Tennis Balls aid flexability

27 January 2012

1 Comments

Many of Stuarts clients are surprised that when they visit him for the 1st time they often leave with a small present, either a tennis ball or a golf ball.

The tennis ball is probably one of the best self-massage tools you can have in your armoury. Forget about the expensive, colourful and strange shaped massage tools on the market and get yourself a couple of tennis balls. I personally keep a tennis ball in my kit all the time.

The basic idea of tennis ball massage is to trap the ball between your body and something else, this could either be the floor, a wall or even another body part. Be inventive and see what works for you.

The goal of tennis ball massage is to achieve a ‘release’ by applying just the right amount of pressure, enough to get the muscle knot or trigger point to release but not so much as you irritate it. The sensation you feel should be strong but satisfying, what it often referred to as ‘good pain’. If you have to grit your teeth it is probably too much pressure, ease off a bit, you need to be able to relax whilst doing this.

Once you have found the right spot and the right pressure to use, relax as much as possible and wait for the sensation to subside to about 75% of its original intensity. This is the ‘release’ of the knot or trigger point. This may take anywhere between 10 seconds and several minutes.
Tennis ball massage is usually most effective in massaging the large hard to reach muscles of the back and hips. Many other places can be massaged with this technique but tend to be quite awkward to position and apply suitable pressure.

Tennis ball massage usually only provides temporary relief from your symptoms, you will need to continue seeing your qualified sports therapist to really get the trigger points and knots de-activated.
Although the effects are only short lived you can make the effects last longer if you do the following.
• Only deal with a few knots at a time, starting with the worse
• Use heat as well, have a hot shower or bath before hand or use a hot water bottle to heat the area first
• Avoid physical exertion for 24 hours after treating the knots
• Move and stretch the muscle after gaining the ‘release’ of each knot.

These aren’t hard and fast rules and is very much a trial and error, find what combinations work best for you.
Try this at home. Stand with you feet at hip joint width apart, to make it easy for you you ankles should be approximately the width of a clenched fist apart, now try and touch your toes, DO NOT try and ‘bounce’ or force yourself. How far did you get? Now put the tennis ball into the arch of your foot and trap the ball between the floor and your foot. There should just be enough pressure to feel discomfort. Now roll the ball for approximately 5 minutes. Now repeat with the other foot. Now feet hip joint width apart again and bend forward and try and touch your toes. Did you get further? Or was it feel easier to bend to the same point as before?
At no point should self-massage techniques, such as the tennis ball trick, be seen as a substitute to treatment by a professionally trained sports therapist, they are trained in trigger point release, but rather as additional things you can do yourself to help relieve painful symptoms and maintain the work done by your therapist.

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