Treat trigger points yourself with the TOGU Actiball Relax

Do you also know this, the muscles feel shortened, e.g. you can’t stretch your arm upwards properly anymore? Do you have pain in the muscles and does it radiate? When you stroke the muscle in question, you feel small lumps in the muscle tissue? Then it is time for a trigger point treatment.

These small lumps in the muscles are so-called trigger points, which are hardened areas in the muscles. These often make themselves felt through pain, stiffness, dysfunction or sensitivity problems. You can treat these points yourself. Important, place the Actiball only on the muscles, never on bones or even on the spine.

Here is a selection of treatment points on different muscle groups:

Chest muscles with restrictions on overhead movement of the arms:

Here you need an Actiball Relax and a wall or door frame. Place the ball against the pectoral muscle and lean against the wall or even better against the door frame. Now try to guide the ball to the point where the pain is greatest by shifting your body. Now let the ball “sink” into the muscles for about two minutes at a time. You can support the effect by exhaling deeply.

Upper back shoulder blades:

Often the rhomboid muscle causes pain in the upper back, you can also use the Actiball Relax here. For this area you can do the exercises lying against a wall or on the floor. Place the ball between your shoulder blades in the area of the muscles. Again, look for the “sweet points” and let yourself sink into the ball with the exhale, shift the ball and try to reach all the trigger points in the muscles.

Gluteus Maximus:

The largest muscle in the body is your gluteus maximus, or large pomus muscle. Hardening here can radiate upward into your lower back or down your leg to your knee. Find a hard surface and sit down. Now place the Actiball Relax under your buttocks and look for your trigger points. As always, stay on the trigger points and try to let the ball sink into the muscles.

Thigh sideways:

You may already know this exercise with the Blackroll. You lie on the floor and roll out your muscles. However, due to the much smaller surface of the Actiball Relax, you treat your trigger points. As described above, work slowly, stay where you feel a hardening or a pain point.

Shin:

Your shin bone takes a special form in this topic. The runners among you have certainly had pain in the shin area after long runs. Mostly the shin bone syndrome shows up here. Take the Actiball Relax and roll the edge between the shin and the calf muscles with a lot of pressure on the inside.

All these exercises are intended as “first aid”, in no case they replace a visit to the doctor in case of severe complaints. Furthermore, with the trigger point massage you only treat the effects, but not the cause of the complaints.

Author: Markus Kiock