Taking Foam Rolling to the next level :: The BackBaller
The origins of this idea are back in my mid-twenties when chronic injury ended my running career. 15 years on, I’m struggling with severe lower back pain and at 39 years of age I’m told I need a back operation to deal with a rupture between my L5 and S1 vertebrae.
At the time I was managing our local U16 hurlers in Wolfetones, Shannon. I was looking at these young lads arriving in and rolling around the floor on foam rollers. I got one and Gerard Hartmann gave me a Foam Rolling program to release the tight muscles that cause lower back pain.
It was working, but every day I used it, I was rolling all over the floor and saying to myself –
“Wouldn’t it be so much better if the roller was mounted on a frame to stabilise it.”
I made a prototype and began using it, 4 weeks later I’m pain free. I regained my full range of motion. I was able to run again, this thing changed my life and I knew I’d a product that people would want.
