Reddit reviews The Roll Model: A Step-by-Step Guide to Erase Pain, Improve Mobility, and Live Better in Your Body

A Lacrosse ball is cheap and can be picked up for $2 at just about any sporting goods store.

A Lacrosse ball is pretty hard and you might want to start with something softer. The softer balls supposedly "grab the tissue" better in ways that a harder ball cannot. Here's a more info on that:

http://breakingmuscle.com/mobility-recovery/yoga-tune-up-therapy-balls-vs-lacrosse-balls-vs-foam-rollers

Some yoga broad (Jill Miller) recently released a book called "Roll Model" that covers rolling in-depth. She's affiliated with Kelley Starrett, the guy who's JRE podcast the Lacrosse ball's was mentioned on.

Here's a link to her book. I bought it and immediately borrowed it to a friend who has never returned it, so I'm thinking about ordering another copy.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Roll-Model-Step-Step/dp/1628600225

There's also a "kit" that includes a DVD which I'll probably grab.

https://www.yogatuneup.com/Treat-While-You-Train-Kit-Kelly-Starrett-Jill-Miller

I don't know... I'd say read the first article and try a Lacrosse ball or a tennis ball first.

Did you say back [1] or neck [2]? Jill Miller has a couple of Youtube videos...

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p_9ew0Fe5Q
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9l5tra0cwU

what is the problem with your back. You should do mobilizations and/or self myofascial release.... has corrected a lot of people's back problems

amazon dot com /Roll-Model-Step---Step-Mobility/dp/1628600225

Fellow one-bagger (part-time traveler) and 'chronic stuff' haver (full-time back pain) and I've tried $1000+ of different self-massage products over the past 8 years or so.

One of my favorites companies I've found is Tune Up Fitness. They make several products designed for effective self-massage— my favorite combination for one bagging is the Therapy Ball PLUS Pair (or the regular pair if you're not as muscular) w/ the Coregeous ball.

The pairs of balls are about the size of tennis/lacrosse balls but unlike lacrosse balls they're a bit squishy/pliable, which has a number of advantages for self-massage: they work on nearly any part of the body (lax balls hurt too much on sensitive parts & can cause damage when used on bones/joints) and unlike tennis balls they're extremely grippy, so they can be used for a variety of techniques that involve grabbing the skin (eg. skin rolling, shearing). They can be used together inside the mesh tote bag to form a 'peanut shape' that fits perfectly down the spine, between the shoulder blades, etc, or you can easily take them out of the mesh tote bag and use them almost anywhere else (bottoms of feet, lower/upper legs, hips, chest, arms, neck, back, face...) Once you realize how much more effective a small, pliable sphere (aka squishy ball) is to a foam roller for getting into the nooks and crannies of tight spots like the bottoms of your feet, small muscles in hips, along spine, neck/shoulders, rib cage, and so on, you'll feel like massaging these areas with a foam roller is more similar to brushing your teeth with your finger than a toothbrush. Toothbrushes are designed with small bristles for a reason.. size matters, and bigger isn't always better ;)

When inflated, the Coregeous ball is about the size of a volleyball, and is extremely squishy and grippy. It can be used for abdominal massage to help digestion and free up tension in the gut, as well as the sides, and rib cage. It also makes for a pretty decent pillow while using the pair of Therapy Balls or while seated in a chair of an airplane/bus/etc. Best of all, its extremely lightweight and deflates to almost nothing (comes with a little straw thing to inflate it, which takes about 15 seconds).

For info on how to optimally use these products, the companies creator Jill Miller wrote a book called The Roll Model that I highly recommend.