How Tennis Balls and Duct Tape Can Morph into a Do-It-Yourself Massage for Lower Back Pain

December 4, 2009
by: Stephanie Burke

During the holidays, money and time is often tighter, which can be a problem for people with back pain, especially those chronic patients who rely on frequent treatments from chiropractors or massage therapists.

With this in mind, the most recent issue of Consumer Reports on Health provided a great example of how patients with a sore back can still seek pain relief in-between running around and spending money on Christmas gifts this month.

All that’s needed for this do-it-yourself massage is a couple of tennis balls, a roll of duct tape, a floor and no more than 10-15 minutes daily.

Sound interesting? Here's what you'll need to do.

Align the tennis balls in a figure eight, and then use as much duct tape as needed to secure the balls in this shape. When completed, the compact tennis balls/duct tape contraption will look like a peanut.
Place the tennis balls on the ground and then lie on them in the supine position (lying down with the face up), keeping the knees bent. The tennis balls should be parallel to your waist and centered just above the lumbar spine (lower back).

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Attain balance and comfort, and then raise both arms with your fingers pointed towards the ceiling. Keep your arms as straight as possible.
Beginning with either your right or left arm, slowly lower your arm backwards toward your head (visualize a reverse tomahawk chop without the speed). Once again, keep your arms as straight as possible and feel free to bend your neck backwards when moving your arms.
Bring the arm backwards to the ground, hold this position for a couple of seconds, and then slowly bring it back to its original starting position.
Now repeat the same action with the other arm.
Alternate and complete for each arm four more times. Throughout this process, the tennis balls simulate the knuckles of a massage therapist.

The Consumer Reports on Health article (subscription-only) also details how this massage can be varied, with the arms slowly rotated to the side rather than brought backwards.

With that said, best of luck with this exercise for lower back pain.