Amateursam

cane
I love the Thera Cane. I'm showing it to everyone in sight. I wish I would have heard about it long ago.

Great massager for hard to reach places
I picked up the Theracane after reading the many great reviews and reading about it in the Trigger Point Workbook by Claire Davies. If anyone out there is suffering from chronic aches or pains I highly recommend getting this book as well as checking out this very good site by Paul Ingraham called saveyourself.ca. There is a wealth of information there. Of course, you should be checked out by a doctor first to make sure there are no serious problems but it seems more likely that problems are from the result of myofacial pain.

I have nasty and numerous trigger points in my upper back and neck and have been living with frequent stiffness, aches and pain off and on for the last 4 or 5 years. I've frequented a Chiropractor and massage therapists but the pain usually returns regularly. I've decided that getting informed and taking matters into my own hands is the best and cheapest way to manage my pain. I've found that the Theracane is very good for reaching some of the trigger points on my back and on top of my shoulders. The little nubs in the center are pretty good for digging into occipital muscles in the back of my head and ones in my neck as well. It's very solidly made as well so a great amount of pressure is easy to achieve.

As good as the Theracane is though, it is not always the best tool for the situation. A lot of times if you can reach your trigger point with your hands and have the right technique you can really zero in better. I also highly recommend using various sizes of hard rubber balls. The one I like the most is actually made by the company Kong as a dog chew toy. It's just a very solid rubber ball with a very light give. Rolling this against the wall is very effective. I actually prefer it to the Theracane for the most part these days. That being said, I would highly recommend adding the Theracane to your arsenal of tools. It's good to have a variety.

TheraCane Massager
This product is great. My massage therapist recommended it to maintain certain muscles between our therapy sessions. I use it three times a week on certain sore muscles, and in just two weeks I am already noticing a difference. It was well packed and arrived on time.

Access those hard-to reach places to release pain
The Thera Cane Massager was recommended by a friend in my yoga class. At first glance, it appears kind of weird, but be assured that it works wonders on sore muscles by giving you access to those "knots" or trigger points that you cannot easily reach unless you are a contortionist. To see it in use, search for Thera Cane in YouTube; there are several good video presentations there, including a few from massage therapists. I have had it for less than a week, and I have already released pain over my right shoulder and under my left shoulder blade, and I have substantially released pain in my left thigh-outer-hip area (by today, it is almost gone).

Amazon also offers some helpful books on deep muscle (myofascial) massage and trigger point release, e.g., Trigger Point Therapy for Myofascial Pain: The Practice of Informed Touch that might help you understand what this is all about, but you needn't get all that deeply into things unless you are a stickler for detail. The brief, well-illustrated owner's manual that ships with the Thera Cane is all you really need to get started at relieving aches and pains. A word of warning: avoid lingering pain from use by heeding the caveat not to press too hard at first until you learn your tolerance levels--easy does it!

I sent a note about this product to a few on-line health-related lists to which I subscribe, and quickly received confirmations of its efficacy from a few massage practitioners as well as a testimonial from a subscriber who ordered one based on my note and almost immediately got headache relief by releasing a trigger point at the base of her neck in back. One of the massage therapists wrote that the Thera Cane provides her with health and sanity. This is a rather amazing statement from a person whose income derives from providing services that a person could provide for him/herself with the Thera Cane. Personally, I was paying per session for a deep tissue/trigger point release massage, so I knew where to find most of my trigger points. And, I went right to them with the Thera Cane. So, now I do not need to go to the masseur, at least not until something might crop up that I cannot solve with the Thera Cane (none so far).

Buying advice: way too effective to pass up, and reasonably priced. Used on themselves by massage professionals, so how can you go wrong?

can massager
this is a good investment for anyone who ever gets a cramp in the back of the neck, it allows you to put the pressure where you need it, in the "right spot." i bought a blue one many years ago, they still make them exactly the same and more or less indestructible. it can hang on the inside of a closet door, just don't sit on it :)