The Stick - A Review

Recently I was looking for an article I wrote about The Stick. In spite of having access to everything I have written since 2007, I would be damned if I could find it. Occasionally articles I have written have gone missing but there is almost a broken link or something left behind like the vapors from the space hoppers in Jumper. (Yes, I just made a Jumper reference. In spite of constant plotholes, I really enjoy that movie. Perhaps it is a desire to see the world and not have to travel to do it. I know it is supposed to be about the journey, not the destination but the journey often sucks. But I digress.)  I finally decided I must just have never written a proper review. While I find this inexcusable and almost negligent on my part since I preach taking care of your body, I am remedying that now.

For those who don't know, The Stick is called the toothbrush for your muscles.  It is a muscle-massaging tool that has brought me great pain followed my great relief.  I don't use it nearly as often as I should even though it hasn't left my suitcase in nearly 11 years. Anywhere I travel, I am assured to be running.  And anywhere I am running I need a little muscle relief.

The Stick is used to soften up tight muscles, which can cause stiffness and pain in short term and injuries in long term.  I am obviously huge on injury prevention. My personal preference for using the Stick came on your smaller muscles like around the shin and the calf.  While it also worked on quads, if you happen to have a concentration of muscles there, it might be a tad hard to get the proper amount of pressure there that a roam-roller could get to using your body weight. (More on that later.)

The Stick felt surprisingly good on my feet as well, an area people often neglect and then roll their eyes in pleasure when someone actually rubs them. Using the handle of The Stick and simply placing it on the ground and rolling my foot back and forth felt wonderful. 


There are a multitude of sizes and flexibilities but my personal favorite has been the Body Stick.  At just 24 inches it will fit in virtually any bag or luggage and the tautness of the mechanism is just perfect for me.  If you are curious what Stick would be best for you, they have a handy chart which you can look at the determine your best fit. 

I have found that The Stick simply gets into all the nooks and crannies that foam rolling simply cannot. Granted, there are plus sides to foam rolling as well, which I may eventually get to writing about as well.  In the meantime, for great information on The Best Foam Rollers check out this article from BarBend.com.

The moral of the story is we demand so much of our bodies and often do not reward them and take care of them the way we should. I have been a big proponent of massage for years but sometimes people do not get around to getting those for a variety of reasons. With the Stick, you have no excuses.