Foam rolling; some people are already shuddering at the thought (or perhaps memory of the act). Hopefully by the end of this post you will have reason to continue using it, start using it again, or try it for the first time. We will also get into some of the potential risks that are associated with it, as well as some tips for purchasing a new one. Let’s jump in!
Foam rolling has been picking up steam in recent years, but plenty of people still avoid it like the plague. Whether they avoid it because of the tenderness / pain associated with it, the occasional odd or funny looking position that you might be in while rolling, or the fact that some people think that you could / should just stretch instead ⇒ I am going to make the case that you should be foam rolling.
You should be foam rolling specifically for its recovery benefits, but also because it gives you a cost effective homecare alternative to massage (or other therapies like acupuncture, physio, and even chiropractic). Basically I am going to try and talk myself out of business here, so buckle up!
I am going to add a whole lot of extra stuff to this topic in an effort to provide you with a thorough background on why, when, and how you should foam roll. Before I complicate things however, I want to make it crystal clear that foam rolling is incredibly simple. I mean.. you are literally just laying on a dense piece of round foam and moving your body in a way that looks as though you are rolling over it. As you do this you will crush adhesions and lengthen tissues – effectively ironing out your body.
Here is a 1.5 minute long YouTube video that does a great job at quickly explaining what foam rolling is, and demonstrating how to use it:
*** PLEASE NOTE THAT I DO NOT AGREE WITH EVERYTHING IN THIS VIDEO. In fact, a lot of what comes below within this post will even go against some of what was just mentioned in that video. I do not expect this to be confusing for you though. As I noted earlier, I just wanted something that could quickly demonstrate what foam rolling was before I complicated things (but hopefully I will be complicating them for the better)!
What is Foam Rolling?
In the most basic form, foam rolling is just self-massage. A more accurate description may be tool-assisted (the foam roller itself) manual therapy or tool-assisted tissue therapy. Many people will call it self-myofascial release (case-in-point: that video), and to be honest I have previously referred to it as such too.
The term self-myofascial release is really only used now to keep things less complicated for everyone looking into the subject. I believe that this just serves to muddy the water with regards to research. Part of the issue is that for years now everyone and their chicken has been referring to foam rolling as self-myofascial release. With so many people being more familiar with that term, you can see why it is hard to convince the public to use a newer one (however more accurate / appropriate the new term may be).
Another reason that people call it self-myofascial release is because of two unrelated events happening at the same time. Fascia itself (and by proxy myofascial release as well) became much more researched, as well as accepted to factor into many different (if not all) soft-tissue injuries or other traumas. This happened as foam rolling exploded onto the scene, and catapulted to the status of the fitness industries secret weapon.
Someone early on just happened to claim that the foam roller helped with fascial restrictions, and pretty much ever since then people have talked about them both within the same breath. Without going into this tangent any further / for more information on why I do not consider foam rolling self-myofascial release, you can read this quick reasoning.
Continuing on from “foam rolling is a form of self-massage …” If you have general muscle soreness or tissue adhesions that you notice while moving, you would strategically position your body over top of a piece of dense foam so that you are on or near these trouble areas.
A foam roller looks similar to that of a pool noodle, although it is much wider in diameter and denser in feel. You allow the weight of your body to compresses down onto the foam. Afterwards you would slowly move your body / that specific area across the foam. It will look as though you are rolling out a piece of dough, just funky and upside-down.
Why Foam Roll?
The biggest overall benefit is that it aids in (and speeds up) your bodies ability to recover. It is tricky to cite many research articles or papers because the quality of them are not that great. Or if the quality is there, then it is a small sample size or simple pilot study.
I will break the list of benefits into two parts for you: the known benefits, and the expected benefits. The expected benefits are studies that are being organized as a way to prove a hypothesis, or just other benefits that you or I can see for ourselves first hand.
Known Benefits:
→ smoothing and lengthening soft tissue / reducing adhesions
→ immediate increase to pain threshold (essentially becoming less sensitive to pain for up to 48 hours after rolling)
→ range of motion increases when done immediately after an exercise (one study noted an immediate 10 degree increase to quadriceps movement when foam rolling after heavy weighted squatting)
→ short-term flexibility** increases (think around 10 minutes) if done before an activity
→ psychological reduction in perceived soreness
→ physiological reduction in muscle soreness (recorded up to 72 hours after rolling)
→ Increased jumping ability (specifically with regards to the vertical leap test)
**In regards to flexibility, it is unknown still why foam rolling provides this benefit in the short term, prior to activity. But we do know that this works in a different way than stretching does on your muscles.
Expected Benefits:
→ decreases in muscle soreness on a longer term scale, when done more consistently or for longer periods (most studies do a 60 second roll per target area)
→ long-term flexibility increases (I’d predict small, but statistically relevant) if done consistently for longer than 2 weeks as a part of your cool down routine / recovery.
→ reduced risk of injury due to constantly more pliable and free moving / flowing tissues (again, consistency is key)
Contraindications:
Now that you know what to do and why you should do it, please do keep in mind that there are still times when you should not be foam rolling. In these instances you should seek professional help (this is where I talk myself back into business – kind of). Most of these are talking about the specific local area around them:
— sprains or strains (you may make them worse)
— acute injuries (again, you may make it considerably worse)
— inflammation build up (you will likely restart this areas rehabilitation process by disrupting it)
— knee, hip, etc. replacement (i.e. you wouldn’t want to foam roll your IT band on the side that you had a knee replacement)
— varicose veins
— osteoporosis
— osteoarthritis (if there are any bone spurs present especially – they could break off)
— bone spurs (see above)
Precautions:
There are also certain precautions you should take:
— you should not be putting a tremendous amount of direct pressure onto a joint (ie. the side of your knee)
— also pressure related: avoid putting pressure directly onto your floating ribs when rolling on your side
— avoid edema (you just don’t know what else could be going on underneath)
— points of no, lacking, or low sensation (a condition like diabetic neuropathy may cause this)
— if you’ve never foam rolled before, do yourself a favour and don’t choose the hardest / densest roller (I will explain this more in-depth near the end of this post)
— don’t spend an excessive amount of time – lets say 10 minutes – in one spot (you will overwork the area, and likely kick start an inflammation response)
How to Foam Roll:
And now it comes to it. In the video linked at the beginning of this post they demonstrated the absolute basics, but demonstrated them poorly. I am going to highlight certain things to keep in mind as you foam roll. This additional information will enhance the effectiveness of foam rolling for you, and hopefully give you a better understanding of why it works as well.
“How do you foam roll?” is an interesting question because more often then not I see people doing it improperly. The issue is that (as you know from above) there is not a whole lot of good research to concretely say “foam roll this way and then you will see these results”. The reason that I say people are often foam rolling wrong is because they are either moving too fast, or are not spending enough time in / on a problem area.
Please take it from me, as someone who works with different kinds of tissues and problems every single day in a very hands on capacity that, your body will not respond to quick movements! Even if you are doing the right kind of tempo, when you are not spending the proper amount of time in that area then you are just wasting your time.
Would you rather spend two minutes and try to foam roll your whole body quickly? Maybe you feel alright, but then the effects disappear minutes later. Or you would rather spend 1 – 3 minutes per problem area and give yourself the benefits that I previously explained above? If you take note of only one thing from this entire post, let it be that slow and steady is the key to foam rolling.
With that being said, foam rolling is still highly individual. I am going to spend a different amount of time foam rolling my hamstrings than you are; and you are going to spend a different amount of time foam rolling your back one day compared to what you did in the exact same area just the day before. Your body is constantly changing, so why would you do the exact same thing every time?
Here are some guidelines to follow when foam rolling:
— take your time; go slow.
— control your movement and posture; don’t let the foam roller control you (especially if you are working on your IT band).
— when you’ve hit a tender spot or point of dysfunction don’t be quick to move past it – hang out there for a bit.
→ you should feel your tissue relax and lengthen as you are doing this (it might take 10 seconds and it might take 60 seconds, just try to be patient)
— if a point feels especially painful then you can take some of your weight off of it. It should be tender but not excruciatingly painful!
→ excruciating pain is likely going to cause you to damage those tissues
— remember to breathe (we have an excellent post on proper breathing that you can find here).
— there is no one way to foam roll. Get creative and try different positions / movements.
→ don’t always roll “up”, you can roll “down” as well! I’d suggest starting close to a tender spot if you know that it is there, and move away from it so that there is constant tension on the area. Think about this for a second: if you started away and moved towards the dysfunction, then you would only be working on the affected tissue at the very end as opposed to all the way through your rolling movement.
→ you could try rocking slightly back and forth when on a tender spot. This may help shorten the length of time necessary to hangout there and encourage your tissues to release faster.
— you should do a combination of foam rolling and stretching. As an example, after a weight training workout at the gym I will foam roll for about 15 minutes, and then focus on static stretching afterwards for anywhere in 10-20 minute range. I’m not saying do exactly this, it is just my example.
→ some people have put forth the idea that foam rolling one muscle group, and then doing some stretching for that muscle / muscle group before continuing on to the next area that you would like to roll (and then continuing to alternate) may compound the effects of both. I think this is brilliant, and very plausible!
Other Considerations:
Density – Let’s be honest, even “soft” foam rollers are still pretty firm. Just know that you don’t have to get the densest foam roller to get the best results. In fact, getting the desist roller may actually harm your tissues if you have never attempted foam rolling before.
When purchasing a foam roller, a useful rule of thumb could be to do a self-assessment first to see whether your tissues are dense and thickened. If so, you will probably want a denser foam roller. If your tissues are still reasonably pliable and just have a couple of specific tight areas, then you probably do not need a dense roller and could do with a basic “soft” roller.
Foam rollers are often colour coded. In order of least to most dense it could be something like: white ⇒ blue ⇒ black. But this is not a law. Sometimes blue is green, and sometimes black is as soft as white.
Size – Most foam rollers are available at 12 – 36 inches long (1 – 3 feet), and 6 inches in diameter (but that can vary slightly). The variation in diameter or length shouldn’t really be an issue, it just correlates to the areas of your body that you will use it to work on.
To be clear, any size works anywhere. It is just that you don’t really need a 3 foot long foam roller if you are just rolling out your calf. Counter to this point though is you probably want a longer foam roller if you are going to be rolling your back, it is just easier to do it all at once, as opposed to one area at a time with a shorter length roller. Bottom line is that roller size just comes down to preference. As the saying goes: it’s the motion of the ocean, not the.. oh wait that’s for something else – still applies here though!
Knobs / Spikes – when making a decision on which roller you want to buy, you are going to have to decide if you want a smooth foam roller or a pointed / bumpy one. Some will even have alternating patterns of bumpy and smooth.
There are three ways to look at this (and I’ve seen each advertised on supplier websites):
1. The bumps may confuse your tissues. This makes it so that the area being rolled cannot get used to the work, as it is unable to predict where a new bump will come next to push into it. Essentially you are just disorientating the pain receptors. The thought process is that this makes rolling more effective.
2. The bumps may allow you to get into tighter areas than a smooth / flat roller could. For example: the attachment points of muscles / tendon.
3. The bumps allow you to get deeper into your tissues than the non-texture foam rollers would.
For starters, there is no research that I have seen to back any of these points. But for each point:
Number one, I just don’t see. It is a repetitive pattern for starters, so I don’t think this would be effective at disorienting the tissues. Other types of things that disorient receptors (receptors being the cellular messengers that deliver pain responses) like fine vibrations; well lets just say that it takes a lot to confuse your body. I think that this first point is a bit of gimmicky nonsense, but that is my personal opinion.
Number two, does make a bit of sense. I can sort of understand it, but at the same time you could just use the edge / end of your smooth foam roller to to the same thing. If this second reasoning is your only reason for using a foam roller, then I’d simply suggest using a lacrosse ball instead.
Number three, I won’t argue with this one. But I caution you to not fall into the trap that deeper is better. I get this all the time with massage too. I work at fairly deep levels, don’t get me wrong. But most people seem to think that they need to get road killed to cause positive changes. This is rarely the case.
Try a Lacrosse Ball – Like noted briefly above a lacrosse balls is great for doing anything that a foam roller can do. Plus it is small, so it can get into finer areas where a larger foam roller may be less effective.
Additionally, the fact that a lacrosse ball is round and can move on different axis of movement makes this a contender to actually allow you to do similar things to self-myofascial release (sorry if that confuses you, you can contact me to talk about it if you’d like).
Look Online – for a piece of foam, foam rollers are not cheap. But there is no reason that they need to be $60, $80, or $140 (yes, I’ve seen that). You could find popular brands (like “trigger point” foam rollers) on amazon for up to 60% off their own websites sale price (usually they are just 10-30% though).
There are also other place that you could buy bulk fitness goods as a whole (but here obviously foam rollers are what I am referring to) for heavily discounted prices. Here in good ol’ Edmonton, there is a company called Fitness Depot (two physical locations) that simply purchases their items in bulk from suppliers, and sells them at discounted rates (individually) to the public. Checkout their website (not a sponsor, I just like them and their prices) and see for yourself!
Now go forth and roll my friends!
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