Medicine ball

[2] It is distinct from the inflated exercise ball, which is much lighter and larger (up to 910 mm (36 in) diameter).

Hippocrates is said to have stuffed animal skins for patients to toss for medicinal purposes.

[4] Similar large balls were said to have been used in Persia, specifically by Persian wrestlers, as well as by Gladiators.

[4][5][6] The term "medicine ball" dates back to at least 1876, in American Gymnasia and Academic Record, by Robert Jenkins Roberts Jr.

The first known photograph of a medicine ball in the United States was taken in 1866 and shows Harvard athletic instructor Aaron Molyneaux Hewlett surrounded by his equipment.