What they are, why they work, how to use them, and 5 key things to look for when buying massage therapy balls. Going to the wall: Most people usually start with the floor, but for many locations working against walls allows much better control over pressure. Plus you usually get a bit of a quadriceps workout! If you’ve ever held a lacrosse ball, you know that it feels nothing like a tennis ball. This kind of ball is dense and hard and doesn’t budge under pressure. Because of their density, texture and feel, lacrosse balls make excellent massage devices that help to relieve sore muscles. If you work out at home, at the gym or outdoors, having a couple of lacrosse balls in your kit is always a good idea. If you have plantar fasciitis, you’re not alone. This type of foot pain is very common but it can be relieved with a lacrosse ball for massaging. Sit down and place the lacrosse ball under the arch of your foot. Lean down so that you put more weight on that foot, and begin to roll it over the ball slowly. Repeat for about a minute and then do the same on the other foot. Once you have used your Lacrosse ball, try performing stretches and exercises that will increase mobility in that region of the body. For instance, tight hips can result in reduced mobility which impacts our ability to squat. We can use Lacrosse ball massage to help relieve the tightness in our hips, and then perform hip mobility exercises to increase mobility in our hips. Mobility is not gained or lost overnight, so it is important to consistently stretch and perform various exercises if your goal is to increase mobility. Lacrosse Ball Peanut

Generally speaking, wherever you’re tight! However, there are some key areas that are commonly tight for most of us, which makes them perfect for abuse from the lacrosse ball. Those areas tend to be: So yes, you can in fact become a better athlete simply by improving your flexibility and range of motion. With frequent lacrosse ball massage you should be able to do exactly that.A: It’s really hard to beat the lacrosse ball for foot massage! However, when you first start out you may want something a little larger and softer. If you have very specific knots or substantial scar tissue, you may want to try using golf balls for even better penetration and targeting then you’ll get with lacrosse balls. Muscle “knots” are sore, aching spots of uncertain nature best known as “ trigger points.” 1 Having too many severe, chronic trigger points is myofascial pain syndrome, a rather vague label for chronic widespread pain that is presumed to involve primarily muscle pain (as opposed to neuropathy, arthritic joints, say). The idea of MPS also overlaps quite a bit with fibromyalgia. But even healthy people have occasional flare-ups of this kind of discomfort. Many of these tools are handy and fun, but one of the most important ideas in this article is that you really don’t need to go out of your way to buy anything special: most people already have a tennis ball around, and it really is one of the most versatile self-massage tools in the world. In a world of pulsating, high-powered massage guns and electric, heated foam rollers, it’s easy to assume that all recovery tools are complex and expensive. But there’s a simple, portable, and effective product that works out knots, eases tension, and costs less than a cup of 7-Eleven coffee.

I’ve been using one to activate tight muscles and soothe tired ones for nearly four years. I’ll happily credit massage guns (in part, at least) with helping me stay injury-free for my last 3,000-plus miles of running.Flip to lay face-up and place the ball under the fleshy part of your calf, near the underside of the knee With many small but frequently used muscles, feet support the weight of your whole body. Foot muscles and plantar fascia are often constricted inside of shoes. A lacrosse ball foot massage can be quite intense, so it is recommended to ease your weight onto the ball.

So you can see why a heated massage ball makes a lot more sense. But, let me make a prediction. If you were to buy a massage tool that could be heated, you’d try it once or twice and then would use it without heat thereafter. Who has enough spare time for heating a massage tool when the heat will dissipate in a couple of minutes? It’s a nifty idea, but personally I’m into simplicity and practical tools. If I need heat, a heating pad makes a lot more sense to me. How to use massage balls for myofascial release In the rest of this article, we’ll talk more about the benefits and best practices for using your lacrosse ball. Benefits of lacrosse ball massages The peanut massage ball can be used in the same areas as a traditional massage ball can, however, the differences in results can be quite different given its shape.With a peanut massage ball, its shape leaves space for your spine whilst massaging the muscles that run down either side (erector spinae) of your spine. Regardless, trying to untie muscle knots certainly feels good, and many people seem to experience profound relief from focused massage pressure. Just like stretching, its therapeutic value is unclear, but it can definitely feel fantastic, like scratching an itch. Pleasant massage is its own reward, and just-right pressure on trigger points is one of the main things that makes massage pleasant. Some may say you need protrusions to dig into a tweaked muscle or tendon but, all of my tweaks and injuries have always been resolved easily with smooth round balls. In addition to getting better control over the movement with a smooth ball, you can also cover more territory faster and more easily. Stretch the fascia of the toes by placing all five toes onto the lacrosse ball bringing the foot flat to the ground and holding

How do lacrosse balls for massaging work? They are used on the fascia, which is thin connective tissue that covers your organs and muscles and connects muscle groups. If the fascia is tight, you may have increased pressure on your joints and muscles, which leads to pain, soreness and discomfort. By using the lacrosse balls for myofascial therapy, you can loosen and stretch out the fascia to relieve pain and gain more freedom of movement.First let’s talk about cold — it’s helpful for stimulating blood flow and reducing inflammation. As such, cold definitely has its place in the physical therapy tool bag. But a cold massage ball doesn’t make a lot of sense in my opinion. Here’s why – a massage ball is a great deep tissue tool which when done properly is about stretching. The whole point behind using a ball is that you penetrate deep into the belly of the muscle or tendon which stretches it restoring flexibility where fibers have tightened. Would you ever chill your muscles before a stretching routine? You might, if you wanted to get injured.