I know: most people who have encountered the foam roller before have more a hate than a love relationship with it! It can be quite intense initially, but over time – as long as you do it consistently – the intensity will decrease and you (and your body) will be looking forward to rolling out. Yes, hard to believe when you first start out.

The foam roller work along your back, your hips, your quads, IT band, as well as your calves is highly effective (as long as you do it more than just once in a blue moon). The deep tissue massage that your body receives as you move your body over the roller, increases the blood flow through those often very tight structures (fascia, tendons, and muscles) and helps loosen them up.

Why can it be so painful initially?

When muscles get overly tight, stay chronically tight, and/or are bound up with other muscles or structures near them, they become constricted, lack ideal circulation, and just plain out get “unhappy”.

A great example are your quadriceps muscles: there are four muscles that form your thigh (your quad): vastus lateralis, vastus intermedius, vastus medialis, and the rectus femoris. In a lot of my clients, some of them are very stuck together and thus end up working inefficiently since they can’t work individually. They end up working too hard, get all “gnarly”, and sore to the touch.

Using the foam roller on your quads will help separate these structures from each other to allow each of them to work the way they were intended. Gone will be the “gnarliness”, gone will be the soreness. Happy muscles don’t hurt! I promise!

Let yourself get inspired and enjoy!

The workshops I am registered for are:

• Sacroiliac Function and Pilates Exercise Design, Karen Clippinger, MSPE
• The Reformer as an Assessment Tool: A Modern View of the PT Evaluation, Chrissy Romani-Ruby PT, MPT
• Pathokinesiology of the Hip/Knee Complex, Lise Stolze, MPT, DSc
• Clinical Applications for the CoreAlign, Chrissy Romani-Ruby PT, MPT
• Pathokinesiology of the Cervical Thoracic Complex, Lise Stolze, MPT, DSc

Based on my experience at the Pilates on Tour in Seattle last August, I know that the conference will be excellent, the teachers marvelous, and the overall learning atmosphere highly inspiring.

One of my favorite things is studying new techniques and learning new/different approaches to techniques I am already familiar with, making my work with you even more beneficial.

Stay tuned!

body rolling balls (various diameters; e.g. Red Ball – 5″ diameter; available for purchase at the studio, $12 (incl. tax)). Depending on how firmly they are inflated, you can make the work with the ball – e.g. around your hips – more or less intense. 

Pinkie Balls (available for purchase at the studio, $4 (incl. tax)). They are pretty hard (similar to a Lacrosse ball) and only about 3″ in diameter. Working with a Pinkie ball is a lot more intense than working with a body rolling ball.

 tennis balls – very similar to working with a Pinkie ball. A tennis ball is a little bigger, maybe – depending on how “fresh” it is – a little more giving. And: you might just have one handy!

Working with a ball gives you the possibility of doing the work not only on the floor, but also against the wall (you leaning against the wall with the ball between you and the wall). Being able to do the latter can make the work more accessible: you need less floor space (but you do need some wall space);  you can fit one of these balls more easily in your purse, briefcase, or travel bag; and it’s a little less intense since most of your body weight is on your feet rather than the ball.

- rolling on The Grid (available online, e.g. from amazon.com): it’s firm, supportive, a little more compact than a regular size foam roller (13″ x 5″ rather than 36″ x 6″). Great for traveling, too, since it’s smaller and it’s hollow – so you can stuff some of your clothes inside and not waste any luggage space.

- rolling on a PVC pipe: get yourself a length of PVC pipe from Home Depot or similar. About the same dimensions as The Grid above (13″ x 5″) or maybe a bit smaller. Way cheap! Same benefits for compactness as The Grid above.

Following a detailed intake conversation with the client to find out about movement patterns based on work habits, athletic activities, hobbies, the approach to resolving the underlying causes for the symptoms involve a neuromuscular assessment using NeuroMuscular Reprogramming.

Depending on where the RSI is, the chronic tension patterns in that area, e.g. the hands for “Blackberry Syndrome” or similar, need to be resolved in order for you to experience lasting relief.

The Body Praxis Method achieves this by

• using NeuroMuscular Reprogramming (NMR)
• to assess the muscular imbalances,
• to release those muscles that prevent the others from working effectively,
• to re-assess to make sure the intended result, i.e. balanced musculature, has been achieved, making sure that  the muscle just released doesn’t tighten up again and that the rebalance work holds.

• combining the NMR work with using Pilates movements, such as – to name just a few examples:
• gentle dynamic stretches for the affected areas.

• providing you with tools for self-care for in-between sessions:
  • a foam roller and how to use it, or
  • various balls (e.g. body rolling ball, Tennis ball, even the small Pinkie ball) and how to use it, or
  • appropriate stretches and Pilates movements, or
  • information about our small group mat Pilates classes during which you can learn and practice how to move your body in the most optimal way no matter what it is you do.

Since every body is different, there’s no cookie cutter approach to resolving any particular issue. NeuroMuscular Reprogramming provides all the necessary information and protocol to help tailor the solution specifically to each client to achieve the desired result.

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