Thera-Band: What and Why?

“You can stand on your toes?” “Doesn’t that hurt?” I am a ballet dancer, so to answer your questions: yes and yes! I have been training in classical ballet since the age of 3; when I turned 12, I began to practice “en pointe”. This French phrase translates to “on the tips of toes”, which is quite literally how a ballerina dances. A unique shoe called the pointe shoe gives dancers the support necessary to balance on the very tips of their toes. The surface area on which a dancer must stand is approximately 1 ½ inches by 1 inch per foot. Although ballet is not a sport in the typical sense – with rules, a score and clear final objective – the athleticism, discipline and performance of a professional ballerina is nothing less than that of an Olympian. With this in mind, the training regimen for a dancer of this discipline must cater to the specific requirements of the practice. A strong ankle, foot arch and toes (generally referred to as the “point” of the foot) are essential for the grace and elegance with which ballerinas preform. For this reason, the thera-band is a ballerina’s best friend.

A thera-band is comparable to a very large elastic band. It creates a unique kind of resistance training in that resistance increases with the stretching of the band. In other words, training muscles increases in difficulty throughout any given movement. Chemical and material engineers are responsible for the fundamental composition of thera-bands. The most common thera-bands are manufactured from natural rubber latex. Natural latex comes from the Hevea brasiliensis tree, and is processed into rubber. The method by which the substance is created, molded and dried into a solid flexible state are all aspects that chemical and materials engineers focus on. The resulting thera-band must be both flexible and strong, and must be durable in respect to its applications as an exercising device.

Mechanical engineers who work in biological (in this case, human) applications are classified as biomechanical engineers, and they must determine the fundamental characteristics of a thera-band once it has been created. The first characteristic to be examined is force. Force is depicted as resistance in elastic materials. A biomechanical engineer calculates force with 3 factors in mind: the elastic coefficient (a constant value), the thickness or cross section of the thera-band, and its length. Since the elastic coefficient does not change, an engineer creates different levels of resistance by altering thickness and thera-band length. Moreover, as thera-bands must fulfil a certain length in order to be practical for various exercises, thickness is the most common variable between thera-bands of different resistances.

Collaboration between the chemical and materials engineers and the biomechanical engineers is necessary for establishing relationships between the composition of a band and its resistance. Thera-bands are sold and used in varying resistances for different types of strength training, as well as people of different fitness levels. Having accurate and consistent resistance difference intervals is a very important factor in resistance training. The hybridization of multiple engineering streams makes the creation of different resistance levels possible.

Once the material of each thera-band has been perfected along with its specific resistance, the thera-bands can move forward in their creation process. A specific branch of mechanical engineering referred to as manufacturing or assembly engineering is needed at this point. Manufacturing engineers consider the chemical composition of the thera-band, its creation process and the demand of the company, among other tedious details. They create the most efficient, economic and possibly even environmentally conscious (depending on the philosophy of the thera-band company) method of production. Once packaged, created and delivered, ballerinas such as myself are able to purchase the appropriate resistance for our level of training, and strengthen the areas of our feet necessary to dance en pointe.

Although thera-bands are a fantastic product, they do break and tear with use. The problem with this is that the thera-band becomes completely useless once it has been broken as it does not have the necessary length or strength to offer adequate resistance training and is most often thrown away. The reciprocate proposition towards this issue is to establish a thera-band recycling system. Each company should provide a shipping address for their product once it has been torn or lost all strength, and should then re-use the rubber material to create new thera-band products. Commercially, this tactic is appealing; it also addresses the environmental concerns of thera-bands that are thrown out and found in landfills, and during the initial manufacturing process of rubber. Re-using rubber requires less energy than manufacturing it from latex, and would produce less pollution as a result. In the case of synthetic rubbers, non-renewable petroleum products used in the manufacturing process are minimized by reusing pre-existing rubber. Chemical and material engineers need to develop processes by which to recombine old rubber into new products. Bonding must occur on the molecular level of the rubber as it is a polymer. This may be done using heat to break and reform bonds, or a chemical catalyst to act as a binding agent. Biomechanical engineers must then ensure that reused rubber thera-bands maintain the same resistance quantities as the original product, and if not, they must make adjustments to either the manufacturing process, or the categorization of resistance levels for reused rubber thera-bands.

The thera-band is a simple piece of equipment. Its complexities exist within the production process – with different molecular compositions and levels of resistance – and in its use. Exercises done with thera-bands are extremely unique in that they offer isolated muscle strengthening and progressively increasing tension. Moving forward in the thera-band industry, the incorporation of environmental awareness would be a positive step for thera-band companies. Here, challenges are once more faced in terms of the consistency of new and re-used rubber and its strength and resistance factors. The many engineers involved in the thera-band creation process, from chemical to mechanical to industrial, use their combined efforts to create the thera-band product. Because of this, athletes, and dancers in particular, are given a tool with which to specifically train for their unique sport.

Works Cited

"Recycling Rubber." Practical Action: Technology Changing Poverty. Web. 21 Feb. 2015.

Page, Phil. "Quantifying Torque in Elastic Resistance Exercises (Part I)."Performance Health Academy. Hygenic Corporation, 20 Mar. 2013. Web. 21 Feb. 2015.

Thera-Band System of Progressive Exercise. Arkon, Ohio: Hygenic Corporation, 2012. 28 Mar. 2012. Web. 21 Feb. 2015.

Woodford, Chris. "Rubber." Explain That Stuff. Chris Woodford 2008, 15 July 2014. Web. 21 Mar. 2015.