Treat Yourself With Addaday

As runners, we're all familiar with pain. Shin splints, runner's knee, Achilles tendonitis. If we haven't suffered from them ourselves, we certainly know someone who has. There are things we can do to keep ourselves healthy, to preempt these workout-killers. Unfortunately, most of us wait until we're already in pain to do anything about it.

Victor Yang, founder of Addaday, a California-based company that sells scientifically-designed self massage tools, is not one of them—at least not any more. "As a runner, I've had these injuries," Vic told us on a recent visit to our Wade Avenue store. "I had shin splints in 2009. I had pain around my IT band in 2010."

Since founding the company, Vic has worked with Addaday's developers to create a line of massage sticks, rollers, and bodywork balls designed to allow runners, walkers, and office workers alike to stay loose, limber, and pain-free. He reminded us that developing a weekly--or even daily--maintenance routine is just as important as, if not more important than, treating pain once it occurs.

"Our mission is to create simple products that people can use easily every day," he said. "Rather than going to a massage therapist for forty, fifty, sixty minutes once a week, this is something that you can use daily on your own. This is about frequency over intensity, about being able to help yourself."

During his visit, Vic demonstrated how to use several of Addaday's popular products, using us his models. (Yay, free massage!) You can visit Addaday's website to view a series of awesome demo videos explaining how to treat common running injuries like plantar fasciitis, shin splints, and IT band syndrome. See below for a sample video on preventing plantar fasciitis.