Last week I mentioned that I had ordered a foam roller after trying one at the gym. It arrived a couple days ago, and I’ve been working on it a bit. The pamphlet that came with it isn’t the best for my purposes (there seem to be a lot of exercises that involve standing on it for improving balance–nothing wrong with that, but I’m more interested in working on my RSI), so I will have to hunt down some more information on the Internet.
I have tried moving the roller along various muscles and holding it when I come to a sort of knot or tense spot (this is what the personal trainer at the gym recommended). It seems to work quite well on the legs, esp. my hamstrings, for loosening the muscles. I feel a little more awkward using it on my back and arms, but that could be because I need to find a better description of how to use it on those areas.
Since I’../2004/11/flextend_week_1.html”>Flextend), I’m trying to learn more about trigger points, massage, and treatments that target more than the area where the pain is manifesting itself. I recently found a copy of the The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook which I’m hoping to read in more depth when I have some time (a lot of the exercises look like they could be done with the foam roller).