hi i'm paula moore the chiropractor and
i'm here to talk to you today about how
to use a tennis ball for your lower back
trouble okay now I probably didn't
invent this but I feel as if I have
because my patients absolutely love it
and they tell me it's the best thing
they've ever learned so I don't know how
long it's been around but I kind of
found it one day after I'd injured my
own back and I haven't looked back since
it's one of the most popular exercises I
give my clients and I use it to get rid
of knots in the low back it can be used all
over the body but it's particularly
great for the low back
and those hard-to-reach places got my
friend here the spine and I'm going to
show you where you're going to be using
this right so this is you facing the
spine looking from behind the spine and
the tennis ball is to be used in your
low back between the crests of the
pelvic bones and the lower margin of the
ribs so pretty much to either side of
the green area which is your lumbar
spine those are the areas you're going to be
looking for your muscular knots so the
tennis ball shortly when you're lying on
your back you're going to be placing it
along this area here and along this area
here and in particular there's a sweet
spot right about in here where you get
on a muscle called your quadratus
lumborum your QL and on most people I
can find a trigger point or a muscular
knot in there definitely people with low
back pain I've never found one yet that
doesn't have these and it's so effective
because you can travel with a tennis
ball so you're never stuck out in pain and
not knowing what to do so this is great
for muscular spasms and getting rid of
those knotted muscles and as an aside
a knotted muscle you can think
of as a buildup of lactic acid where a
muscle has been overworking so athletes get
it and people with back trouble get it
where the muscles are over
working and the lactic acid builds up
and forms a knot and by applying
pressure either with my thumb as a
chiropractor or my elbow when I'm feeling
particularly mean or tennis ball so you
can apply pressure to your own trigger
points and help melt them away so these
are the areas we're going to look for so
take a look at me lying on my back now
okay so just before you lie back
you've got your tennis ball in the
same side as the side you're
going to apply it to you're going to lie
on your back you're going to roll to the
side and you're going to have a little
feel with your own fingers for any
tender points or any areas where it
feels a bit knotted you're going to move
the tennis ball around until you find a
particularly tender one and it looks
something like this
and you say ouch yeah okay I find a
tender point in there and remember those
spots I showed you on the spine between
the crest of the pelvis and where your
ribs end in between there and really up
close to the bony spine but not on the
bones so you put the tennis ball in you
roll your knees back sometimes I give
them a bit of a wiggle and I look to see
is that tender not quite take the knees
away find the point move the ball around
until you find a tender one I've got one
there now for some people this is enough
weight to get the tension onto the ball
and feeling that tenderness if you can't
find a tender point you can increase the
weight on the tennis ball I tend to do
this by taking my foot onto my opposite
knee and tipping sometimes I even like
to use my hands cupping them over my
knee
tipping right onto the ball putting a
little more weight on to that point and
now I've got a really tender one I call
it good pain something you feel like
where you're really getting at the point
and doing something about it now the key
with these tender points you need to
stay on them until they completely fade
if you come off the ball before they've
faded you can actually switch these
points on they can start to really
aggravate you so you stay on I've got a
good point there now it's tender if you
get one and you start feeling the
tenderness travel down your leg it's
okay
just remember that that's a more chronic
point when they travel away from the
site they've been there longer stay on
it until it completely fades on average
that will take between 20 seconds and
right up to two or three minutes for
some really chronic ones when the pain
is completely dissipated slowly
roll off the tennis ball and move the
tennis ball to another tender point my
goal with this exercise
is to find two or three tender points
each side and remember stay on them
until they fade completely to come off
them roll your knees away and go up onto
all fours don't just sit up as I just
did there okay so watch how I get up in
the correct way now after finishing the
tennis ball exercise and by the way do
two or three points each side and this
can be done every single day again this
one's definitely best to be done after
you've been up a couple of hours my
preference is to do it after a hot bath
or after a little bit of exercise or at
the end of the day you're going to get a
lot more out of it so watch how I get up
after I've been doing it you'll be a
little bit sore okay
there the correct way to get up be
careful not to push down too hard on the
tennis ball you can bruise the muscle if
you do bruise the muscle Arnica lotion is
great and the bruising won't last anyway
it can be sore the next day but remember
this is not for you to be diagnosing or
treating a condition if there's
anything you're really concerned about
you should be seeing your chiropractor
or your GP okay we'll see you at
posturevideos.com for other great
posture tips thanks very much for
watching bye