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Do-It-Yourself Tennis Ball Back Massage

posted by Annie B. Bond Feb 6, 2000 6:50 pm
1 comment

Adapted from New Choices in Natural Healing, edited by Bill Gottlieb (Rodale Press, Prevention Magazine Health Books, 1995).

It’s tough to reach your own back for a massage, so try using tennis balls to do the job, says Ed Moore, a certified massage therapist who has worked with the U.S. Olympic cycling team.

Before you begin the massage, slide two tennis balls into a sock, tying off the open end of the sock so that the balls are touching each other, says Moore. Click here for clear instructions for this helpful, do-it-yourself l and feel-good massage.

First, says Moore, take a hot bath or shower, followed by some gentle stretching. Now lie on your back on the floor. Have the socks at hand and place them under the small of your back, one ball on each side of your spine.

Moore says to take a deep breath and let your body relax into the balls. Rock your hips gently from side to side. Then adjust your body slightly so that the balls more up your back a few inches. Hold that position briefly, then take a deep breath. Wait until you feel a sense of softening or melting into the balls before you move them farther up your back, says Moore.

Moore recommends taking about 10 to 15 minutes to work the balls up and down your back. If you have a particularly sore area on your back, he says that you can spend extra time with the balls touching that spot.

More on Natural Remedies (224 articles available)
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1 Comments       add a comment »
Hania Daouine

hi i did this thing with the balls and i have to say thank you althought i need it to be my sholders and not my spin i just placed the balles in a sock and moved them to my sholders and moveing my arm and my hips seam to get it in the right spot .. thankyou veryt much
krazie kat

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Adapted from New Choices in Natural Healing, edited by Bill Gottlieb (Rodale Press, Prevention Magazine Health Books, 1995). Copyright (c) 1995, Rodale Press. Reprinted by permission of Rodale Press.

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