Homemade Wobble Board

Known formally as Biomechanical Ankle Platforms, or BAPs for short, wobble boards play a crucial role in both physical rehabilitation and sports injury prevention. While manufacturers use relatively cheap materials to produce them, wobble boards can retail for upwards of $94. However, if you're clever and handy with a power tool, you can build a quality BAP for a fraction of the price.

  1. Platform Materials

    • To construct the main surface of the wobble board, you can choose from a wide range of materials. Wood offers the best value, although with a few caveats. Avoid natural wood like pine, oak, poplar, or maple, as it is prone to warping and rarely available in sufficient widths. Likewise, particle board, or chipboard, is brittle and breaks easily.

      Instead, go with an engineered wood product. Made from a combination of plastic resin and recycled wood pieces, engineered wood boards have the dimensions, durability, price point and workability necessary for this project. Oriented Strand Board (OSB) or "waferboard" costs the least but is extremely prone to splintering along any cut edge. To counter this, have a Dremel hand tool with a rotary cutting bit to clip the splinters and a power sander to smooth the edges. Wood veneers--plywoods--cost slightly more but reduce the risk of splintering. Plus, plywood boards have a grain texture that is far more visually appealing than that of OSB.

      Besides wood, you could use a 4-millimeter-thick aluminum plate for the top surface. However, expect the material cost alone to be at least 10 times that of composite wood. Also, you'll need access to special metalworking materials like lathes, tungsten-carbide drills and even possibly CAD software. If you don't already own these tools, don't bother with aluminum; the production cost will be higher than the retail price.

      One-inch-thick Lucite, Plexiglass or other acrylic plastics also resist warping and last almost indefinitely. However, unless you already own the special tools needed, it would most likely be cheaper to buy a wobble board at the store.

    The Hemisphere

    • The beauty of a wobble board is that the hemispherical piece underneath the platform allows you to angle the surface in any direction. Creating a near-perfect hemisphere is very, very difficult to do on your own. Instead, you'll want to find spherical objects that you can either cut in half or build the platform around.

      The simplest design involves taking a "fast-pitch" softball (i.e. yellow and hard) and wedging it into a circular hole cut in the center of the platform. However, for this design, two feet need to be on the platform at all times. Accordingly, this kind of wobble board is best suited for balance exercises, as opposed to ankle strengthening.

      For a single-foot design, cut a 2-mm-deep, circular indentation into the bottom of the platform. The diameter of the circular indentation should be exactly equal to the that of a fast-pitch softball. Next, cut the softball in half along its equator. Smear "Gorilla Glue" on the flat, cut surface of one of the softball hemispheres and set it into the platform's indentation. Use a belt or long strap to secure the hemisphere and platform together overnight.

      Finally, if you want to give your project a more professional touch, simply go online and order a rubber "replacement" hemisphere for a store-bought wobble board. To attach it to your homemade platform, simply drill four 2-inch screws from the top of the platform into the flat edge of the hemisphere underneath.