Once you starting using your Armaid regularly, you might start to get curious about the technical aspects of the tool. So, we're kicking off an occasional blog series about the different elements of the Armaid. We'll begin with the therapy roller attachments - what they are made of, and why.  We’ll start with the White Roller, and then talk about the Yellow, Orange, Grey and Black roller attachments in later posts. 

Flexible Rod – 

The most important part of each roller, and a distinctive feature of the Armaid, is the flexible rod.

All Armaid attachments are mounted on the same universal flexible rod.  You’ll notice that when an attachment is inserted in the tool, an arc is created.  This arc delivers flexible tension (so, when you push down on the rod, it bends; when you stop pushing down, it springs back).  It’s important to have comfortable, consistent tension to follow the contours of the arm muscles and tendons and to apply precise, accurate pressure to sore, painful spots (trigger points!).  

The core of the flexible rod is stainless-steel flexible non-memory wires, which are encased in a hypoallergenic nylon tube.  Being non-memory means that the wires will return to their near-original shape after being repeatedly bent through recurrent uses.

Other attachment parts last nearly forever, but the flexible rods do wear out.  This is because the rod materials, holding the roller together under pressure, inevitably weaken.  We are happy to send you free rod replacements and instructions for moving the roller parts on to the new rod.  

White Roller – #1 in our Firm Series of attachments

Now let’s look at the other critical part of the roller – the balls – in the context of our most commonly-used attachment, the White Roller.

The White Roller is made of three 1” firm plastic balls strung evenly on the flexible rod. It is a good starter for most people and is the roller attachment we pre-install in the Armaid. 

There are three characteristics of therapy roller balls that have an impact on the therapy:  spacing, ball size, and ball density.

Spacing:  Consistent spacing is important because it distributes force evenly along the rod and helps you maintain consistent pressure during the massage. 

Ball size:  Ball size impacts how deep you can go with your massage. The 1” balls let the White Roller address soreness in arm muscles of average mass – i.e., most people’s!  They are big enough to find and massage trigger points deep in your muscles, but small enough so that you can quickly feel when you need to back off on the pressure you are applying to your arm. 

Ball density:  The ball material also contributes to the effectiveness and precision of the therapy.  The acetal balls on the White Roller are hard enough to deal with the deep trigger points in most people's larger arm muscles (i.e., forearm, biceps). 

When using any of our attachments, the focus of the therapy is always on the center ball, which is at the top of the arc when the roller is inserted in the Armaid.  This ball is the one that should be directly touching the sore spots when you apply the therapy technique.

Next up in this series - the Yellow Roller.

Best of health!