A massage ball is brilliant for activating muscles before you work out and for easing tension once you've completed a session. It's also essential for performing myofascial release, which is a type of physical therapy that aims to ease tension and tightness in certain trigger points around the body.
But you don't have to take our word for massage balls' effectiveness. There’s a body of research available that confirms their efficacy in decreasing muscle tightness, increasing range of motion and enhancing muscle performance. This study, for example, which was published in the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine, found that using a massage ball can help to prevent muscular injury. While another study, published in Frontiers in Physiology, showed massage balls to be a useful warm-up tool.