New Self-Care Tools.

There are a variety of fun new tools on the market to ensure that you are getting the most out of your self care.

1. Pick a Tool by its Level of Firmness.

A soft tool places less pressure per square inch. This means that it is more gentle and does less irreparable damage if used incorrectly. If you are working on softening and loosening a new region or one that is constantly irritated by your job or favorite sport, this would be our recommended tool. The yellow centered knot out tool above is designed for small areas, retails at $12.95, and is usable on the foot, forearm and hand.

2. Pick a Tool that Can Get Into Your Area of Injury.

Each athlete is individually shaped. Due to the discrepancy in length and size of bones and muscles, each tool will work differently and will need specific positioning to have a maximum benefit. Listen to your body, if it feels like your care is of benefit, fantastic, if not, try a new position, a new tool, or a modification in how you use the tool (technique). Here are a few videos with these new tools if yours isn’t working as desired.

Above all, tools should be fun, you should want to use them (and do) and our rule is to begin at 30 seconds per 'knot' to test out how your body responds to care-

The overall picture would be to apply 4 minutes of full body stretching/rollering use per 30 minutes of activity daily. If sitting aggravates your back, we’ll use the time you sit as the indicator of how much self-care we need. An excellent book for you to think about getting (I have one in my library) is Supple Leopard, a book by Kelly Starlett DPT. Focusing on teaching you how to return suppleness and flexibility to your body, it reinforces how power can be lost and loss of motion lead to injury.

Almost every athlete in my office could benefit from this book-

We also have an in-office written text to walk you through self-care if you are new to it Our link to these resources is Here-