By- Kevin M. NeibauerLacrosse fans should be happy to learn that Lacrosse is actually quite therapeutic. Well, maybe not the game itself, but, Lacrosse balls. Yes, that's right...Lacrosse balls.
A gentleman from the Philadelphia area has a proven that the most intense and satisfying massage is achieved by rolling on Lacrosse balls.
Allow me to introduce everyone to Wissinoming's native son, Author of "The Body's Constitution, Improved Health and Athletic Fitness through Self Massage and Hybridized Yoga". Keith Null.
Why don't I let Keith explain his findings.
KMN-Keith, tell us about your background. How does a kid from Philly find out the magic of lacrosse balls?
KN-"My education as it pertains to my book started when I visited California when I was 18. After a day of getting pounded in the surf, I received a massage from my Aunt Candice. She was an Olympic synchronized swimming coach and all around fitness guru. She showed me a technique where as you could lay on a little hard rubber ball, place it on a tight muscle, endure some pain, and in the end that sore tight muscle would be relieved. Little did I know at the time, that this technique would take me on a long a fruitful journey.
I was always an accomplished athlete. At age 12, I held a record for scoring the most goals in a soccer season. Then I declined slowly, but still made All Public in high school. However, I was no longer the best in the league and was not really sure why. I figured it out many years later. About this time in life I started to really enjoy surfing. This was also the time I started a career as a union sheet metal worker. I basically worked for a roofing company where the days where long and hard on the back. So between surfing and roofing I discovered what the meaning of a sore, tight back really was like.
Looking for answers to these problems, I went back to school (Temple U.) for Human Movement which is a combination of athletic training and exercise physiology (sports medicine). I also attended Owen's Institute for Swedish massage and Holistic Medicine. I graduated both with honors."
KMN-What did you gain from the schooling?
KN-"One of the main concepts I received from both these schools is that deep pressure massage is one of, if not the best ways to relieve sore, stiff muscles or what is called spastic muscles. This brings me back to what I learned from my Aunt Candice. My education in fact did a 360 to what I learned 30 years ago. I found that rolling on lacrosse balls, one or two of them at a time, in a Swedish massage style, which was my idea, could produce results like nothing else could. You could go to the best massage therapist and it would even come close to what you could do on your own. No one knows your body like you do. A therapist more or less has to guess what muscles are aching and tight, but you don't. You can fell them in the first person, especially as a lacrosse ball rolls over these areas. There is no mistaken the feel of a tight, stiff muscle when done this way. It cannot be misread by a massage therapist. Again, no one knows your body like you do. And there is no mistaken the feel of a muscle when it becomes relaxed. I like to call it a musclegasm; it's like a muscle orgasm."
KMN- Athletes should be interested, why?
KN-" With all this in mind, one can now conclude that if you get the best massage, which I just described, you can reach optimal flexibility. Optimal flexibility leads to greater range of motion in your joints. Greater range of motion leads to increased athletic ability. Weather it is hitting the golf ball further and with more accuracy or running the 50 yard dash my technique will make you the best you can be. The concept seems so simple and frankly I'm surprised that no one else has thought of this before. In addition to making your athletic performance sore, this form of massage fights aging by increasing nutrients flowing into the cells and wastes out of the cells.
Now I'm not saying that this is the only form of exercise an athlete or anyone should do. It works best in combination with standard fitness program and used as a supplement. I've been doing this for twenty years now and it truly works. After a hard days work, I can increase my range of motion by 30% and that's huge. Now that I'm almost 50 years old, I feel that my moves in soccer are quicker and powerful than they were 30 years ago. I can't picture life without it. And If I knew this when I was 12, I have no doubt that I would have reached greatness in sport. So it's time to pass this knowledge on before it's too late. I don't want to be another Joseph Pilate and be dead for 100 years before anyone realizes talent."
KMN- "So, anyone can easily do this and achieve results in a short time?
KN-"I'm not saying that what I have described is easy. In fact it will take time to learn and may even take several months for one's skin to adapt to the force of your entire body's weight to be focused on the small area as dense of a lacrosse ball. But there is no better deep pressure massage you can get. In my opinion, this technique will increase you athletic ability by at least 15% or more. I am in fact, my own testimonial to my book. My book has just been published and no one famous is under my care. Science and logic are the foundation for my book. It's as simple as that!
Thank You, Keith
Keith's book, "The Body's Constitution, Improved Health and Athletic Fitness through Self Massage and Hybridized Yoga" can be purchased at Amazon for only $20 or, you can get it from Mr. Null's site, http://15c772myauthorsite.com for only $13.
It is interesting reading and well worth the time if you are an athlete trying to keep your edge or even a couch potato with a sore back.
