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Your Friend, The Tennis Ball.
Jul. 3rd, 2011 10:37 pmYes, really.
No, the only things I'm on are prescription.
So I've been reading a book lately (emphasis sadly on the past tense, given that French ate my skull) on trigger points, and one of the therapy tools recommended for home treatment (in addition to superballs, golf balls and a small monstrosity called a Theracane) is a tennis ball.
You smush it between you and a wall, or between you and a floor/bed, and roll it in small arcs over something that's bugging you.*
Say, the back of a right hip: you start with the ball smushed against the right edge of your sacrum, and roll/squirm around until the ball is hanging out in an ouchy spot, work there for a bit, then move on.
You will likely wind up working everything from your lower back to the upper area of the back of your thigh as a result, and drop the stupid ball two or three times in the process**, but when you walk away from the wall your hip will, well, move.
This process will either make you look like a truly demented belly dancer or someone attempting to become one with a wall (let's just say working on a pectoral muscle is ouchy and weird looking, shall we?).
On the other hand, I haven't had to ask my physiotherapist to specifically unknot my hip in two weeks.
It's not as effective as I'd like on my arm, though it does seem to help with the lateral knot--I occasionally idly think if I didn't already have ink in the general area I should go for a Celtic- or Gordian-inspired series of knots along my lateral elbow, the angry little bastard--and I can't take the time necessary to properly work on my rhomboid because the ribs under there start making rattlesnake noises.
The book also sounds a bit like my dad right after he's found a New Shiny Thing and it is obviously the answer*** to everything, so I'm having a bit of trouble taking it entirely seriously, but it's definitely interesting reading.
*: Yes, you can do this to your feet, too, though the book claims a golf or superball is more ideal because they're smaller and can zero in on deeper muscle groups. Don't use a wall. The floor will work better. =P
**: Apparently trapping the ball in a tall heel-less sock helps with the escapee problem, but I imagine that mostly works for upper back areas, where you can hold the end of the sock.
***: The book does not consist of one page labeled 42, I promise.
No, the only things I'm on are prescription.
So I've been reading a book lately (emphasis sadly on the past tense, given that French ate my skull) on trigger points, and one of the therapy tools recommended for home treatment (in addition to superballs, golf balls and a small monstrosity called a Theracane) is a tennis ball.
You smush it between you and a wall, or between you and a floor/bed, and roll it in small arcs over something that's bugging you.*
Say, the back of a right hip: you start with the ball smushed against the right edge of your sacrum, and roll/squirm around until the ball is hanging out in an ouchy spot, work there for a bit, then move on.
You will likely wind up working everything from your lower back to the upper area of the back of your thigh as a result, and drop the stupid ball two or three times in the process**, but when you walk away from the wall your hip will, well, move.
This process will either make you look like a truly demented belly dancer or someone attempting to become one with a wall (let's just say working on a pectoral muscle is ouchy and weird looking, shall we?).
On the other hand, I haven't had to ask my physiotherapist to specifically unknot my hip in two weeks.
It's not as effective as I'd like on my arm, though it does seem to help with the lateral knot--I occasionally idly think if I didn't already have ink in the general area I should go for a Celtic- or Gordian-inspired series of knots along my lateral elbow, the angry little bastard--and I can't take the time necessary to properly work on my rhomboid because the ribs under there start making rattlesnake noises.
The book also sounds a bit like my dad right after he's found a New Shiny Thing and it is obviously the answer*** to everything, so I'm having a bit of trouble taking it entirely seriously, but it's definitely interesting reading.
*: Yes, you can do this to your feet, too, though the book claims a golf or superball is more ideal because they're smaller and can zero in on deeper muscle groups. Don't use a wall. The floor will work better. =P
**: Apparently trapping the ball in a tall heel-less sock helps with the escapee problem, but I imagine that mostly works for upper back areas, where you can hold the end of the sock.
***: The book does not consist of one page labeled 42, I promise.
