Can it make you an ace or just make you the jack of all fools?
Since 2006, the Power Balance Bracelet preaches their wristbands hold a power that's been untapped. The hologram inside the bracelet is said to increase your balance, agility, and strength.
"I put it on and my arm started to tingle." says Coastal Carolina University student Ashleigh Gaspari. "It really worked for me. I can tell."
Elite athletes like Drew Brees, Shaquille O'neil, and Shane Victorino, all of who have won championships in their respected sports, promote the Power Balance Bracelet as a product that gives them a phsyical edge over their opponents.
Like the athletes that promote them, some swear by its power.
"Before I started wearing it," says Coastal Carolina Student Lydia McCloughin, "I would always be drinking coffee and have low energy. After I started wearing it, I was positive and feel a lot more energetic."
Another CCU student, Daryl Thompson says the wristbands boost is bona-fide. "When I do finally put it on when I haven't worn it in a long time," Thompson says, "I don't realize it until I get that final boost of energy. I'm like this thing really does work."
The power is thought to last indefinitely, but some bracelets just seven months old were falling apart. The company says the bracelets don't work for everyone so they offer a money back guarantee on the box, but at the Myrtle Beach Mall kiosk we bought our bracelet from the sign posted said no refunds.
To make sure people aren't wasting twenty dollars a pop on the bracelet, NewsChannel 15 wanted to put the bands to the test to see if powers can be bought with a wristband. We contacted Stacey Beam with Coastal Carolina University's Natural and Applied Sciences Department. She is the University's Lab Coordinator for Sports Study. She says the bands rely on no proof at all, only testimonies.
"What their hook or hypothesis is behind it working, doesn't match up with what we know about the human body." says Beam.
She offered us a test with a Biodex Machine that measures balance and agility.
The machine uses a cursor on the monitor that is controlled by a board underneath your feet. You move the cursor to different spots on the monitor until you've reached them all and showed stability at each.
Myself, our NewsChannel 15 photographer Aaron Varnam, and her lab assistant Heather Gannoe would take two test to see if the bracelets actually give you an edge physically.
We each completed the test twice with a score of 65 being perfect. Heather would be our constant not wearing the band in either. Me wearing the band in the first round but not in the second and Aaron wearing the band in the first but without it in the second go round.
Our scores came out like this:
Round 1 Round 2 % increase
Heather w/o 27 w/o 39 33%
Ryan w/o 29 w/ 44 51%
Aaron w/ 11 w/o 18 63%
We all increased in our second tries. I was the only one to do so with a bracelet. According to the makers of the bracelet, Aaron should have decrease the second round when he actually increased the most.
The test proved there is no way you can effect energies that are coming off of your body. A bracelet or wristband can not make you better at balancing or more agile. Beam does agree though the bracelet do have a psychological effect.
"If you believe something will make you stronger or faster or do better, then you are more likely to do it. The mind and the body have a very strong connection with one another." Beam says.
Making the bands no different than not cleaning your lucky socks or wearing your lucky shoes. Beam suggests people just keep their twenty dollars and buy something else.
"I'd rather go out to dinner or something like that. You'd get a lot more out of it at least."