Foam Rolling – The Ultimate Guide

Typically a plastic roll covered in hard/soft foam with different surface types which you use to roll on. There is a selection of surfaces from smooth to some which have more of n uneven surface. The reason for this to provide a different type of massage effect, a smooth one may be gentler like a Swedish massage, but others aim to give the replication of a deep tissue or more intense massage. The type of roller really depends upon your reason for using it.

These are different shaped tools to target different body parts and areas with the focus on improving mobility and addressing localised pain. These tools are more specific to body area and the structures you want to address.

Foam rolling can be performed for multiple reasons, two of the most common uses and indications for foam rolling are when you feel soreness and tightness in the muscles or when you are wanting to increase the range of motion in a joint by relaxing muscles so you can move further as well as the additional benefit of increasing the circulation to the area you are rolling.

When we apply pressure to muscles and fascia with a foam rolling tool it compresses the soft tissues and helps the muscles to relax. Typically when we feel sore and tight this can be caused by the fascia (connective tissue that sits around your muscle) becoming restricted –  a great way to manage this to use a roller to help relax the facia and provide more movement in to the soft tissues. Rolling the soft tissues which sit around the joint can temporarily lengthen the muscle and allow a greater range of movement to aid in your warmup or cool down and recovery regime.

Another reason for muscle soreness can be DOMS which stands for delayed onset muscle soreness – typically felt following a hard workout/session the next day or 2 after. When we foam roll for pain reasons it may be feel a little uncomfortable to begin with but then this should ease as you continue and give some relief. This happens because it helps to switch off our pain sensors which relay the discomfort to our brain temporarily – this is particularly handy if you need to relieve muscle pains before you exercise as it may allow you to feel more comfortable and perform better.

Reducing injuries is another great reason to foam roll. If we have a particularly restricted area of the body which we don’t take care of  – this can lead to poor engagement of the muscles in the area and can possibly lead to poor control, activation and ultimately, injury. For example – tightness of the quads can result in poor stability and control of the knee, if you start to engage in an exercise where you require the quads to stabilise the knee joint and they aren’t up to the job – you could suffer an injury to your ligaments, meniscus or tendons. Whilst a roller is great for prevention of injuries – if you are injured  – a foam roller is a great tool with many uses for rehabilitation.

Following on from our desk workers blog the foam roller is effective for neck and upper back pain prevention and management. Flexed, hunched, slouched postures can be managed (first of all with better posture at work!) with the use of foam roller exercises to help us extend the thoracic and cervical spine and relieve pain we may have built up during a work day. If you can and are able to – keep a roller at the office and take care of yourself while you work! A great simple exercise is placing the roller on the floor and lying with it placed just underneath our shoulder blades – when we extend over this it helps to relieve tightness in the thoracic spine and muscles of the upper back whilst extending our neck.