Sometimes its not the fancy products that get great ratings, but a simple thing such as a lacrosse ball. The reason being? Its just the right density so that there is no give, while its not as hard as a golf ball that you are going through a lot of pain to relieve a lot of pain!
The lacrosse ball gets high grades mostly because of the price, precision and portability. If you got some muscle knots, most likely you can hit them with the lacrosse ball.
The limitations we find are that its often hard to get to hard to reach muscles, its’ not easy to do while at work, and you can’t really vary the amount of pressure you can apply to your muscles. Otherwise, it’s made our top 5 list and will continue to stay there!
PROS
You can really hit the spots. Not only can you use it lying down, but I’ve been able to rub against my mid back while sitting in a chair. To target the upper shoulders, it’s a bit of a pain but you can easily have it against a wall, lean forward and hit your muscle knots from that position. The other great thing is that its really portable. You can carry it anywhere.
CONS
Its not easy varying the pressure. That’s one of the biggest things I see with massage tools. You have to be able to adjust the pressure. What if your muscle knot is too painful? Its hard to lie on something and apply less pressure. Your body weight isn’t going to change any time soon, unless you push off with your body to take some pressure off. But that would mean you’ll be sweating while doing something that should be relaxing you.
THE BOTTOM LINE
The lacrosse ball should always be an essential tool if you are looking to dig out those muscle knots. You can pretty much hit a lot of muscles, but are kind of limited. Want to hit those upper shoulders? You have to put it up against a wall and lean into it. Not as relaxing as we would like. Its also hard to vary the pressure of your body to target muscles at different intensities. Otherwise, one of the top products out there for simplicity and price.