Rolling Out

I consistently recommend the following solutions for clients to use at home in between appointments to sustain the benefits achieved during massage. When you work with your body, please be kind. Ask your muscles to lengthen and soften as you go, be gentle with yourself, go slowly, and breathe deeply.

I can’t say enough about rolling out the feet and gluts using this set of three balls.

To roll out the gluts, I use the larger ball in this set because I find you can get into the areas closer to the sacrum (the triangle-shaped bone at the base of your spine) than if you were using a foam roller. If you’ve come to me with lower back pain, I have likely worked to release your glut muscles. Seated on the floor, I lay the largest ball next to me and then lift my bum on top of it with most of the weight in my hands behind me and gradually let the tissue sink into the ball rolling along it gently.

To roll out the feet, I sit on the edge of the couch and place the small smooth ball under my foot. I recommend you do this seated. I roll up and down the full length of the foot from the heal to each toe several times and make small circles and zig zag in the center of the foot, whatever it takes to cover the entire surface. Once this becomes more comfortable, you can add pressure by just leaning a bit on the knee of the foot being rolled out.

I also advise many of my clients to get a large soft foam roller, because so many of us have rounded shoulders from sitting at the computer or holding a device in front of us for long periods of time. I’m 5’10” and I have the 36” long roller to support my entire upper body from my tailbone to the top of my head. I place the roller on the floor, sit on the end and gently ease my spine back onto the roller until my head is rested on the roller. I usually keep my knees bent and then rest my arms out to the side to open the chest. I start with my arms straight and hands down by my hips rested on the floor and slowly and gradually raise my arms along the floor like a snow angel to increase the opening of the front body as my shoulders sink to towards the floor.

While still in this position, after you’ve allowed your chest to open and your shoulders to drop towards the backbody, lift one leg at a time, the other is bent for stability with your arms on the floor, and straighten as far is comfortable then roll the ankle in one direction 10 times, to the alternate direction 10 times, and then switch legs. You can repeat the sequence and point and flex the foot as well. This stretches the back of the leg, warms up the feet, and strengthens the abs.