Ok a while back (about 2 months) I was giving myself B-12 injections. Well, the problem was that I have ZERO knowledge of needle sizes and best spots to inject other then trying to avoid where the main arteries run.
Anyway, the injection caused muscle damage in my quad and it only got worse as the pain started to climb up towards my groin. I kept sprinting because I could not believe that a small pin hole could cause me such pain when I would sprint. I then tried to give it rest (about a week) and still nothing!
So, after frustration (took 1 step forward with the injections but 2 back due to injury) I decided to self massage my quad with my elbow. WOW! After about 20 minutes of massage and using lotion to provide some lubricant my quad felt sore and it felt like I “broke something up” and " rearranged" something. I continued to self massage the injured quad every day for a week for 20 min and each day the pain and soreness got less and less. So today because I felt no pain I decided to resume training today and now the pain is COMPLETELY gone! Did 4x30 with Zero problems!
On the flip side, overall I need to get a full body massage as I feel my whole body is tight now… I’m hitting training full blast now with :Weights, 800 med ball a week, sprints and then tempo. I’m trying to maintain it all without screwing my body up…lol Oh, and I also WORK!
Nice channel… And this is the next step that I was looking for… Videos of various kinds of massage tools. So do you only use a tennis ball? What other device would you recomend?
Good information, thanks. Looks like he also has a website http://selfmassageforathletes.com. I like it. Good stuff and no sales pitch except possibly the purchase of a $17 book.
I’ve been giving myself B-12 injections for the past month or so, but it’s a doctor prescription and he gave me the needles. I asked a well known female sprinter about B-12 injections, and she recommended injecting in the shoulder and using diabetic needles. I’ve been injecting in the shoulder, but the doctor gave me intra-muscular needles. So far so good.
Have you tried the Trigger Point foam roller? I’ve been using it of late, and it’s pretty great- it has a piece of PVC pipe inside, so it’s very durable. Angela likes the Travel Roller, which comes with a few balls and a DVD, and may be a bit more compact. She also goes through some uses for it in one of the tempo downloads. You can get light or heavy pressure depending on how you use the roller (single leg, double leg) and you can get into the glutes pretty nicely as well.
If you want to do it DIY el-cheapo, you could get Home Depot to cut you a length of PVC, cut and glue some closed cell foam to it, buy a lacrosse ball, and you could probably git’er done for under $15 bucks.
In the rich poley videos for thee self foot massage the girl uses a tennis ball. Is it better to use something ribbed such as a small baseball or golf ball?
In my experience, it’s easier to use something smooth, like a lacrosse ball, because it rolls more easily and doesn’t get caught on stitches or anything. Probably doesn’t make a huge difference in the end but the jerkiness of using a baseball annoys me.
I tried using the diabetic needles and it works great! I feel no pain after I inject myself in the shoulder.
So now, I’m experimenting with different doses and I have noticed that I get into a deeper sleep and I wake up feeling as if I took a long Epsom salt bath the other night. So yes, it’s still working, and the B6 does indeed calm the CNS. My next step is to mix my B complex shot with iodine.
The one I got is a small one and it is considerably smaller than my other one but works fine and is as easy as any ‘standard’ roller just hits a LOT deeper especially on the IT Band which for me was the most painful. :o
I used it after conditioning in the morning and then used my ‘standard’ one in the evening as a flush / recovery.
I know foam roll is great… but us being human and all (except for John who I know has a ‘robotic’ consistency in doing things), I found that I’ll keep it up for a week or so, and then get tired of having to do, so I was wondering how many here do it consistently? for long periods of time?
EMS on the other hand … i find so helpful… I put the active recovery program on, and I really feel a difference right away - and it’s not a hassle to use it, since I just sit there, and it does the work. I was also wondering if the effect is similar, compared to the foam roll, for those who have investigated the usefulness of both.
John, at the beginning of the summer my IT band was so jacked up, I couldn’t use the Trigger Point roller on my IT’s without it really hurting quite a bit. I had a few ART sessions with my coach where he did some deep and painful work in my IT’s (he did a lot of work close to the knee and hip, as he states a lot of tension is held there) and now I can maintain it by foam rolling with no problem. For those with a lot of soreness and access to an ART practitioner, this might be a useful option.
Stephanie, I have an EMS machine that I use on the active recovery setting and I find it helps muscles, but doesn’t seem to have any effect on my IT.
I only started foam rolling recently, but it can really help when access to therapy is limited, though foam rolling appears controversial to some in reading over previous threads here.
I know my coach down south went to see John Smith and he is apparently big on foam rolling when therapy access is limited. Down there a lot of people do it pre-warmup as well as post-workout or on off days. I wonder if foam rolling + EMS would be beneficial in some cases, or overkill?
