Hey there, Sam Visnic here.
Release muscle Therapy.
And in this product review today, we're gonna be looking
at the thorex roller device.
So stay tuned.
All right, welcome back in, In today's product review, again,
we're taking a look at the thorax device and, uh, we'll see what
applications we can use this tool for.
So, first and foremost comes in a nice box here.
It's got a little, uh, product card.
Just taking a look at this here.
It gives you some of the benefits and some of the areas that you can work on.
Uh, we'll talk about that in a few moments here.
And of course, you have the device.
Device is pretty straightforward.
Um, it is just a set of wheels.
Uh, on top of this heavy base here, and it has a couple of great features to it
actually, which I do want to comment on.
Uh, first and foremost, this thing is pretty heavy duty.
It's pretty common these days to see a lot of products that are not seemingly
made very well, or they're not very sturdy and they're not gonna last very long.
Um, and I would say that that is not the case with the thorax here.
This thing is pretty solidly built.
Uh, the chances of actually breaking this thing, you can tell right
away from the, from the density of it is pretty, pretty low.
So that's pretty cool.
So one of the, uh, areas that I've been looking for, and the reason why
I wanted to do this product review is working on or finding tools that
will work real well for assisting in mobilizing not only the spine, the mid
to upper portion of the spine in part.
But also something that's gonna be able to address the soft tissues
in that area pretty effectively.
So I'm gonna grab the skeleton here and we're gonna have a look.
All right.
So pull out the skeleton here so we can have a look.
So we have multiple areas of spine.
We got that lumbar spine, thoracic spine, and the cervical spine.
Different curvatures, different areas that we need to be able to focus on.
They're oftentimes gonna require different.
So I have specific tools that I like with the lumbar spine,
others with the cervical spine.
I've reviewed those elsewhere on my channel, so make sure you
take a look at those videos.
But in particular, let's talk about this thoracic spine,
which is the center section.
Classically, what most people use to mobilize a thoracic spine is a foam
roller, and the foam roller is placed essentially perpendicular to the spine
so that you can lay back and extend.
Uh, so that's obviously good for creating or improving some extension in there.
So we're creating a fulcrum that we can basically fold over.
The challenge with this is, you know, the benefit I should say is it's a
little bit more precise to certain areas, depending on the size of the
ruler and where you're emphasizing on.
The downside to this is, is that we're not getting a, an equal dispersion of forces
throughout that portion of the spine.
So it's hard to actually.
Uh, reduce the intensity in some areas and then gain in others and so forth.
It's harder to kind of manipulate certain areas with a degree of precision.
Now the other thing that we have, the problem with the foam roller, is that the
foam roller makes contact with the spinus process for the most part, depending
on how thick your extensor muscles are.
So when you lay over it, you're gonna be making contact with the spine.
You're not gonna get much effect on the soft tissue.
That are next to the spine.
We've got the big thoracic extensor muscles.
And then as we start to move up in between the shoulder blades, you have
the mid traps, you have the rhomboids.
And again, some of those extensors kind of coming off to the side here.
Um, the pser radius, posterior superiors actually back there
too on the side of the ribs.
These are all areas that are easy for a massage therapist to get their hands into,
but when you're trying to get leverage on a roller or to try to get those areas
worked on with tennis balls and so.
If they're not exactly like the right size, it's very hard to, uh,
to get pressure into those areas.
So the thorax actually works quite well for this because of its length
and the way that it distributes the forces a little bit more.
As I just talked about.
It's a little bit easier to be able to get the right amount of pressure
in these hard to reach areas.
Now, one of the things that comes up right away is that people say, Well,
why don't I just put, you know, two tennis balls together, lacrosse.
You can absolutely do that, but the primary problem that you have here is
that when you place them into certain areas of the back, it's hard to
adjust the pressure most of the time.
If you're using the right size ball it, for the most part, you're using too
much pressure in that area and it's just too sensitive to be able to even relax.
So you'll find yourself laying over that thing struggling because the pressure
is just too much on the opposite end.
You probably tried already using a couple of tennis balls and just
because it's so easy for you to fold over it, you're not gonna get enough.
So it's the goldilock situation.
What we want is it to be just right, the right amount of pressure.
So what I found is very quickly when I started rolling on the thorax, first
of all, I rolled on it toward the mid to the lower portion of the spine,
did pretty well, and it has, because of the way that this is designed.
Your spinus process is gonna drop inward relative to the wheels.
So you're gonna be making contact with those, uh, muscles
on the side of the spine.
So right away you're gonna get some soft tissue work in particular in that area.
You're gonna get some clicks and pops in the thoracic spine as well.
So it will help with the spinal extension, mobilization portion.
But what I'm uh, emphasizing here is the value of doing the soft tissue
work on the extensor muscles as you start to roll up even higher.
Because a lot of your weight is still on the lower rollers, you're
gonna get an appropriate amount of pressure there in those upper
thoracic, lower cervical muscles.
So believe me, it's not, uh, super wimpy.
You will feel it when you get up there.
And in particular, uh, at the top of the shoulder blades there, you'll oftentimes
hit some trigger points that will tend to refer into the shoulder area.
So I think the most surprising part of giving the, uh, the thorax.
Was how good it was in working that upper thoracic area in particular.
So when you look at a tool, uh, obviously it talks about all of these other
different areas that you can work.
You can roll in your calves, you can roll on your thighs and so forth.
And those are okay.
Um, but the most important.
You know, uh, piece of this is again, this entire thoracic area.
I think the, the purchase price of this thing, if you have particular needs for
that area, which a lot of my clients do in certain circumstances, that
alone warrants a good product review.
And, and this is the best tool for the job.
Okay?
So in a moment here, I'm gonna show you some of those other area.
But, all right, so let's give this guy a go.
When I'm laying down on this thing, it's pretty easy to
situate your spinus process.
That's the middle of the spine.
In between these, these guys, and in the beginning, I always like to start
kind of at the top of the lumbar spine.
I don't really advocate people ruling on the lumbar spine very much.
Uh, without, um, some oversight from a clinician who knows your
individual scenario, but thorac thoracic area, pretty safe.
So as I lay on this thing just from the get go, that feels pretty good.
I'm already getting some sensitive areas next to the spine, near the upper
lumbar spine, lower thoracic area.
Very common to have areas in there that are sensitive and or have trigger
points at the bottom of the rib.
So, of course I can hang out there.
As with anything that you're laying on with the extension, it's not
comfortable just to hold your head up.
Your neck's gonna get tired, okay?
So you can put your hands behind your head here and that'll allow you to rest down.
And of course, now we're not so heavily over the fulcrum here,
It's still pretty comfortable.
And I can just hang out here until those tissues start to release.
Once they start to feel a little bit better, I can get a little
bit of rolling action here.
So I have to just push my heels down into the.
And Woo.
Got some tender areas there.
So like I said, if you're concerned that this thing's not intense enough
for you, then don't worry about that.
Okay.
It definitely is.
And as I work my way up there, I can work up toward the spine or up to
the scapula anyway, should I say.
And once I get up there, The one thing that becomes really obvious is I gotta
get my shoulder blades out of the way, So I bring my elbows in together,
and then when I rest back even more, now I'm starting to make contact with
those Rambo muscles and those upper thoracic extensors pretty tender there.
So again, I can hang here and just let everything melt in, or I can work
my way up just a little bit more.
Now I'm starting to get up there and I'm already hitting a couple of trigger points
that are referring into my shoulders in my upper thoracic area, which.
Again, hard to reach area and it's fantastic.
So I can extend back over the roll a little bit more if I want, just to
give a little bit of spinal extension mobilization or I can just stay
with the muscles and keep working.
Now I'm quite a bit off the roll or off the, uh, the thorax.
I don't know what to call it.
I think I'm gonna call it a roller here, but the mid thoracic area is
making contact and now the wheels are pretty much underneath my.
I can rest my head there.
And again, this is where you start to get that little teeter tottering motion
where it's hard to get that pressure.
So if I wanted to, and we're gonna have to see if I can tolerate this, we'll lift the
hips up a little bit and woo, now we start to put that pressure into that upper, um,
thoracic area again, onto those muscles.
So again, I'm not working very hard here, and that's the part that I like.
You're working hard, it's hard to relax, and that's the point of getting
a soft tissue release is relaxing.
And if you're strain and trying to hold yourself upright or it's too
intense, then it's gonna be much harder to achieve that effect.
Okay.
So again, pretty good for that.
We come back off of it and here, so when we start to roll other areas and
we start talking about the glutes and we start talking about the hamstrings,
it's definitely possible to do that.
So I could just sit right on the side here.
Now, because of the surface contact area, which is much.
It's harder to get that up into the tissue, into the glutes.
I mean, I definitely feel it here and I can work my way around.
It's pretty comfortable.
Probably not the best tool for the job in terms of rolling the Glu.
But like I said, you can use almost any tool for multiple applications.
If you just want to pick one thing, you can certainly do this.
Okay?
You can rule on that if you wanna roll on the lateral thigh,
certainly doable there as well.
And again, the part of it that is nice is that it rolls pretty well
because it has so many wheels.
Okay?
So you can roll and work your IT band area.
Of course you can work on hamstring.
Okay.
Still with hamstrings always, the challenge with this is, is getting
enough pressure down into the hamstrings, so not really an ideal tool for a lot
of people are gonna need something a little bit more hefty or direct.
Okay?
Calf.
We can rule that as well.
So again, if you want to just use one tool for multiple jobs,
then that will get the job.
Okay, but my final verdict here, thorax, is it worth it just for
this spinal extensor rolling, Uh, in particular the muscles more
than the joint mobilization itself.
This thing gets an A plus.
It's really, really good.
Um, I've had a lot of clients try it, who are happy with it, who want one.
So that to me is the, the litmus test.
After I've done a lot of manual therapy on them, and then I let
'em try out the tool, Did they like this and would they buy one at home?
And a lot of my clients said, Yes, they would.
So to me that gives it a positive, uh, positive.
So I hope you like this thorax review.
If you want to grab this, I always include a link down below
so you can get ahold of one.
And, uh, be sure to give me a thumbs up on this video, like comments, subscribe
to the channel and of course I'll be, uh, coming out with future reviews on
these types of products to help you maximize your performance and your health.
Sam, visit care Release muscle therapy.
Thanks for watching.