Tools for Self-Massage
Monday, April 7, 2008 18:39Last week, I mentioned a lot of good alternative therapies you can turn to for pain relief. Of course, you can also perform massage, acupressure and trigger point therapy on yourself.
You can use your own fingers, knuckles, even the palm of your hand or elbow. However, you might prefer to use some of the tools below, to help save your hands from the extra pressure, or to help you put extra pressure on those hard-to-reach places, like your back.
Before you jump and buy a special tool though, keep in mind there are all sorts of objects around your house that might do the trick. Many physical therapists recommend wrapping a golf ball or tennis ball in a long sock, then grasping the end of the sock and leaning your back against the ball, either leaning into a wall or while lying on the ground. The ball will help put pressure on the tense places and you can roll it around by moving.
You can be creative using other tools around your house, too. For example, aluminum cans of food are great for a foot massage, or for the palms of your hands. Just put them on the carpet on their side, then roll your palms or soles of your feet along the arch of the can.
If the objects you have lying around just aren’t doing the trick, you can also check out the following tools, designed specifically for massage.
The Knobble – small, wooden and handheld, used often by therapists for general massage.
TheraCane — a long curving tool to help you reach your back or neck easily
BackKnobber and other tools — alternatives to TheraCane
Comfort Channel – offers many kinds of tools, a web site with many images
Pressure Positive – offers many kinds of tools, another web site with many images
Armaid – a standing contraption designed specifically for forearm massage
Please note that I don’t know anything about the vendors. I chose these sites because they give good images of the available options.
If you’ve used any of these, feel free to share your thoughts and reviews in the comments section.
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Rich Poley says:
May 15th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Nice job of discovering self-massage tools. I’ve written a book on self-massage and never seen one of the tools you identified. Having, however, experimented with a wide range of massage tools, I found the Backnobber II and Knobble II to be the most effective. The Backnobber II is great for getting to hard to reach places like my back and the bottoms of my feet. It allows me to release trigger points that I couldn’t otherwise get to while letting my body remain relaxed. The Knobble II has a nice ergonomic design, fits in the palm of my hand. I take it pretty much everywhere I go. I’ve never tried or seen the Armaid and am interested in what you think of it.
Home Treatment for Repetitive Stress Injury » Top 10 Easy Ways to Change Your Lifestyle with RSI says:
September 10th, 2009 at 10:47 pm
[...] Give yourself a massage with hand-held tools, instead of using your own knuckles [...]