It is small and round and kind of squidgy on the outside but very hard on the inside. And it has done wonders for my niggling hamstring injury. The J2X Trigger Point Therapy Massage Ball might not look like much more than a small ball covered in a sock-like material but it seems to be perfectly created to get right to the point of injury.

In fact, this is what it is meant to do.  The label proclaims: “These massage balls are perfect for performing trigger point therapy and relieving the muscle of existing minor aches and pains by applying pressure to the muscle. Great for the neck, shoulders, back, chest, piriformis, calves, or any other areas that you have minor aches and pains.”

I am not entirely sure why I have suffered for many months with continued hamstring pain and referred zaps of pain down my legs. It started when I did a hard cycle at the end of last summer and hasn’t really ever gone away. Some other things have helped, such as sports massage and weekly yoga.

Extra help from a good physiotherapist

Physiotherapy treatment by David Brogan, who works in and around Glasgow, added some back mobilising and leg muscle stretching exercises that have also helped to relieve some of the pain. David is right when he says that all my sports are “forwards sports”. By this he means I go forwards when I run, cycle and swim. In this way, only certain muscles are engaged while others are left “out of balance” and much less used. I should really add in a bit of squash, tennis or tennis (backwards and forwards sports) to my week but I am jam-packed full on triathlon training right now.

The pain in my hamstring appears to come from deep inside, where the muscle joins my butt muscles. It is very hard to pinpoint and extremely difficult to get into during an hour of massage. It could be the piriformis but I’m not sure! The Trigger massage ball does the job of getting to this point perfectly. When I feel the pain I simply sit on the ball and wedge it into the exact pain location and this helps to release the sore bit. I have only been using it a couple of weeks and already I am seeing longer-term relief.

Pinpointing pain relief with the massage ball

I can’t say that then Trigger ball is solely responsible for helping with the recovery of my injury but it has made a big difference. Combined with on-going physiotherapy (thanks David Brogan), some massage when I can afford it and weekly yoga I finally feel that after months of frustration and pain that I am on the road to recovery.

Thanks to Chelston Direct for sending me a Trigger Point Therapy massage Ball to try. It costs £9.99  and I would thoroughly recommend it for pinpointing and relieving niggly injuries. It is also highly transportable.