# Medicine Ball **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 13, 2002, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medicine-ball/123616 "2002-08-13T00:24:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![im2evil4u](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b5ac83/32.png) [@im2evil4u](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/im2evil4u)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medicine-ball/123616/1 "2002-08-13T00:24:04Z")
Can someone satisfy my husband’s curiosity? Why is a medicine ball called a medicine ball?🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ebca7d/32.png) [@Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Violet)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medicine-ball/123616/2 "2002-08-13T01:07:30Z")
I guess they are used in physical therapy. Try a Google search, too. ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medicine-ball/123616/3 "2002-08-13T01:48:06Z")
Yes, physical therapy! I seriously wished I had known that before I dislocated my jaw trying to ram that mother down… ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medicine-ball/123616/4 "2002-08-13T01:52:16Z")
This was done before at [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=130426](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=130426) Other than to find that the term is cited at early as 1895, there seems nothing conclusive in that thread. ---
**Author:** ![im2evil4u](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b5ac83/32.png) [@im2evil4u](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/im2evil4u)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medicine-ball/123616/5 "2002-08-13T02:23:31Z")
before what samclem? you sent me my own question. Oh, Ms. Violet, thanks for the info, it was useful. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medicine-ball/123616/6 "2002-08-13T02:43:24Z")
Let’s try that again. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=34420&highlight=medicine+ball](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=34420&highlight=medicine+ball) If I did it correctly, you will find only that it appears in print in 1895. I have read a dozen Google sites and they are divided between two late 19th century heath fitness guys as the inventor. William Muldoon in NYC is one. Robert Jefferies Roberts in Boston is the other. I don’t believe there is anything on the web to prove either one, but it could be correct. To give a general piece of info which I gleaned from reading a cite about gyms/weightlifting/exercise=health in Boston about 1960-1880, I found that most of this kind of heavy exercise was being touted as “medicinal”(my word) with all kinds of claims about medical benefits, some as outlandish as weightlifting could cure horrible diseases. So using the term “medicine” at that time in reference to such a piece of exercise equiptment wasn’t strange. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medicine-ball/123616/7 "2002-08-13T02:54:26Z")
…bad night, here. **1860** -1880.