Grip strengthener with therapy ball

Abstract

A grip strengthener with therapy ball includes a resilient pad and ball. The pad is flat and has at least one side surface, a top surface, a bottom surface, a ball mount and a finger slit. The ball mount is defined through the pad and has an inner edge. The finger slit is defined in the top surface of the pad between the ball mount and one of the at least one side surface. The ball is mounted detachably in the ball mount of the pad and has an outer surface, a mounting groove, a top side and a bottom side. The mounting groove is defined around the outer surface of the ball and engages the inner edge of the ball mount in the pad. The top side and the bottom side respectively protrude the top surface and the bottom surface of the pad.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to a grip strengthener, and more particularly to a grip strengthener with therapy ball.

[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0004] Conventional grip strengtheners and therapy balls use resilient or elastic objects such as springs or rubber and are squeezed or rolled to exercise a person's hand for strengthening the person's wrist, fingers and arm to build gripping strength for sports or recover from injury.

[0005] A conventional therapy ball is repeatedly gripped tightly and released by a person to exercise their fingers. With reference to FIG. 6, a conventional grip strengthener (40) is used to strengthen a person's wrist, is palm-sized, flat and has four side surfaces, a top surface and a finger slit (41). Each side surface is concave to correspond to a person's fingers and thumb. The finger slit (41) is defined in the top surface of the conventional grip strengthener (40) near one of the side surfaces. So the person can insert several fingers into the finger slit (41) and place other fingers on a side surface of the conventional grip strengthener (40) opposite to the thumb. Then the person can curl the fingers in the finger slit (41) to grip the conventional grip strengthener (40) and exercise the person's wrist. However, both the conventional grip strengthener and therapy ball focus on one area. If the person wants to exercise both their wrist and fingers, the person must buy both the conventional grip ball and grip strengthener (40) and perform two sets of exercises.

[0006] To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides a grip strengthener to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0007] The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a grip strengthener with therapy ball that can exercise a person's wrist and fingers.

[0008] A grip strengthener with therapy ball in accordance with the present invention comprises a resilient pad and ball. The pad is flat and has at least one side surface, a top surface, a bottom surface, a ball mount and a finger slit. The ball mount is defined through the pad and has an inner edge. The finger slit is defined in the top surface of the pad between the ball mount and one of the at least one side surface. The ball is mounted detachably in the ball mount of the pad and has an outer surface, a mounting groove, a top side and a bottom side. The mounting groove is defined around the outer surface of the ball and engages the inner edge of the ball mount of the pad. The top side and the bottom side of the ball protrude respectively from the top surface and the bottom surface of the pad. The grip strengthener with therapy ball can be used together to exercise a person's wrist and fingers or separated to focus an exercise on the fingers or the wrist.

[0009] Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010] FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a grip strengthener with therapy ball in accordance with the present invention;

[0011] FIG. 2 is a side view in partial section of the grip strengthener in FIG. 1;

[0012] FIG. 3 is an operational side view in partial section of the grip strengthener with therapy ball in FIG. 2;

[0013] FIG. 4 is an operational side view in partial section of the grip strengthener with therapy ball in FIG. 2 being used against a hard surface;

[0014] FIG. 5 is an operational perspective view of a ball of the grip strengthener with therapy ball in FIG. 1; and

[0015] FIG. 6 is an operational perspective view of a conventional grip pad in accordance with the prior art.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0016] With reference to FIG. 1, a grip strengthener with therapy ball in accordance with the present invention comprises a pad (10) and a ball (20).

[0017] The pad (10) may be rubber or silicone, is flat, resilient and has at least one side surface, a top surface, a bottom surface, a ball mount (13) and a finger slit (14). The top surface is larger than each one of the at least one side surface and corresponds to the bottom surface. The ball mount (13) is defined through the pad (10), has an inner edge and may be circular. The inner edge of the ball mount (13) may be convex. The finger slit (14) is defined in the top surface of the pad (10) between the ball mount (13) and one of the at least one side surface for inserting of a person's fingers. Preferably, the pad (10) has four side surfaces and each side surface is concave for gripping of the person's fingers.

[0018] With further reference to FIG. 2, the ball (20) is resilient, may be rubber or silicone, is mounted detachably in the ball mount (13) in the pad (10) and has an outer surface, a mounting groove (21), a top side and a bottom side. The mounting groove (21) is defined around the outer surface of the ball (20) and engages the inner edge of the ball mount (13) of the pad (10). The top side and the bottom side of the ball (20) protrude respectively from the top surface and the bottom surface of the pad (10).

[0019] With further reference to FIG. 3, when the person wants to exercise their wrist and fingers at the same time, the person places his/her thumb on one of the at least one side surface of the pad (10) and inserts his/her fingers into the finger slit (14) of the pad (10). Then the grip strengthener with therapy ball is repeatedly gripped tightly and released to exercise the person's fingers. People with different palm sizes can place their thumb at different positions of the pad (10) for a comfortable grip.

[0020] With further reference to FIG. 4, when the person only wants to exercise their wrist, the person can put the grip strengthener with therapy ball on a solid surface such as a desk, table or floor and push his/her palm against the ball (20) in different directions.

[0021] With further reference to FIG. 5, when the person only wants to exercise their fingers, the person can remove the ball (20) from the pad (10) and alternately grips and releases the ball (20) with his/her fingers. The ball (20) can be materials of different resiliences. When the person has a higher finger strength after practicing, the person can exercise his/her fingers with a ball (20) of less resilience to keep improving the finger strength. The ball (20) can also be switched for people of different finger strengths, such as adults and children.

[0022] The grip strengthener with therapy ball can exercise a person's wrist and fingers at the same time, so the person needs not to buy both a conventional therapy ball and a grip strengthener. Using the grip strengthener with therapy ball is also convenient because the person exercises different parts of the hand at the same time.

[0023] Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only. Changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.

Claims

1. A grip strengthener with therapy ball comprising a pad being resilient, flat and having at least one side surface; a top surface being larger than each one of the at least one side surface; a bottom surface corresponding to the top surface; a ball mount being defined through the pad and having an inner edge; and a finger slit being defined in the top surface of the pad between the ball mount and one of the at least one side surface; and a ball being resilient, mounted detachably in the ball mount of the pad and having an outer surface; a mounting groove being defined around the outer surface of the ball and engaging the inner edge of the ball mount in the pad; a top side protruding from the top surface of the pad; and a bottom side protruding from the bottom surface of the pad.

2. The grip strengthener with therapy ball as claimed in claim 1, wherein the inner edge of the ball mount is convex.

3. The grip strengthener with therapy ball as claimed in claim 1, wherein the pad has four side surfaces and each side surface is concave.

4. The grip strengthener with therapy ball as claimed in claim 1, wherein the ball mount is circular.

5. The grip strengthener with therapy ball as claimed in claim 2, wherein the pad has four side surfaces and each side surface is concave.

6. The grip strengthener with therapy ball as claimed in claim 3, wherein the ball mount is circular.

7. The grip strengthener with therapy ball as claimed in claim 4, wherein the inner edge of the ball mount is convex.