Taking Pains to Show Injury-Reduction Products : Accessories and techniques geared toward healing are hot new items at fitness festival.

Where does it hurt?

Your lower back? You may need a Thermo Pro exercise belt.

Your feet? Here, take off your shoes and rub some Kool ‘N Fit between your toes.

Your elbow? Stick on a Salonpas external pain relieving patch.

All-over muscle aches? Perhaps the Sports Touch system of lymphatic massage can help.

Or maybe you’re just feeling stressed and tense all over. In that case, you may want to work out with FLO, a flexible, water-filled tube with a handle on each end that can help you slosh your way into an “alpha state” while you’re toning your muscles.

Not only has the old “no pain, no gain” philosophy of fitness gone out of style, but accessories and techniques geared toward pain reduction seemed to be the hottest new items at the City Sports Body Beat fitness festival over the weekend in Fountain Valley.

The festival, sponsored by City Sports magazine and benefiting the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, gave fitness professionals and participants a chance to check out the latest innovations in workout methods and styles as well as accessories.

There was a wide selection of Spandex attire (thong-style leotards that give maximum exposure to the gluteus maximus muscles were especially popular), along with customized music mixes for aerobics instructors (heavy on the M.C. Hammer this year). And FLO, which made its world debut at the festival.

“This is going to be bigger than the Hula-Hoop,” claimed FLO representative Nancy Gillette, who gave attendees the chance to experiment with FLO. “We’re going to have an ‘infomercial’ running soon, and this is really going to take off.

“It’s the first totally integrated mind-and-body experience,” she said as two festival-goers flung FLOs in circles over their heads.

“It was developed by a martial artist as a teaching device. The wave action produces alpha waves in the brain, which helps you relax. And it’s adjustable. If you want a harder workout, just add more water.”

The FLO sells for $40, or $50 with an instructional video. The company has set up a special phone line ((800) 727-6060) for orders and information on FLO classes.

In the next booth, the Kneedspeed, developed by a former Miami Dolphin and his father, offered a workout alternative for people who have or want to avoid knee injuries.

The $325 apparatus, a slick 8-foot-by-2-foot board that comes with its own special footgear, allows users to slide back and forth on its surface. A team of performers gave a well-choreographed demonstration on using the Kneedspeed, accompanied by an M.C. Hammer tape.

The apparatus has already found a place in some fitness centers, including the Los Angeles Rams’ weight room.

The Thermo Pro exercise belt ($29.95), developed by Thermo Pro Unlimited of Monarch Beach in Orange County, can be worn during swimming, stepping, weightlifting or other exercises. In addition to supporting the lower back and retaining body heat, the neoprene belt also “makes a great fashion statement,” according to its promoters.

For other aches and pains, representatives of Hisamitsu America Inc., were handing out free samples of Salonpas medicated patches, used to relieve minor aches and pains of the muscles and joints.

Across the way, Kool N’ Fit representive Hubertus von der Beeck dispensed free sample splashes of the aromatic, quick-drying lotion his family developed in Germany more than 100 years ago. He recommended using the lotion on any hurting body part, or parts that may be susceptible to injury during exercise.

“Put it all over one leg, but one leg only, so that you can tell the difference,” he advised. Once they’ve felt the difference, Von der Beeck said, some athletes bathe with it, massage with it, and even soak their shoe insoles with it.

Nearby, sports massage therapist Kate Montgomery of San Diego demonstrated and explained her Sports Touch system, which incorporates breathing, acupressure, visualization and self-massage. Montgomery offered a book ($24.95) as well as a T-shirt illustrating the proper points for self-massage.

“If you massage the neuro-lymphatic points, you can flush out the lactic acid and other waste products in the muscles,” she said. Montgomery said her clients have used the rubbing ritual to improve their athletic performance and shorten recovery time.

In the seminars for fitness professionals, the emphasis was also on pain and injury prevention.

Fitness instructors Kathy Frey, Tammy Williams and Diana Capato, all from the Buena Park Family Fitness Center, agreed that the no-pain approach to fitness is becoming more popular. “When Jane Fonda got started 10 years ago, a lot of people didn’t know the difference between exercises that could hurt the body and those that didn’t,” Capato said.

“It’s a lot safer now,” Frey said.

“When low-impact first came in, people didn’t want to do it,” Williams said. “They thought it was boring. But now people prefer it because there’s less chance of injury.”