Foam rollers/therapy balls

[lreidgreen]

Originally Posted by mspina

Honestly, for the hip/glute area, I find that a lacrosse ball gets in there much better than a foam roller. Not dissing the roller, I use one every day. But if you are looking to save some money, you don't need a fancy specialized piece of equipment. LAX ball, baseball .... will do the trick quite nicely.

My PT had me use a tennis ball but that was for the front of the hip and the lower back. That was before I showed her the alpha ball. I may go back to the tennis ball at some point or the smaller YTU balls. But I agree the balls are better than the foam roller for that area.

[beyond.omega]

Originally Posted by Cher

Thanks for your suggestion, I have tried YFSR a few times and it maybe helped a little. I recently bought Jill Miller's Hip Helper which helps a little too. Also have tried Classical Stretch which helped a little, but the stretching just doesn't seem to be helping enough.

Yeah, I hear ya. Wish I could help you more. A year ago I bought some balls and started stretches for my psoas, but it ended up being too much and put me in spasm...and I had to go to boring PT stuff. So I'm in a different position than you.

[Cher]

I ended up ordering Jill Miller's On Demand Pain Relief 2 dvds and the Yoga Tune-up Plus balls. I wanted the kit that came with the regular Yoga Tune-Up balls but Mary said it has been on back-order for months and she didn't have any idea when it would be in. She also doesn't have any of the YTU regular balls in stock to order seperate so I went for the dvd set and the plus balls. (Hoping the plus balls work out okay to start with).

BTW, Mary is great! I placed the order and was so worried about if I would be okay using the plus balls instead of the regular and making sure the free shipping was on my order and about using my couple reward $$ that I had on my account that I forgot to use the 10off discount. I emailed her right away and of course she adjusted my order and put on added in the discount! It ended up being around $42 which if I had order from Jill's site, with shipping it would have been over well over $55+ with the shipping for the same items!

Thanks for all the thoughts and great info!

[antbuko]

Cher, I think you made a good choice. The plus balls were added to Jill's inventory by popular demand. If you really like them and wind up using them often, you can always add other balls to your collection at a later time.

[Pam61]

The plus balls were probably the better way to go, as you can't go wrong with these. They are only slightly bigger than the original, but more practical. I now want to order the alpha twin set for larger areas hips/thighs/butt.

I just ordered the Train self care DVD, so will let you know more about that when I have a chance to try it out!

ETA original YTU balls are 2 1/2 inches and plus YTU balls are 2 3/4 inches, so not that much difference in diameter.

[antbuko]

Pam, I wound up ordering a second Alpha ball, so I have a pair of the original, the super and a pair of Alphas. I enjoy all of them.

[bzar]

I've been using jill's balls for the past several years, and just last night, I decided to use 2 tennis balls. I did some free-style rolling for the sacrum and scapula.

i'm surprised at how tolerant I've become with putting my entire body weight on these - where I raise my legs up the wall so that the legs aren't supporting any of my weight.

I recently started using my air-filled pilates ball under my stomach, laying prone in crocodile pose. it is uncomfortable at first, but I feel such a release!! I move the ball in the center, the sides, the lower region. I got the idea from YfSR by Barbara Benagh, the "Stillness" practice. she used 2 folded blankets, which I tried at first, and then decided to use the ball.

my points here are that you may need to do the rolling in baby steps before you're able to apply more weight onto the ball.

[Sandrine]

Originally Posted by Jane P.

I saw a book at B & N called Roll Model where she uses all kinds of balls for therapy. You might want to take a look at it.

Another item available at B&N is the "Miracle Ball Method" by Elaine Petrone. It's a small book w/2 balls (just measured--about 12 3/4" in circumference) a bit larger than tennis balls.

I know the title sounds hokey, but I swear by this. The booklet offers excellent info about how to use the balls, exactly where to place them for various issues and what to expect. I had an episode of lower back/glute pain last year and this really helped me.

Hope this helps!
Sandrine

[desie]

Did anyone mention that lacrosse balls work better than tennis balls? Also, for the glutes, I find that I prefer to be standing near a wall, place the ball on the trigger point (most tender spot) on the glute, and then lean my lacrosse ball butt against the wall. It just seems easier to make small adjustments in pressure and placement.

[Cher]

Originally Posted by Pam61

The plus balls were probably the better way to go, as you can't go wrong with these. They are only slightly bigger than the original, but more practical. I now want to order the alpha twin set for larger areas hips/thighs/butt.

I just ordered the Train self care DVD, so will let you know more about that when I have a chance to try it out!

ETA original YTU balls are 2 1/2 inches and plus YTU balls are 2 3/4 inches, so not that much difference in diameter.

Glad to hear this about the plus balls! Also, Pam, I would love to hear your thoughts on the Train self care dvd whenever you give it a try!