and as you discovered, too long can result in excessive trauma to the area which is not good.

i think in the old videos before they started selling the official voodoo bands on Rogue Fitness, they suggested inner tubes.  i think it should be ok but it’s much better with a nice voodoo band.  i also think that an inner tube is not very long whereas a voodoo band is 7 feet long to get more wrapping area per wrap.

as for frequency – you can do it every day and see how it works.  usually it takes about 3 wraps to get from the knee all the way up to your hip, 4 if you’re taller.  you can try 2 min at each wrap – do deep squats a few reps, or stay down in deep squat and move around from side to side, or do some hip hinging like you were deadlifting, or get on the ground on both knees and sit back – vary it up for the 2 min.  i usually like to wrap both legs at the same time to save time.  watch out for cramping! relax into the wrap and ease into deep positions.

if you’re getting bruised or too painful etc., do it every other day and do something else in the days between.

re: couch stretch

you might try working your hip flexors and midsection/abs with an alpha ball or supernova first.  it sounds like they are tight and are preventing you from getting upright during couch stretch.