Clients come to my massage office with a myriad of complaints.  From the avid triathelete who is striving to stay in prime condition for the big race, to the super mom who juggles her workouts, kids, home life and career, staying at the top of their respective “game” is a necessity, not an option.

So when BT, a 50 year old working mother with 2 young kids came to my office one spring with a debilitating hip pain she experienced after leaving her weekly aerobic class, I knew she would need to be back on her feet as soon as possible.  However, her x-rays and her doctor were telling her a different story. Although BT’s hip pain seemed to have come on suddenly, the reality was that the source of her pain was severe osteoarthritis, a slow degenerative abnormality that leads to the wearing away of the cartilage and later the bones within a joint.

Osteoarthritis is the leading cause of chronic disability in the United States and is the most common form of arthritis. BT’s doctors informed her that her pain would continue to worsen unless she underwent a total hip replacement surgery.  This was a shocking and severe diagnosis for someone so young, healthy and active to accept. BT was far from ready to leap onto the hospital gurney.  She had a job and a family to maintain, but she was also still suffering daily a great deal.  So while she took the time to research her own case, to find second opinions, and to hear past hip replacement patient’s stories both good and bad, I taught BT to roll and to do yoga for pain management.

The Yoga Tune Up® Therapy Ball Hips and Low Back routines quickly became her evening ritual that allowed her to sleep through the night.  During the days, she would do self massage therapy by using the balls to rub out the trigger points that were forming as a result of her decreased movement, a secondary result of her chronic pain.  By fall, the diagnosis had been confirmed and BT was finally ready to consent to hip replacement surgery.  Her doctors and surgeons were extremely impressed with her unusually speedy recovery post-op and much before she (or her doctors) expected she was riding her bike, back on the tennis courts, and able to run with her kids!  The Yoga Tune Up® Therapy Balls were an invaluable tool that not only allowed her to manage her pain levels through self massage for arthritis, but they also empowered her to take control of health and well-being on a daily basis during a time when she felt particularly helpless.   Realizing that we do have the  power to help ourselves is one of the most important steps on the road to healing.

Read about Dynamic Stretching.

Check out our Post athletic stretch DVD

Learn about our Self Massage Therapy Ball Programs.