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"Voodoo Flossing" (Read 43557 times)

petejh

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#25 Re: "Voodoo Flossing"
August 14, 2015, 08:48:02 pm
Ok my experience with wrapping/flossing after one session this evening:

Niggles:
I have a load of scar tissue in left shoulder from a mixed climbing injury 8 years ago - managed with regular stretching and massage.
Niggling tennis elbow in right elbow - I manage it with eccentrics and massage (ergonomic mouse/keyboard at work may help) and it doesn't stop me doing anything.
Niggling scar tissue in PIP joint of LH index following an old tweak - doesn't hold me back.
3 days ago I tweaked I think the bicep longhead in right shoulder while frigging on draws, currently painful when I flex bicep.

I wrapped the left shoulder and did some range of motion and bicep tendon stretches as per the youtube vid you'll no doubt find if you search.
Then did same on right shoulder.
Then wrapped right forearm and elbow and performed ROM/eccentrics
Finished by wrapping the RH index and doing ROM.

Results:
Left shoulder has better range of motion than it has had in many years, after 3 mins.. That's not subjective it's objective - I can lie down and lift my left arm overhead and touch the back of hand on the ground. I haven't been able to do that for years without forcing it, even after massage.
Right shoulder - reduced pain, good ROM without pain - better than before wrapping.
Elbow/forearm - feels good and well flushed.
Finger - better ROM than before wrapping.


I'm impressed.

andy_e

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#26 Re: "Voodoo Flossing"
August 14, 2015, 10:23:55 pm
I don't know if it's doing anything yet but I glossed five times today. My finger feels nice immediately after flossing but it's too early to tell until I get on some rocks to find out. I guess I'll find out tomorrow morning whether it hurts when I wake up too.

SA Chris

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#27 Re: "Voodoo Flossing"
August 17, 2015, 09:53:31 am
I glossed five times today.

Should get a nice finish then?

dave

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#28 Re: "Voodoo Flossing"
August 17, 2015, 09:56:31 am
I've tried using cut up theraband but it seems quite difficult to get it to work. For a start I can barely fit the strips between my teeth at all, and when I do it doesn't seem to shift any plaque. Where am I going wrong?

andy_e

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#29 Re: "Voodoo Flossing"
August 17, 2015, 09:59:44 am
Fricking telephones and alcohol-induced reluctance to proof-read!

Glossing over that matter, I'm not entirely sure it's helping my finger, but perhaps I need to give it more time. On Sunday morning the usual dull pain when I wake up was gone, but it was back this morning after climbing yesterday. I'll stick with it though and see if it helps after a bouldering session.

petejh

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#30 Re: "Voodoo Flossing"
August 17, 2015, 11:18:08 am
There's no question that flossing is improving the range of motion in my left shoulder. Been flossing this over the weekend a few times a day and the shoulder is the best it's felt in years, better than after sports massage which was my previous go-to for loosening it up.

Flossing has also noticably loosened up my forearms after climbing, and the minor niggling tennis elbow I've had for the last few months has gone.

Tried it on my hamsting insertion/psoas on sunday and it immediately improved range of motion.

It's great!


abarro81

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#31 Re: "Voodoo Flossing"
August 17, 2015, 11:31:30 am
Flossing has also noticably loosened up my forearms after climbing

Was talking to 3-9 about this earlier on FB, we were wondering if it would be good post-climbing/training recovery tool to flush blood around the arms a bit

Rocksteady

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#32 Re: "Voodoo Flossing"
August 17, 2015, 11:51:21 am
Flossing has also noticably loosened up my forearms after climbing

Was talking to 3-9 about this earlier on FB, we were wondering if it would be good post-climbing/training recovery tool to flush blood around the arms a bit

Don't know if this is a good idea, but I've been doing it to my fingers as the first part of my warm up, to flush the blood to them. Seems to work quite well.

andy_e

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#33 Re: "Voodoo Flossing"
August 17, 2015, 11:52:53 am
And so, the hobby of climbing takes another step closer to wearing rubberised gimp suits permanently.

lagerstarfish

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#34 Re: "Voodoo Flossing"
August 17, 2015, 12:41:03 pm
another flimsy excuse to put in a big order for bondage tape

cheque

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#35 Re: "Voodoo Flossing"
August 17, 2015, 12:57:30 pm
I've tried using cut up theraband but it seems quite difficult to get it to work. For a start I can barely fit the strips between my teeth at all, and when I do it doesn't seem to shift any plaque. Where am I going wrong?

It's the little doll's teeth that you floss, not your own.

petejh

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#36 Re: "Voodoo Flossing"
August 17, 2015, 01:01:32 pm
Flossing has also noticably loosened up my forearms after climbing

Was talking to 3-9 about this earlier on FB, we were wondering if it would be good post-climbing/training recovery tool to flush blood around the arms a bit

I had the same thought and think it'll be really good for this - it flushes the shit out of muscle tissue. I also think it'll be a great warm-up for climbing. I'm going to try it at the diamond this evening before a burn on The Shining.

36chambers

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#37 Re: "Voodoo Flossing"
August 17, 2015, 01:03:02 pm
Following my previous comment about it aggravating my finger, I can confirm that flossing is actually quite brilliant. 

I strained my A2 pulley on my LH ring finger about 9 months ago and it never really fully recovered. My PIP joint has been slightly swollen since and would hurt a tad if I squeezed the sides, or if made a really tight fist. Furthermore, the pulley would hurt if I probed it in certain places.   

On grit I could climb as hard as I pleased, but whenever I pushed myself too much indoors my finger would ache and become quite stiff the following days, and sometimes swell a little more.

For the first day I flossed whilst flexing and that's what caused the aggravation. So instead I just kept my finger stationary for the minute of flossing, with the aim to simply promote some serious blood flow, like icing.

Anyway, the PIP swelling has effectively gone, squeezing the joint produces negligible pain and an A2 massage produces considerably less pain than previously. Although there's still progress to be made there.     

It's obviously early days and I've yet to pull hard with my new slender finger. But currently, I am really impressed.

2 Tru

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#38 Re: "Voodoo Flossing"
August 17, 2015, 01:04:45 pm
In the link that Barrows posted it mentions at the end about a follow up article on de-pumping using voodoo flossing.

It sounds logical but you would look like a right tool at the crag/wall.

petejh

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#39 Re: "Voodoo Flossing"
August 17, 2015, 01:05:13 pm
Oh and when you read some of the more thoughtful literature around compression wrapping/tack n wrap/voodoo flossing, nitric oxide is quite widely theorised to play an important role. There's your beetroot shots again.

dave

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#40 Re: "Voodoo Flossing"
August 17, 2015, 01:24:59 pm
I've tried using cut up theraband but it seems quite difficult to get it to work. For a start I can barely fit the strips between my teeth at all, and when I do it doesn't seem to shift any plaque. Where am I going wrong?

It's the little doll's teeth that you floss, not your own.

 :slap:

JonB

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#41 Re: "Voodoo Flossing"
August 17, 2015, 02:43:12 pm
Pete, have you been wrapping your shoulder/elbow as per these videos?

Shoulder:

Elbow:

Also, have you guys mostly just been using strips of theraband?

36chambers

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#42 Re: "Voodoo Flossing"
August 17, 2015, 03:30:24 pm
Also, have you guys mostly just been using strips of theraband?

yep, chopped about 250 mm off the end of my black theraband and then cut that into a 30 mm wide ribbon. Similar to the picture in the link in the original post.

mctrials23

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#43 Re: "Voodoo Flossing"
August 17, 2015, 04:48:49 pm
Chopped a strip about 2cm wide from the end of my theraband. The stuff is ridiculously hard to cut nicely though and I always end up with little snips along the length that eventually open up and ruin it.

shark

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#44 Re: "Voodoo Flossing"
August 17, 2015, 08:17:41 pm
I shall try this out on my permafucked left middle finger. If it works, I'm moving for it to be renamed a less pseudoscientific bullshit-sounding name.

East European nomenclature is the way to go, redolent as it is of secret, hardcore and possibly dangerous Cold War training techniques. 

"The Ukranian Compress" would excite me


andy_e

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#45 Re: "Voodoo Flossing"
August 17, 2015, 09:24:54 pm
The Belarussian flushin'?

petejh

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#46 Re: "Voodoo Flossing"
August 17, 2015, 11:34:17 pm
Turkish tack'n'wrap.

JonB - yeah pretty much.

Like this for shoulder if no-one willing to help wrap you in rubber:


I didn't have any wide therabands lying around so I bought a black voodoo band on amazon. Think you want something thick and durable, fingers would be ok with less.

webbo

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#47 Re: "Voodoo Flossing"
August 18, 2015, 01:47:08 pm
I've been using an old mountain bike inner tube cut in half length ways.
p.s. you might want to cut the value out if you try this.

Scouse D

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#48 Re: "Voodoo Flossing"
August 19, 2015, 03:03:59 pm
Been flossing some long standing A2 injuries for past 3 days and the results are remarkable. Fingers significantly less painful and feel much stronger again. I'm all for a good placebo, and this one is definitely working for me.

dave

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#49 Re: "Voodoo Flossing"
August 19, 2015, 03:44:53 pm
Having read on this a bit, if its stimulating the lymphatic system to repair injuries, does this mean it'll do any good on the type of non-trauma elbow niggles we get where its not actually an elbow injury, it'll be an imbalance/tightness in shoulder/back that manifests itself in the elbow? I've tried it a couple of times on my elbow, and aside from the initial (thank fuck that's off" when you unwrap it, it doesn't seem to have made any tangible difference.

 

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