Midwest Basecamp – Explorations Everywhere

~ Dr. Kelly Starrett

You’re already stretching after your workouts (or you should be), why do you need to work on mobility? The goal of stretching is to lengthen your muscles after effort. Mobility focuses on range of movement – a range that is impacted in any way leads to imbalance, which leads to injury. Mobility work can be done in conjunction with, or instead of, stretching, and can be done while watching TV or having a conversation, both before and after training. If you haven’t added at least some mobility work, you are missing out on the chance to perform basic maintenance on yourself. I’ve been working on incorporating more mobility work into my routine, starting with a basic foam roller and now moving into more specialized gear.

The Moji (pronounced [mo-G]) 360 Foot Massager is made to relieve foot pain, especially for plantar fasciitis sufferers. Made to be used while sitting down, the massager has two sizes of stainless steel spheres for different massage intensities. A non-slip bottom means you can use this without fear of skidding across the floor. When this massager showed up, everyone jumped on board to try it out, with all agreeing that the suggestion to use it with socks makes sense. Ditto for using it sitting down. Tips for use: the smaller spheres are for lighter pressure, so start with those first. Then move on to the larger spheres for deep tissue work, sometimes painful but effective. Oh, and just because this was developed to use on your feet, don’t overlook the possibilities for self massage elsewhere: I enjoyed it on my calves, thighs, and arms – a really versatile product.

The 360 Foot Massager is just one pain-relief and recovery product that Moji has been producing in Illinois since 2007!