- When you're on the road or at home,
you're unlikely to have your own
physiotherapist at your beck and call.
But there are several techniques
which you can do yourself with the help of a few tools.
Now, I expect you've seen people in the gym
using those elastic TheraBands,
or, before a training session, you've probably
seen other athletes with physio tape on them,
and I am pretty sure you're going to be
familiar with the foam roller.
Well, all of these tools are useful
for being able to look after your body yourself,
but if you were to head out and buy
all of them, it could get a little bit pricey.
So I'm going to be covering ways in which
you can improvise your own tools,
and use them to treat yourself.
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Balls are the answer for lots of niggles and tight areas,
and you've got options of different sizes or firmness
depending on what area that it is you need to focus on.
If you have a golf ball, for example,
that's perfect for the underside of your foot
to help prevent plantar fascia,
and just to release your foot.
You can actually do this while sitting or standing.
And you just roll your foot on top of the ball,
and you can even do that while your sat at your desk.
If you do want a bigger ball for you foot,
or for other areas such as your glutes,
but you still want the firmness of a golf ball,
then a hockey or lacrosse ball is perfect for that.
But if you are using it on your glutes,
and you're going to be lying on top of it,
just make sure you use a softer surface.
If you try doing it on wood, you'll just find
the ball slips out from underneath you.
For something with a little more give,
then the tennis ball is perfect.
And usually the older, the softer it is.
And a bit of a hack with a tennis ball,
if you've got one that's still got
enough fluff on the outside, you can soak it
in some water, pop it in the freezer,
and then when you need to massage that really sore area,
you've got a natural ice massage.
But the tennis ball's usefulness does not end there,
you can simply get another one,
and then pop them in a sock together,
tie the sock tightly or even tape them,
and basically make a monkey nut.
So you've got two balls next to each other,
and these are then perfect for massaging
those muscles either side of your spine.
And you can do that by lying on top of the balls
on the ground, same with a singular ball.
Or, if you want to have a little less pressure,
then you can simply rest the ball
behind your back and roll up against the wall.
And that's another way of a great self-massage.
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This next hack is along the same lines
of doing self-massage, but it's closely related
to the foam roller.
So you want to take an old, used water bottle,
and completely fill it with water.
So much so that you need to make sure
you hold it underneath the water while you put the cap on,
and make sure all of the bubbles have come out
so there's no air gaps at all.
You can then use this to roll your calves, for example,
if you've got a 500 mill bottle.
You might want to use a liter bottle
if you want to massage the larger areas.
And if you are going to be using this
at home for the long-term, it's actually
a better idea to fill it with sand,
as it's just a little bit more easier
and a bit more robust for massaging.
And then, another further hack,
if you want to actually have another ice massage,
you can put the water bottle in the freezer.
But for this time, you do need to make sure
you leave a gap for the air,
otherwise it will end up exploding.
Sticking with the ice theme, if you get a cardboard cup
and fill that with water, pop it in the freezer,
and then it's a perfect massage tool
for icing say sore shins, for example.
You can basically hold the cup, cut off the rim,
and then you can have a direct ice massage onto that area.
And then the final hack, which might be a little bit unique,
but it's one that I used to use before
I ended up splashing out and buying a foam roller,
if you do happen to have an old drainpipe
lying around at home, and an old wetsuit sleeve,
simply pull the wetsuit sleeve over the drainpipe
then voila, you have a foam roller.
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This is an older one, and it does involve women's clothing.
But stay with me here, this is a replacement
for the physio TheraBands.
Now, those elastic bands aren't necessarily that much,
but a pair of women's tights are free
if you've got them at home already.
Now obviously, the thicker the tights,
the more resistance they'll provide,
but they can double up perfectly as an exercise TheraBand.
But if you do want to borrow a pair from a female friend,
I suggest you explain the usage first.
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You might be lucky enough to find
a friend or a colleague who's willing to give you a massage.
Well, if you are, don't rush out and buy
some expensive massage oil because you can actually
delve into your cooking cupboard and find
some cooking oil that will do the job.
I personally prefer to use coconut or olive oil,
but vegetable oil also works.
Just bear in mind, though, that if you do use vegetable oil,
you might end up smelling a little bit like your next meal.
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The way that we move and sit can contribute
to niggles and tight areas that you might
experience during training, but also after.
And if you go to see a physiotherapist,
the first thing they're going to do is look at how you stand
and how you move, and then look to activate
some of the muscles which have maybe started to switch off.
Now to compliment this,
quite often use some physiotherapy tape.
For example, around your shoulders it might be to
help you retract them, to put them in
the right position to make them move more effectively.
Now this tape is obviously giving you a slight help
to be in that position, but more to the point,
it's actually to remind you to get into that position.
So you can actually do this yourself by putting
tape on the area that you know needs to be corrected.
Or you could even use a marker pen, say on your hand,
as a little bit of a reminder,
or even a memo on your phone just to tell yourself,
when you're sat at your desk,
to make sure you go into the correct position,
or whatever it is that needs to be worked on.
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Sticking with posture, triathletes and cyclists
tend to have an increased flexion in their thoracic spine,
and just tightness around this area.
Now as much as doing corrective exercises
and making sure your posture is good is one thing,
sometimes you do actually have to stretch out the area.
And a perfect way to do this is to simply take a towel,
roll it up, and then lie on it
across the back of your thoracic spine,
which will just naturally help
to open up your spine in that direction.
You can then take the towel,
and lay it in a vertical direction,
so down the length of your spine,
which will help to stretch and open up your shoulders
in slightly different direction.
Now all of these tips are pretty simple and easy,
and most importantly, cheap to do.
And will hopefully avoid you have several trips
to the physiotherapist, as well as
saving you dollars in the process.
If there are any that I haven't included,
that you find work for you, please do
share them with us in the comments section below.
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And if you've been struggling with plantar fasciitis,
or you want to know, more importantly, how to prevent it,
we've got a video on that just down here.
And for a bike fit video that Fraser made,
you can click on that one just here.