IOL Strength and Conditioning

What’s the next step in self-myofascial massage, the one after you’ve gotten the hang of using a foam roller? One good option is a six-inch dense EVA myofascial-release ball; that’s an implement I spend a serious amount of time rolling around on night after night.

Well, if one’s good, what happens when you bag up a bunch of four-inch balls? That’s what the Shiatusbag triggerpoint therapy’s designer came up with and, you know, it’s a bit goofy, but I like it.

At 3:30 look for a vocal explanation during which the product’s designer demonstrates other uses for the bag o’ balls involving different surfaces, and explains with this, “You don’t have the balance problems or support problems found with a foam roller or a self-myofascial release ball.”

Now I don’t happen to have a piano bench and haven’t tried that surface option, but I do have a floor… and a hassock… and a couch with a beefy armrest, and I’ve draped a Shiatsubag over them all to gauge the differences in surface density. Myself, I like it to really dig in, and was happy to find ways to intensify the action.

The product comes with ten firm EVA balls and five softer ones. I wrote to ask the manufacturer, Larry Herbert, for his thinking behind using two different type balls, and his response, “the larger four-inch softer balls mainly to act as supporting cushions, and it is the three-and-a-half-inch firm balls that provide the myofascial release,” made sense.

Continuing with his response, “Some of the feedback from users who are less physically active and prefer to experience a comfortable massage thought the balls were too firm and created some discomfort.  However, users who are physically active in programs such as weightlifting, Crossfit and running enjoy the deep penetration and myofascial therapy that the firmer balls provide.  Matt Ryan, M.A., ATC, LPTA & Athletic Training Supervisor at Santa Cruz Medical Clinic who endorses the product, believes the current balls are the proper hardness and will provide the most benefit for trigger point release and myofascial therapy.  It comes down to personal requirements; the Shiatsubag has an opening to change the quantity and type of balls to adapt to individual needs.”

Having spent a boatload of time trying to get more intensity from myofascial release, I tend to remove the softer balls in favor of a bag of similar-sized, denser ones. In fact, I went a step further and filled the bag with tennis balls, smaller yet from the EVA balls, to see if the massaging gained pressure. Then I swapped the tennis balls back out for the original mixed bag and practiced with it on the sofa arm for the back of the lower legs; later I took the larger balls out and finagled bunching the bag up for a clump of a neck massage.

At $39.95 for the Shiatsubag’s myofascial pain relief, about half the cost of a single hands-on massage, you’ll have at hand a way to reinforce full-body muscle relaxation in the evenings in front of the tv. I was thinking of suggesting you not watch the news while rolling around on the thing since that wouldn’t be very relaxing, but hey, why not? It’ll distract you so much you’ll barely hear the politics of whatever’s happening in Congress, and you’ll hardly notice the drone of the commentator’s nightly panel. I say go for it!

You can also buy the EVA myofascial pain relief balls separately to test out the bag-o-balls theory on the cheap.

Foam rolling is practically mainstream these days. Still, there may be readers who haven’t jumped on the wagon yet, and there are certainly many more who haven’t branched out to other rolling implements. One of our main educational guys, Mike Robertson, offers up this free 47-page ebook, Self MyoFascial Release: Purpose, Methods and Techniques, to explain the hows and whys of rolling around on dense round things.

For an extra giggle, there’s this: I’m sitting on a shitatu bag of balls atop my desk chair at this very moment.