A new exercise device called Jyze – rhymes with “size” – is making inroads as a new stabilization device for personal fitness, injury prevention, pre- and post-surgery rehabilitation, and athletic performance. Designed with extensive usability input by personal and professional trainers, physical therapists, sports medicine doctors, orthopedic surgeons, and industrial designers, Jyze is essentially a weighted spinning disc harnessing centrifugal force to create progressive resistance of 3 to 60 pounds.

Jyze's simple winding action provides great visual feedback and encourages more repetitions. With 30-plus upper-body exercises, including internal/external rotations, flexion, curls, and extensions, Jyze packs a ton of rehabilitation and athletic potential in a device weighing approximately 1 pound.

Under the supervision of a physical therapist or another individual at home, Jyze is recommended for anyone recovering from an injury or post-surgery. For patients with shoulder impingements and who otherwise would benefit from shoulder, upper arm, chest, and upper back strengthening, Jyze’s resistance contributes greatly to increased strength, stability, and mobility of muscle groups in these areas.


“There is definitely a role for Jyze in the progression of physical therapy for shoulders as you transition to full function,” says Seth Kelson, DPT at American Fork Physical Therapy in Utah, who uses Jyze with several of his patients. “Jyze delivers a compact, complete solution that can be introduced early in rehabilitation and even go home with the patient to ensure shoulder strength, mobility, and stability. My patients have responded very well to its gyroscopic resistance and game-like feedback.” 

With Jyze’s four configurable workout bands, physical therapists can add Jyze to an existing treatment plan or use it stand-alone to match a patient’s current treatment level. Varying the number of pulls per minute mechanically raises the resistance level of any workout band. The four workout bands include:

• Yellow (.5 ounces) is the lightest band and works well for high repetition, sustained workouts with 3 to 15 pounds of resistance.
• Orange (1.5 ounces) moves the workout up a notch with 8 to 30 pounds of resistance.
• Light Red (2.5 ounces) provides an intermediate workout (from 10 to 15 pounds of force), one designed for zone-specific exercises and improving overall function.
• Dark Red (4 ounces) delivers the heaviest workout and is intended to improve athletic performance.

“We have had excellent results with patients who have used Jyze,” says Brent S. E. Rich, MD, ATC, director of Utah Valley Sports Medicine, as well as team physician of the United States Olympic Team in 2000. “We’ve found that it is beneficial in preventing and treating injuries. Our patients get rehabilitation without it feeling like a rehab device. The variability in angles reproduces the movements and specific pathways patients use in their individual sports. Jyze is a great addition to the rehabilitation of upper extremity injuries.”

Jyze is ideal for use under the supervision of a physical therapist or by an individual at home. Supervision is recommended for anyone recovering from an injury or post-surgery. Supervision is not required for individuals interested in personal fitness or improving athletic performance.

Jyze provides innovative utility in rehabilitating injuries and surgical repairs. Jyze’s short- or long-arc exercises improve functional ability and athletic performance and can be used in treating many chronic conditions. With its simple but easy to use winding action, Jyze provides extreme versatility with unlimited exercise techniques consistent with today’s best rehabilitation protocols. Jyze contributes to improvements in spinal stability, proprioceptive awareness, muscular fitness and cardiovascular fitness.


“People are hunched over a lot – driving, at work on a computer, and even in their current workouts,” says Trevor Sanders, NASM CPT, of PhitPro of Salt Lake City. “Jyze gets people upright and strengthens the shoulders and back, improves posture and relieves tension. I’ve added Jyze to workouts that previously only utilized the lower body. We can now tone the upper body and burn more calories in a low impact total workout.”

The Jyze handles have a quick adjustment feature to shorten or
lengthen the Jyze rope on the fly to fit the range of motion needs of the patient. In addition, the same feature allows one handle to be attached to a door (hinge side), pole or other stationary object to allow a patient to face away from the Jyze disc and perform internal rotations and other exercises.

“I’m always looking for ways to be more efficient and protect patients’ time and money,” says Kelson. “Jyze is affordable, can be used to strengthen multiple shoulder planes and can continue to be used after the patient finishes physical therapy.”

A list of physical therapist-reviewed exercises is available at www.jyzefit.com. In addition, JyzeFit provides images and exercise instructions that physical therapists can use to manually add Jyze exercises to software programs like Exercise Pro and VH1. JyzeFit is in discussions with these software companies to include Jyze in their programs. While not required for effective therapy, these software programs are recommended for physical therapists who want to tailor a rehabilitation protocol for an individual patient.

— Brett Walker is founder and CEO of Provo, Utah-based JyzeFit, and inventor of Jyze. Questions and comments can be directed to editorial@therapytimes.com.