Anyone using a ball instead of a foam roller for doing soft tissue work? I find tennis balls are too small and my medicine ball is too damn hard. Anyone have success with a particular brand?
tennis and lacrosse balls only really work on small areas…just buy a foam roller, but use those two types of balls too, mostly for lower leg work.
Yeah, go to a pet store (like petsmart), they sell a ball for dogs that is green and much firmer than tennis balls, and slightly larger. Costs about $4. It works well for me. They had other sizes and firmness as well.
I use the petstore rubber balls and lacrosse balls.
[quote]ConanSpeaks wrote:
Anyone using a ball instead of a foam roller for doing soft tissue work? I find tennis balls are too small and my medicine ball is too damn hard. Anyone have success with a particular brand?[/quote]
Try a softball, it’d be larger than the tennis ball but not as large as the medicine ball.
I’ve got 4 softballs threaded on a piece of bungee coed and did the same with 4 tennis balls. I want to find something in between, like about 3" in diameter. They work good in specific areas. Other places, the stick works better.
TNT
tape two tennis balls together (ala mike boyle). this works for more than spine exercises.
if a tennis ball is too small for your knot, then you are in foam roller territory.
I use a softball for my rotator cuff triggerpoints. Workls wonders.
Get a theracane as well. Really helps with those spots you can’t get with the tennis ball and you have more leverage to control the amount of pressure on the exact spot.
I have all three, and they all have their purpose!!!
I’ve had good success with a method called Body Rolling www.yamunabodyrolling.com
I was quite skeptical at first, but after experiencing it first hand, I’m sold on it. I find it far superior to using a foam roller. It’s much more versatile,easier to use,and just plain more effective. I took the two day seminar when I lived in NYC (which was great,although pretty pricey) but now just follow along to a DVD. I’ve tried other types of balls (small ball therapy and others that I’ve come across over the years) but the Yamuna ones seem to work a lot better. There are different ones with different desities for different areas of the body. I find this system to be great for the hamstrings,piriformis and IT band areas.
There are small rubber balls you can buy which come in different sizes. They are perfect! I found a link to some info about them, don’t know where exactly to purchase them though.
Thanks for the great feedback. I’ll give these ideas a try.