Tennis Ball Part 3: Upper Body

Your lower body should be loose as a goose right now. It’s time to move onto the upper body. If you haven’t done so already read Part 1 and Part 2, to find out all you need to know about trigger points and how to work them in your lower body. Part 2 also gives you some information on what to do before and after each trigger point session.Read them? Good, now we can move onto some tight and painful areas in the upper body.

If you want more information on how to find trigger points, and where they all are in your body, then check out this review, the trigger point therapy workbook.

I have had a lot of emails asking about the massage ball that I am using, like I said a tennis ball works great, but you can get the exact ball I am using here on amazon. There are a few other sizes too, check them out here: Spiky Massage Ball

1. The Psoas

This is a tough one to actually get trigger points done with the tennis ball, however this kind of work will give it a good release. The Psoas is often tight from people sitting down at work all day and having it in a shortened position.

How To:

About 2 cm right from your belly button is the initial place you want to put the ball. Lay flat and gradually raise yourself up of the ground. The higher you go the more stretch and consequently more pressure you put through your Psoas. Repeat this with the ball in the same spot a few times, then move it up and down slightly. Test out each area of the Psoas and find where you are tightest. Not everyone will feel something from this exercise, if you are tight in the Psoas I find the best way to get nice and deep where you need is some hands on active release work or acupuncture. However this is a good, cheap and convenient start!

2. The Erectors

We all tend to have pretty bad posture when we are sitting, and we can develop tight erectors (these are the long muscles that extend from your lower back right up to your neck on either side of the spine). You probably won’t find many trigger points in this exercise but, the thoracic and cervical (upper) erectors are where you want mobility and are often very tight, so that is where we will work through.

How To:

Place two tennis balls in a sock (it’s OK guys, they are very cheap…) and place it on the ground behind you. Lay down slowly and extend over the two balls. Start around where I have in this picture. You will find they fit perfectly onto your erectors and the groove between the two balls leave enough room for your spine. Once you have extended over an area, sit up, shift forward slightly, and come down again over the next vertebrae. Do this right up your back. As I mentioned before this isn’t really trigger point work, but since it’s a tennis ball post I had to include it. So many people have bad posture, this will help to straighten you out and hopefully reduce back spasms.

3. The Trapezius

For whatever reason I am betting you have tight traps. These are the bulges of muscle on either side of your neck. Go on and touch them right now and I bet they feel like rocks. People tend to get tight traps from sitting with a bad posture, stress, lifting and simply everyday life. Your traps run right down to you middle back, but it’s the top area that you will find are generally tighter.

How to:

There are two ways you can approach this. Firstly, you can put the ball on the ground, lay back and find the spots on your traps that are the tightest. Move your body around by pushing from your legs. Try to relax your neck and head.

You have lots of trigger points in this area, however you might find that the overall muscle is simply too tight and you need to loosen it first before you can get specific trigger points.

Some people may find this a little awkward so…

You can also get a sock, and place a tennis ball in it. Then, standing against a wall, place the ball where you want it, hold the sock and start searching for your spots. This can often be easier as you are able to move the sock around whilst you are putting pressure on the ball. Either way is good and try both to see what suits you best.

4. The Pecs

Sitting at your desk and using your computer leaves you with tight pecs. Your shoulders are often in a rounded position and your pec major and pec minor want to stay in that shortened position. Let’s not even touch on the fact that most people are bench press dominant when they go to the gym. Point is, these get tight, and need to be released for optimal shoulder health.

How To:

Yes, I look a little like a dead fish, but it’s the most effective way to get at these babies. You will find the best response comes from the upper pecs, where the muscle starts to get smaller and go into your shoulder. It’s a big muscle, so play around. Lay on the ground with the ball underneath you. Roll around a little until you find tight and tender spots, then hold. This is a pretty painful one, but very necessary in almost everyone.

5. The Rotator Cuff

The rotator cuff consists of four muscles. The infraspinatus, teres minor, subscapularis and supraspinatus. Check out this picture.

Pic: med.yale.edu

You can see that the only two you can really access are the infraspinatus and the teres minor, they sit on the back of your scapula and can be palpated through the skin. These are both external rotators. The other two are very deep and can really only be located by a specialist. Rotator cuff tightness and trigger points are a very common cause of shoulder pain. Bad sitting posture, keeping your arms overhead a lot, using the mouse with one hand and typing with no elbow rest can cause these can become very tight. This can help to relieve a pinched nerve in shoulder.

How To:

First you need to locate the infraspinatus and teres minor. These sit smack bang on the meat of your shoulder blade. Check out where mine is (see the red marks from some tennis ball work!)

You then lay on the ball, one your side. You will find that your shoulder blade moves round to be underneath you and will be able to sit nicely on top of the tennis ball. Move around slightly to see where you are tighter. As you can see from the first diagram, the infraspinatus is quite long. I find that I have more troubles up closer to where it is about to go into the shoulder, and that is where I do more work through. Try the whole length of the muscle for yourself. Once you have found a spot, lay there and don’t move. These muscles are very tight and will respond.

For some extra work, hold your arm in the two positions I have below and internally and externally rotate your shoulder. Do this about 1o times. You should feel the pain slowly getting more bearable. The ball won’t move, so you will be staying on the trigger point or sore point, and you will be giving yourself some very cheap and easy active release therapy. This does wonders for loosening up your rotator cuff and keeping your shoulders healthy.

Try this position with your arm as well.

If you don’t have pain, get into these spots around once a week anyway. Most of us are tight and dont even know it. If you are tighter in some areas or suspect that an injury or pain is being caused by trigger points, do this as much as you want. There are no harmful side effects, other than a little soreness after the first few tries. You will only feel better. I suggest if you aren’t already doing so start foam rolling. You can consider this the next step up! Both in pain, and benefits.

Now you can keep your lower and upper body loose and mobile. Optimal muscle function is critical to your exercise program. Not only will you feel better, you will recover faster and be able to work a little harder in the gym. By getting into these spots you are ensuring that you are doing your best to prevent many overuse injuries. I can guarantee after a session with the tennis ball you will be feeling better than you ever thought possible.

Part 1: A Tool You Never Knew You Had

Part 2: Lower Body

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