Trigger Points
This is a piece that is before the review, here we will talk about why it is important to treat these trigger points and how they have chiropractic value. Then we will consider some products that achieve different things and we give the pros and cons of buying and using this product. After each of these products there are some meters that give a rating for this product and we hope that you click the amazon link below and buy the product. In this way we can earn some money.
Vertiball
OK let’s get right into it, first off we got the Vertiball wall mounted wall ball massager
Now we are going to be using our normal criteria of Affordability, effectiveness, and durability and ease of use.
Right off the bat, these things are good for getting into those right shoulders and rhomboids ( the muscles in the back by your shoulder blades) but there are some drawbacks as well, the most common reason people buy this kind of stuff is to “ get rid of knots” or fix “ pain” now this is not going to be a great long term solution for that, if you are lifting a lot and working out hard then this is good to get into some trigger points on your back, and glutes. But this item doesn’t work well for the glutes as you have a hard time staying on top of it, it’s a bit too tall and better suited for the back and shoulder muscles. Most people have tight shoulders because of weak posterior chain, that’s just a fancy way of saying you are hunching too much and the muscles in the back of your body are weak compared to the front.
Summary: basically you should fix the reasons you are having to use this all the time, but if you are an athlete or a lifter its good for breaking up tight muscles in the back and the shoulders, it is poor at using on your glutes or hip.
Rating
This is way too high with other options out there
Nice “T” shape for the traps
Not quite as durable as you would expect for $300+
Pretty standard accessories.
Text5
Affordability: 2/ 5 This clocks in at around 60$ (please check amazon for the latest prices as this changes )
Effectiveness : 3/ 5 great for the upper back and shoulders it adheres to most walls as long as it’s not too curved, but its too tall for your hips and glutes.
Durability 4.5 /5 its solid, mostly hard plastic but good quality can take some weight, if you are 250 + pounds and rolling on it for your hip or glute you might break it but overall good.
Ease of use: 3.5 /5 again easy and great for the traps and shoulders you just stick on the wall, but not great for the hips and glutes.
MobilityWOD Supernova 2.0
MobilityWOD Supernova 2.0 offers fully updated grooves for deep therapy, with an improved nylon frame construction. Check out the Supernova 2.0 at Rogue Fitness!
Ok, now this guy is interesting, I’m not going to give too much away in the first few sentences but, my first impression is that its not bad, it got the nice groves so it doesn’t slip out from under you when you are rolling around, its a bit big a bulky if you want to use it on your gluts and get into the deep muscles, but I do like the groves that allow it to hold onto you better so it doesn’t slide straight out and you smack into the ground.
Summary: I would say if you are looking to do stuff for the lower half of your body use a different item, it just doesn’t work well on low back and glutes, but for the upper half like traps and shoulder muscles it works decently.
Rating
Affordability: 3/ 5 This clocks in at around 45$ (please check amazon for the latest prices as this changes )
Effectiveness : 3/ 5 great for the larger muscles *except the glutes, but is lacking for the small guys like parts of the neck and around the shoulder blades.
Durability 5/5 it’s solid, mostly semi-hard plastic but good quality. It’s mostly plastic so not much to comment on. I mean it’s a ball for christ’s sake.
Ease of use: 4 /5 again easy and great for the big muscles, but not great for the hips and glutes. It sticks well so it doesn’t slide around, but that also makes it a bit harder to “dig in”.
Theracane
Now this guy is pretty good for specific things, you kind of have a tale of two cities here, one is for the big muscles and one is for the smaller muscles, it got good marks on things just because its good at the one or two things it needs to do, but is weak at getting into big muscles. So you just have to read through and see if its right for you. I would recommend this is most of your problems are just the shoulder blades, and neck. This is going to be mostly for desk-jockeys, and not hardcore athletes if you want something stronger to check out my reviews of massage-gums LINK THE MASSAGE GUN POST HERE.
Summary: Now this all comes down to what you are trying to accomplish with this item, its good for small knots and muscles in the back and around the shoulder blades, this is a spot the other items on this list don’t do so well at, but this does mean its weak in the larger areas, like the glutes, the leg muscles, and pretty much any “big” muscle you might want to work. It does work great for a specific area though, and that’s the area around the shoulders.
Rating
Affordability: 4/ 5 it’s clocking in at 20$ making it pretty affordable.
Effectiveness: 4/ 5 works pretty good for a temporary solution, but most of those spots you are hitting are from weak back muscles that are overworked because you are on the computer all day, so it won’t last forever. But good in a pinch. No pun intended.
Durability 5/5 it’s hard plastic but good quality. It’s mostly plastic so not much to comment on. I mean it’s just a plastic stick with knobby ends, it’s not like a sophisticated machine, but it’s solid.
Ease of use: 4 /5 easy and good for the SMALL muscles, but not great for the hips and glutes. It does allow you to “dig in” more into the back part.
NEW THERACANE Therapeutic Manual Massager Muscle Trigger Point Tool…
Lacrosse Ball
OK last BUT NOT LEAST, the Lacrosse Ball.
Now, this is obviously going to be the cheapest item on the list, but it’s here for a reason, I included it on the list because this is what I see the majority of my patients using, so I wanted to do a complete review so anyone who wanted the info could come in and make the best choice for themselves. This guy is probably the best “bang for your buck” It excels at using it for the glute and the small muscles deep in the buttock. You can roll around on it and its smaller size keeps it from rolling too much, it does lack the groves so it slides out a lot more than most of these, and it just won’t work on some of the parts of the low back that curve due to its size.
Summary: This is the best bet for you if you just have knots in the glutes (butt muscles) and you want a cheap solution to try first. It’s not the best on the list, but it is the cheapest.
Rating
Affordability: 5/ 5 coming in at around 12$ for a pack of 4 this guy tops the list of being the cheapest.
Effectiveness: 3.5/ 5 like said above, good for the glutes, and shoulder blade area, but a bit weak for the rest of the body. It does slip out a lot.
Durability 5/5 not much to it, it’s just a small hard plastic ball. You will probably just lose it before you break it.
Ease of use: 3 /5 easy to use for the glutes, does slide out a bit though.
