Oh Ball Premium Massage Ball Roller-Effective Plantar Fasciitis Foot Pain Relief,Trigger Point Deep Tissue Myofascial Muscle Release,100% American Natural Organic Maple Hardwood with Paracord Handles

I am a runner and a massage therapist. I struggled with PF and an excruciating heel spur for nearly a year. I tried a whole bunch of things to help it, and wasn't able to make any headway. Finally I stumbled across this product - after reading the reviews I decided to give it a try. I bought it 3 months ago, and after using it regularly, my PF and heel spur are 99% gone. This thing is AMAZING!! Here's what I did: For the first 8 weeks or so, I used it 3 or 4 times a day, concentrating on breaking up that crunchy heel spur. It really hurts initially, but I gave it as much pressure as I could stand. I would keep rolling and working my heel until it felt like the spur was "broken up". Then I would massage my arch & rest of the foot with the ball. Once the heel spur was broken up a bit, walking was less painful for a while. Then when I noticed the heel spur giving me more pain, I would repeat the process. Over time the ball got less painful to use, and began to feel more like "scratching an itch". That's when I knew I was making progress! You have to keep at it pretty regularly, and at any time you feel that heel spur flaring up. After about 10 weeks, I was using it just at bedtime. After 3 months, I use it only if I feel like that heel spur might want to come back - maybe twice a week, if that. One of the keys to this product is the hardness of the wood ball, and the control the string gives you. You have perfect control over where you want to target the pressure, and the string allows you to apply more or less pressure as you need. I tried a golf ball, a tennis ball, one of those spiky ball things for feet, massage tools, frozen water bottles. Nothing compares to the control you get with this, and when you are trying to target that heel spur, you need this type of control. There was another reviewer who recommended using OrthoHeel shoe inserts to help cushion the heel - I also did that so that I could be more comfortable running. I love the OrthoHeel inserts and still use them daily, not only in my running shoes but also in my other shoes.

My heel pain is much reduced and almost back to normal -when I get of bed now there is no pain at all. I recommend you see your doctor first before trying things yourself, and overall I've found there isn't just one thing that fixes PF. The best exercise I found is listed under ask well;plantar relief it's also easy to do. I did a few things in addition to using the oh ball; cut down on walking,got rid of my house shoes with no arch support, replaced my Thorlo socks which were worn at the heel, before getting out of bed did some foot arch exercises (arching the toe towards the knee), used Thorlo military boot socks (black) in place of Thorlo light hikers and stopped using green superfeet. The Thorlo military boot socks are claimed to be good for PF and they are! Don't worry they look like regular socks -as soon as I put them on my feet felt good.... I think that the oh ball contributed a lot to the improvement although I haven't used it lately. I did see my doctor (and he recommended superfeet which I used for a while, and no heavy duty walking for 2 weeks ). It seems pricey when you can get a similar maple ball for about three dollars, however if you add shipping, etc the cost starts to climb-you may as well buy an oh ball and support a US made product. It has handles too. Overall it's nicely designed, made, and packaged. The oh ball comes in a plastic container which does have a removable lid-no it's not electronically welded, and you don't need to get a pair of cutters, or a hacksaw. I would just as soon have it in a cloth bag with a tie cord which is also recycleable, as the tube doesn't have any instructions -only ads.

I like this ball because it has the strings with the adjustable knots in it. You can use it while sitting or standing. It works for tall and short people. I like that you can adjust the pressure you put on it and it helps with the tension from the handle strings. I used it a lot the very first day I got it, and the next day I saw improvement. I've been using it a few times each day, and I am seeing a lot of improvement. Thankfully I am not in significant pain anymore. But I will be using it every day, because that's important to keep the scar tissue broken up

I was having pain under my arch, and the podiatrist said it was plantar fasciitis. I did some stretches, used a tennis ball (half-heartedly because it was a huge pain) and a night brace, and it went away. About a year later, it came back with a vengeance and the night brace wasn't working. I was terrified this was going to ruin my upcoming hiking trip to Hawaii. I was almost in tears every night from the pain. So I went all out, bought the Oh Ball, some arch compression socks, and some Penetrex. I was not messing around. It all came at once so I used this and the Penetrex together. The socks weren't as comfortable as I'd hoped so I use them sporadically. Anyway, I noticed within 2 days of using this and the Penetrex, and doing some stretches I found online, my pain was 100% gone. It's such a relief. I will say this is by far the easiest to use. Every night after dinner, and for a few minutes first thing in the morning I've been using it, and probably will continue to use it even if the pain stays away because it feels so darn good! I have high arches, and I love how you can position it wherever you want and roll it, press it, etc. just where you need it. I wasn't quite sure what to do with it, so I found a Youtube video which was moderately helpful (it basically just showed me that you can't really go wrong, you just have to do whatever feels good. Definitely an expensive product for what it is, but given how much pain I was in, I was desperate! And this is a huge improvement over the tennis ball, which wasn't quite big enough, kept flying off in different directions, and was a bit too soft. Highly recommended!!

The first thing my new massage therapist did was assess how I did squats. He determined that my feet needed work; he said that in a healthy foot toes will work independently. The massage was extremely painful but after continuing the massage on my own with a tennis ball as directed, my feet felt so much better. I was able to point my toes without cramping for the first time in years! My quest for a ball that I could control to continue this treatment (tennis balls and such tend to roll away) happily lead me to the Oh Ball. Unfortunately it is not available for shipping to Canada so I had to ship it to my US parcel pickup (a long drive from home) and find time to pick it up. But I am so happy I did. Having the cords attached makes the ball so easy to control. I recommend this product to everyone to maintain healthy, happy feet. It is top quality and worth the cost.

This has to be one of the best things I have purchased on Amazon. I'm a runner and in the past few years, I have gotten knots in the ball of my feet. I used to work in Beijing, so I was able to get very cheap and effective foot massages, but now that I am back in the States, it would be too expensive to get on a regular basis. When I was searching on Amazon for a foot massager, I overlooked this because it is just a ball on a rope. I did not think it could be very effective, especially for the price. But I eventually gave it a go and I am so glad I did. The quality is top notch and I can tell it will last a long, long time. It really helps work on the knots in my feet and the rope allows me to add as much pressure as I need and not worry about the ball flying out across the room. The only complaint I have is that the packaging is VERY difficult to open. I had to take a saw to it! The packaging is very nice, but certainly not frustration free. Maybe it was just me, but I could not figure out how to open it without taking extreme measures. But once I got it open, it was so worth it!

I give this 5 stars for function because the hard ball is great for fasciitis and the rope is a good feature but I must take away 2 stars for the price. Maybe the manufacturer can't get a good deal on wooden balls and cord or they are just profit driven, I don't know? You can easily make it yourself and save money but if you can afford the price go for it because it is a good product, over overpriced but good.

This is a *very* smart product. I've used it for a couple of days and can already feel relief. It can be painful if you're pushing hard into it, but it's similar to the pain you'd feel in a deep tissue massage. I imagine in a couple of weeks, I'll see some great results. My only complaint is the packaging. While it looked nifty -- a sleek plastic tube -- the lid was really difficult to get off. I tried to push, twist and pull to no avail. It would not budge. I stomped down on it with my foot, at which point the lid finally popped off. I'm not sure if this is standard issue or if I got a dud.