1. BRACELET Table 2. BRACELET Skeptical Inquirer | January / February 2 012 15 SI Jan Feb 2012 NEW_SI new design masters 11/14/11 12:12 PM Page 16 So what happened? ance bracelet (also C in Table 2) fared The IIG at CFI–Los Angeles has If the one genuine Power Balance slightly better than the other bracelets now added its findings to the growing bracelet had an intrinsic value that re- but, again, not significantly so. pool of Power Balance’s negative test ally did confer better balance, flexibility, Our initial conclusion was that results. Although the bracelet might and strength upon its user, we should Power Balance bracelets have no dis- have some value as a sort of rabbit’s foot have seen cumulatively better scores cernable effect when the wearer doesn’t meant to boost one’s confidence, Power from the people who wore that bracelet know whether or not he or she is wear- Balance bracelets are a bust as a boon n (C) when compared to the people wear- ing one with a hologram. In other to one’s athletic prowess. ing the three “dummy” bracelets (A, B, words, the bracelet itself doesn’t seem and D). The overall scores between the to be doing anything. These results are four bracelets were in fact very close to- consistent with work done by Richard gether: half the participants who wore Saunders for the Australian Skeptics James Underdown is the the real bracelet did slightly better, and (see “Power Balance Down and Out,” executive director of the Center for Inquiry–Los An- half did slightly worse—exactly as SI, News and Comment, September/ geles and the chair and would be expected by chance. Table 1 Oct ober 2011) and by John Porcari at the founder of the Independ- shows the results of the obstacle course. University of Wisconsin at La crosse, ent Investigations Group. Bear in mind that a lower time indi- both of whom conducted blinded tests He thanks David Richards and Wendy cates a better performance. When it of Power Balance’s efficacy and found Hughes for their valuable help with this arti- came to flexibility, the results were no difference between Power Balance cle. He also wishes to thank all those IIG much the same: the overall scores were products and dummy stand-ins used to members and volunteers who helped con- very close. This time, the Power Bal- blind the user. duct and execute this experiment. 16 Volume 36 Issue 1 | Skeptical Inquirer.