Therapy Balls…the solution to your pain
If you’ve ever been to Michigan Massage and Wellness for a bodywork session or a class, there’s a good chance that one of my other therapists or I have introduced you to the Yoga Tune Up® therapy balls. And on more than one occasion, they’ve been referred to as “magic.” Take a look at what Carrie had to say about them:
How Therapy Balls can help you
- They reduce pain
- They increase posture
- They enhance performance
- They are affordable ($17 versus a $90 massage)
- They are portable (have you ever tried to travel with a foam roller? No, because they are inconvenient!)
- They help to breathe
- They reduce stress
- They are pliable (would you roll your jaw on a lacrosse ball? I wouldn’t)
- They are grippy (the tackiness of the therapy balls grips your skin a million times better than a tennis ball would)
The list goes on and on, but in a nutshell, the Yoga Tune Up® therapy balls are a little magic, a little science, and a whole lot of solutions rolled into a handy little tote that you can take anywhere use anytime.
I first discovered the Yoga Tune Up® therapy balls a several years ago while dealing with an old but present hip issue. See, I’m a little clumsy and have sprained my ankles three times (twice on the left, once on the right), and I learned the hard way that I would have been better off BREAKING the ankle, but no, I just had to tear several ligaments to the point where they were just bad enough not to need surgery but severe enough that it impacted my life for a while.
So when the second sprain happened, and I could still put weight on it, I thought I was fine and went about my business with some modifications. Like when I was at the gym doing box squats and staggering my weight, I was loading about 90% onto my right side. Guess what happens when you do that? You throw your entire kinetic chain off and end up with a dull, aching pain in your hips and glutes that last for MONTHS. Do you know what it feels like driving down I-75 with a lacrosse ball wedged under your butt for an hour when you have a 5-hour road trip to visit a friend in Kentucky? IT SUCKS. Then you throw yourself out of the car and onto your friend’s floor and dive into the deepest pigeon pose you can just to get some relief.
This was me. I was going to the chiropractor. Getting massages. Doing acupuncture and dry needling. Stretching. Icing. Exercising. But not too much because it aggravated it.
This went on for months. I was frustrated. Angry. Annoyed. I spent my days fixing other people, but I couldn’t wholly fix myself. Everything brought me temporary relief, but it was just that. Temporary. And I couldn’t clone myself to do the work that I do!
Then one day, I was listening to Jill Miller, creator of the entire Tune Up Fitness family on the Bee The Wellness podcast, talking about these little therapy balls of her, and I was intrigued. So being the person I am, I ordered the entire kit and got to work. And in about a week or two of rolling every other day for 5-10 minutes, something happened. My pain was about 90% GONE. And it stayed gone. It wasn’t something that went away for a day and returned the next with a vengeance, but it stayed gone for longer than anything else.
So, of course, I did the rational thing and signed up to become a Certified Roll Model Method Practitioner because I had to teach others about these magical therapy balls. In November 2016, I received my certification and set out to teach as many people as possible.
Now when a client comes in for a bodywork session, while I can work my magic on the table for an hour, I can also send them home with an affordable, portable tool that will allow them to do their homework and take their self-care into their own hands. Because, let’s be honest, you can’t drop everything when you have a sciatica flare-up in the middle of your work day and run to us for fixing. Still, you CAN grab your therapy balls, find a spot on the wall and take 5 minutes to do some cross-fiber action on your piriformis to get some relief. And you CAN start rolling out daily to eventually reach a point where you don’t have those attacks.
And this is where my new passion is. Don’t get me wrong; I still love doing massage and bodywork. That will always be my first love, and let’s be honest, I’m not going to retire selling $15 therapy balls, But I genuinely love seeing people’s faces light up when they find their pain points when rolling in one of my mobility classes. Or hearing them say, “I felt a headache coming on, so I grabbed my therapy balls and rolled, and the headache went away!”
You deserve to be pain-free. You deserve to move better, breathe better and feel better. Get in touch to see how these magical, functional little therapy balls can change your life.
In good hands,
Rebecca Tamm, LMT