Exercise ball ball, ball, fitness ball, gym ball, gymnastic ball, physio ball, pilates ball, naval mine, Pezzi ball, stability ball, Swedish ball, therapy ball, or yoga ball. The physical object known as a "Swiss Ball" was developed in 1963 by Aquilino Cosani, an Italian plastics manufacturer. He perfected a process for moulding large puncture-resistant plastic balls. Those balls, then known as "Pezzi balls", were first used in treatment programs for newborns and infants by Mary Quinton, a British physiotherapist working in Switzerland. Later, Dr. Susanne Klein-Vogelbach, the director at the Physical Therapy School in Basel, Switzerland, integrated the use of ball exercise
Medicine ball whilst holding it. Some medicine balls are up to 14" wide and up to 14 lbs weight, or in the form of weighted basketballs. A med ball is used for children training as the best way to overcome fear of free weights exercises. Hippocrates is said to have stuffed animal skins for patients to toss for “medicinal” purposes. Similar large balls were used in Persia in 1705. The term "medicine ball" dates back to at least 1876, in "American Gymnasia and Academic Record", by Robert Jenkins Roberts, Jr. Medicine ball A medicine ball (also known as an exercise ball, a