Ohh! Yayyy! Hey everybody, it's Doctor Jo. Today I'm gonna talk about pressure point
release or trigger point releases with a pressure ball. These balls were actually sent to me
by King Athletic and if you'd like to find out some more information about them, you
can go to KingAthletic.com. I really like these pressure point balls because they're
a lacrosse style ball. You can use a tennis ball, a golf ball, or a racquet ball, but
their different densities are sometimes not quite as good for pressure point release.
A tennis ball's a little bit squishier, a golf ball's really hard, and a racquet ball
is kind of squish, too. This is somewhere in the middle where it has a little bit of
give so it's not super hard, but it's nice and firm where you can really get that specific
trigger or pressure point. They come in a nice orange color. And they also come in green!
Which is my favorite color. They also come with a nice carrying case, so if you're traveling
with them they fit in the bag and they can fit in your case and you can just take them
along with you. One of the nice ones to start off with is a pressure point on the bottom
of your foot where your plantar fascia is. So you can start off with actually just finding
that point and pushing you foot down on it, or you can actually roll the ball on your
foot and get that whole fascia area which is really nice. When you're first starting
off, you don't want to push super hard because you're gonna feel it a lot. But as you get
going, you can start pushing a little bit harder. and get a little more pressure in
there to relieve those tender points and pressure points in there. So now I'm gonna show you
some lying down. Another great place to use the pressure point ball is right underneath
your bottom where your glutes and your piriformis are. So you can just kind of lean in to it
if you just need a little bit of pressure to start, and then you can actually roll over
to it and sit on it, but try and relax that muscle. The reason that I really like these
is because you can do pressure points with your hand, you can push in with your thumb,
but then you really wear out your hand. So this is a great way to protect your body as
well as get that pressure point release. So it's really nice in there. You can hold it
for about 5-10 seconds to start off with, and if it feels really good, then you can
work your way up to about 30 seconds. Another great spot is the SI Joint. A lot of times
people have a really big tender point, pressure point right at that SI Joint. Sometimes if
it's slightly out of alignment you can use this to help it get back aligned. So just
right under those little dimple spots on your back just put the ball and slowly lie down
on to it. Again, you can lean over a little bit if you don't want a whole lot of pressure
to start off with, but then if it feels good, you can kind of lean over and use your body
weight to get a little more pressure on there which makes it feel really nice. Now remember,
you don't want just pain, pain, you want that "hurts so good" kind of feeling so it feels
good even though it hurts a little bit. If it just hurts, hurts, you shouldn't use it.
And then you can also go up to your levator scap muscle which is the one that pulls up
your scapula. This is one that gets really, really tight and sensitive if you are stressed
out and you hold your shoulders up, if you work on the computer a lot and you keep your
arms up like that. And so that's right there right on the top of that shoulder blade. Again,
you can take that ball and just lay down on that spot. If you want to kind of move your
body a little bit over on to it, you'll know when you hit it because it feels different
than just laying on it on a muscle that's not tightened up. So those were your exercises
for trigger point releases with the massage balls. If you'd like to find out more about
the King Athletic Balls that I used, go to KingAthletic.com. If you're interested in
purchasing these, you can go to my website in our product store at AskDoctorJo.com/products.
If you have any questions, leave them in the comments section. Don't forget to follow me
on Facebook and Twitter. And remember, be safe, have fun, and I hope you feel better
soon.