Thursday, April 27, 2006

I have discovered the instrument of hell and it is a foam roller

On Monday, Susan (the masseuse) gave me three things I need to do:

1) Massage my tibias.

2) Stretch my hip flexors.

3) Roll my IT bands on a foam roller.

Number (1), no problem! Number (2), I do that anyways for my back! Number (3)? Someone please shoot me before I have to do that again. Who knew that a cylinder of styrofoam could cause so much pain? I called Kori, who is a pro at this, and she affirmed that it indeed sucks.

The styrofoam cylinder of death seems so unassuming. And then I lay on top of it and tried rolling my IT band and I could do about one roll down my thigh, screaming expletives the whole time. I made myself do 5 each leg (with about a minute rest between rolls).

I stole this picture from the internet somewhere, but it describes my feelings.

4 comments:

ButterPeanut said...

ow.

but funny.

Danielle in Iowa in Ireland said...

That stretch was like some weird running version of Twister :-) I started doing it in my office and then my officemates started looking at me funny. But once I got into it, I knew which stretch it was. Although I must say that I don't think I bowl right, since my foot never ends up like that (but the good people seem to :-))

I am fortunately at the point where my IT band doesn't hurt, it just feels tight, so I am in injury prevention mode.

Mark said...

Have been doing some reading up on this as have been feeling my IT band after my longer runs in recent weeks. Another good stretch (for the right leg) is to cross the right leg at right angles over the left knee while standing, or, similar to Pete's stretch, cross right ankle behind left and stretch arms down towards left ankle. Taking an anti-inflammatory isn't such a bad idea either, you can take ibuprofen or else ginger if you prefer something more natural (ginger tea is my favourite).

Danielle in Iowa in Ireland said...

I didn't realize ginger was good for that! I love ginger tea. When I lived in the DR, we would just pop some ginger root and cinnamon sticks in a pot of water and boil and it was soooo yummy. Now I have a good reason to drink lots of it!