where women celebrate their ageless authenticity
I have a healthy obsession with my husband’s ball.
Now, before you jump to conclusions, I’m talking about his bright orange, rubber, lacrosse ball. It’s three inches in diameter, as hard as an unripe avocado, and the cause of great pain…and relief.
It all started with my broken booty. Well, it wasn’t “broken” per se, but I managed to strain nearly every muscle in my right glute. It turns out that doing a long hike, a high-intensity workout, followed by extra booty work, is not a good thing for a 58-year-old woman. Sadly, I didn’t fully realize I had injured myself until I played in a round robin of tennis the next day.
By the end of my third set, I couldn’t walk. I couldn’t even sneeze without pain. So, I did everything in the book to unbreak my booty. Ice packs, Epsom salt baths, heat patches, cool gel, massage gun, yoga, rolling tube, physiotherapy, gallons of water and plenty of rest. After three weeks, I could almost walk without a limp.
And then my husband said, “I have a lacrosse ball you could use. It hurts, but it helped me when I had my hip replacement.”
I didn’t have a lot of faith in this cure as surely he would have offered up this tool in the THREE WEEKS he had seen me writhing on the floor and limping around the house.
But I dug out that magical orange orb and plopped my right butt cheek right down on it. AAAARRRRGHHH! It hurt! Like “use your Lamaze breathing” kind of hurt. The pain eventually moved from excruciating to uncomfortable to “hurts so good” to…nothing. And then I rolled the ball to the next spot and started the spectrum of agony again.
All the while, I felt weird sensations all over my body. My eyebrow wiggled. My toes tingled. My sinuses drained in a whoosh. I realized that the energy that flows throughout my body had been blockaded in my butt.
As I worked on my booty every day, I realized my pain didn’t start and end there. The whole right side of my back, shoulder and arm had been sore for years. A skiing accident, torn rotator cuff, inglorious wipe-out with my daughter in a foot race (I would have won, by the way), and years behind a computer had created a web of stiff muscles, tendons and fascia that couldn’t and wouldn’t be untangled.
Over the years I had done acupuncture, massage, yoga and more to relieve the pain, but it was ever-present, and I just thought I had to live with it.
Enter my new orange friend. I put it on my living room carpet, laid down on top of it, and rolled it around inch by inch. Ouch. Oooh. Ugh. Aaahhh. I targeted big muscles, teeny tiny tendons and anywhere else I felt pain.
Soon, I could make the full rotation of my right arm with wincing at every hitch. I could turn my head side to side without my neck muscles straining and seizing.
Basically, I just felt good all over.
After one week with the lacrosse ball, I was walking with no pain (sneezing too). The following week I tentatively ventured onto the tennis court and survived that, as well.
It’s not to say that all the other methods I tried to repair my posterior didn’t have an impact. I’m sure they helped in some way. But the key to fixing my body was that little orange ball. I now keep it close and roll my feet on it while I drink my morning tea.
Someday my husband will ask for it back. And I’ll give it to him. It might take me three weeks, though.
All wellness content on Intentfully FiT is provided for general information and conversation only, and should not be treated as a substitute for the professional medical advice of your own physician or any other healthcare professional or medical practitioner. If you have any concerns about your general health, you should contact your local healthcare provider. This article is not intended to be a substitute for professional treatment, diagnosis, or medical advice, and should never be relied upon for specific medical recommendations.
