How to Use Voodoo Floss

Bigger Stronger Leaner Christian Thibaudeau Coaching
1

I have been having some elbow and shoulder issues. I ran across the article/thread (I think it might have been the micro-PA one) where CT mentions Voodoo Floss and decided to pick some up and try it out.

There are plenty of videos about how to use it. The problem is that I am in China and they are all blocked. Can someone explain to me how to use them? My understanding is something like this:

  1. Start from the most distal part of the area you want to wrap and towards your heart.
  2. Wrap with enough tension to be tight but not super tight (this one I am just guessing on as I have no idea)
  3. After you are wrapped, perform the motion that is giving you problems or stretches where you usually feel tight/uncomfortable.
  4. Continue for 1 minute?
  5. Take off bands
  6. Perform before every workout until pain subsides(or after every workout??? I am not sure which)
2

If you wrap a swollen joint or tissue, the technique for addressing the swollen joint will be different. You want to wrap the band toward the heart, a few inches below the swollen area (starting as far down the joint as possible is ideal), leaving no skin exposed, wrapping with a half inch overlap, keeping about a 50 percent stretch in the band all the way around the joint, making sure to cover the entire area of the joint. Once the joint is compressed, move it around for a few minutes. Then take the band off for a few minutes so you give the tissue time to rebound and recover. Then wrap it again. This should be repeated for twenty minutes, or whenever you stop experiencing change. This is extremely effective, and you can restore a swollen joint to completely normal, and completely relieve the pain.This is your best technique for getting rid of inflammation and pain in an injured joint.

When you mobilize a joint or matted-down scar tissue, start a few inches below or above the compromised area, keeping a half inch overlap in the band with a 75 percent stretch over the area you are working on and a 50 percent stretch over the remaining area. If you have band left over after wrapping, make an ?X? over the targeted area to create an additional shearing effect.

This can be uncomfortable, but it will not harm your joint or tissue in any way. Red marks can be left, which is normal, and disappear after a few minutes. If you start to go numb, or get a tingly sensation (pins and needles), or your limb turns really white, take the band off. This normally happens at the two minute mark if it happens. If you suddenly feel very claustrophobic, take the band off. This is intense, as most mobilizations are, but you have to be able to tell the difference between discomfort and feelings of numbness, tingling, claustrophobia, or a very white skin tone.

As a safety check, when you touch the skin, it should turn white, and then return to normal. If it doesn?t, then you know it?s time to remove the band. After you take the band off it?s common for your skin to be very white, but within a few seconds you will notice increased blood flow into the area.

3

Wow! Got it!

Thanks for the great reply!

4

You’re welcome… VooDoo Floss bands are amazing! It helped straighten my arm from an old tendon injury that $13,000 of PT didn’t fix. This was 15 years after too.

5

A couple last questions now I know how to use them:

  1. Do I do it before/after/or at a separate time from my workout?

  2. Do I keep doing it after their is no pain sort of like preventative maintenance or only when I have problems? I was thinking I would just to all my joints for the hell of it. does that seem like a bad idea?

6

[quote]irfhdah wrote:
A couple last questions now I know how to use them:

  1. Do I do it before/after/or at a separate time from my workout?

  2. Do I keep doing it after their is no pain sort of like preventative maintenance or only when I have problems? I was thinking I would just to all my joints for the hell of it. does that seem like a bad idea?[/quote]

  3. Personally I did at before my workout and whenever else in the day I had time. As long as you do it you should see results.

  4. I would do it after for a little while, maybe like a week or two. Fish oil and mobilizing the joint should be enough of a preventative, as well as identifying the cause and dealing with it. Doing all your joints wouldn’t necessarily hurt, but thats quite a pain in the ass.

7

I would test yourself to see if you can get in the proper position that you want to get in (i.e bottom of a squat) & if you can’t do it before. You can also do it after, or a separate mobility session… there’s really no wrong way, but if you are unable to get into the correct position then before is a must. If you can’t, hang out in the position you want to get into for 2-3 minutes or so.

Doing everything can be good, but probably isn’t necessary. If you have to do the same mobility pieces over and over then your posture or form and technique are most likely the cause.

8

Great! Thanks for the responses!

Mobility is no problem for me. I think I will try doing mobility sessions on the days I dont lift.

edit: I mean mobility session with the goal of reducing pain not increasing mobility although that would be cool too.