Excellent, sturdy tool for trigger point muscle tightness
My back is always giving me grief. Whether it's knots between my shoulder blades from an injury-related scoliosis, or spasms in my lumbar vertebrae, I can count on having to deal with some kind of musculoskeletal back problem throughout the year.<br /><br />I have resorted to all kinds of DIY self-torture to release knots. I've chewed ibuprofen like candy. I've rutted up against a door frame like a brown bear in the forest. I've even used a hammer to try and blindly pound knots into submission. Nothing really hit the spot in that "ahhhhh" way.<br /><br />About a year ago a colleague mentioned muscle trigger points and how these goofy looking plastic hooks are great for releasing muscle tension. I did not believe it for a second, but she had a side business as a therapist and literally pulled one of these out of her trunk to show me. She showed me how to torque the hook over my shoulder and not to massage, but to press the knob on the tenderest, angriest spot of my muscle spasm (which it reached comfortably), and PULL. HARD. I saw stars. I saw liquid time flowing before my unshielded eyes. My brain slipped into a cool ether as phosphorescent nerves fired in beautiful agony, radiating the music of neurons from the hot core of taught muscle fibers beneath my shoulder blade. I knew no language. My reptile brain basked in the sun of suns. And at last, after eons of sorrow and wailing saints had slithered through the coils of my subconscious (which I guess took like 60 seconds), I eased up on the hook. I remembered my life. But the nagging ache was fading,ebbing like the rusty smear of a setting sun. Relief was a warm, drunken syrup drizzling down my spine. I felt a lightness, and a real release that no craftsman hammer ever provided. And it stayed.<br /><br />I keep a MuscleHook behind the couch and use it whenever my back is even a little cranky. Nothing has ever hit the sweet spot like this tool. My lovely wife cannot, despite her best efforts, muster the raw brute force needed to beat my muscle knots in to submission, and now she is saved from the frustration of having to root out these issues with the muffled directions of her floor-prone husband: "higher...to the left...no, back...nnng...down...harder please....no- back the other way....left....", etc. are things of the past.<br /><br />I'm not claiming this is a cure-all and I'm not giving medical advice here, but I am saying that this tool has so far been better for mitigating my back muscle issues than anything else I've tried at home, including:<br /><br />- Hammers<br />- Door Frames<br />- Electric massage wands<br />- Foam rollers<br />- Stretching<br />- Contorted twisting and grunting<br />- Ibuprofen<br />- Ibubrofen with muscle relaxant<br />- Laying on tennis balls<br /><br />This is a sturdily designed tool. It holds its shape and is tough enough to absorb the force of being wrenched, pulled, pressed, and twisted without giving. Worth every penny.
Rating: 5 stars