I just worked with a man who was doing everything right….almost. A few reminders that will help you do the Julstro self-treatments a bit better are:
1. A tennis ball works, but it will quickly soften. Since a tennis ball is hollow in the middle, when it gets soft it won’t treat the knots as thoroughly as necessary to release the tension in the fibers. I suggest that when you can easily squeeze the tennis ball with your hand, you replace it and use a new tennis ball. Also, I did and extensive (really – I looked everywhere!) search and found a perfect ball that is solid in the middle and soft on the outside, and it works great since it doesn’t flatten like the tennis ball.
2. It’s really helpful to do an internet search for the following muscles:
*illiacus and psoas (Look up each muscle separately. Together these two muscles form the iliopsoas which inserts into the inside of your thigh bone.)
*quadriceps (a MAJOR part of anterior hip pain — look at the origination and see how the insertion of the iliopsoas and the origination of the quads are both in the same area)
* lateral rotators (including the piriformis)
*gluteus minimus
*gluteus medius
*tensor fascia lata
*quadratus lumborum
I know it seems like a lot of muscles, but if you have a chronic hip pain problem, it’s worth your while to understand the muscles.
3. When you find a tender place while working on the muscles with the ball, you’ve located a trigger point/knot/spasm. Stay steady on the point for a minute or so. The thing I’d like to stress with chronic hip pain (or pain anywhere in your body) is you need to go deep enough into the fibers to make a difference. It will hurt, but as I said above, it should only “hurt so good” to be effective.
I could go on and on here, and I almost did, but it’s all in my book so I won’t be redundant and re-write it again. If you’d prefer to have someone else do it for you, look for ma massage therapist who is trained in doing trigger point therapy and ask him/her to work on the muscles I listed above.
Life is sure a lot more fun when your muscles are pain-free!
Wishing you well,
Julie