The Tennis Ball … a great catch !

Here’s Wren, my daughter and son-in-laws sweet girl. She loves catching tennis balls and it’s even more fun when it involves a good romp in the stream. Isn’t it wonderful that a mere tennis ball can elicit such joy?

Well, here’s a way that the same lowly tennis ball can produce joy for all of us. It’s called Tennis Ball Massage and is a simple and inexpensive way that gives us relief from all those chronic aches and pains.

I actually learned about this 10 years ago from a professional massage therapist and have used it ever since. I had gone to her with the complaint of back pain and, although I felt wonderful after her treatment, I couldn’t afford to keep going. When she realized this she kindly said, “Let me show you how you can do this yourself at home.”

She told me, with a good natured laugh, that I could replace HER with nothing more than a sock and a tennis ball !! She explained that everyone has “trigger points”, little knots that appear when you overwork a muscle. These were areas that felt very tight to me and were the cause of my discomfort. While working on my back she’d used her elbow to gently press down on these, hold for about 30 seconds and then let go. This was the “release” and it, literally, released the pain.

With Tennis Ball Massage you simply drop the ball into the toe of a long sock. This becomes your handle and you can toss the massage ball behind your back and position it wherever you need it. The basic idea is to trap the ball between your body and a hard surface. Some people lie on the floor doing this but that doesn’t work for me so I use a wall.

I gently maneuver the ball around until I hit an area that makes me wince and then I press down … just hard enough to feel it working but not so hard that it hurts … and then after 30 seconds I “release”. Ahhhhhhhh. I can practically feel the relief as I write this.

And that’s it !! Simple, easy and FREE.