To relieve pain, don’t just randomly poke and rub, says Amber Davies, a massage therapist and co-author of The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook (R270, kalahari.com).
Your lower back aches from sitting
Place a tennis ball between your right side (about five to seven centimetres above your hip) and a wall. Shift your weight to your left leg and bend your right knee. Turn away from the wall so the ball rolls toward your spine. Turn back. Repeat five times. Move the ball a 2.5cm lower and repeat. Once you reach your tailbone, work your left side.
Your chest is tight from weightlifting
Do this after a shower, when your muscles are loose: place a tennis ball between a doorpost and your chest, 2.5cm below your collarbone. Roll the ball horizontally toward your sternum and back five times. Drop the ball 2.5cm and repeat down to your lowest rib.
Running gives you foot twinges
While seated, press a golf ball into the pad of your foot and roll it side to side 10 times. Gently roll the ball from the centre of your toes to the centre of your heel, then to the right and left of the centre tendon; repeat five times. Turn your foot in; roll the ball from your big toe to your heel five times.
