Foam Rolling

15.12.2022

Written By Bryce Hounsome

Background

Participating in regular activity and functional life can lead to microtrauma. Essentially, this is a small amount of damage to a muscle. Over time, this can lead to fascia scar tissue and as a result may lead to muscular dysfunctions. These can include imbalances, physical trauma and overuse injuries. For centuries, massage has been used as a tool to prevent these dysfunctions, relax muscles, reduce muscle tension and soreness. More recently, self myofascial release has become increasingly popular as a way to treat soft tissue. In other words...foam rolling!

What is Foam Rolling?

In simple terms, foam rolling is when you use your body weight, on a foam roller to exert pressure on the opposing soft tissue and muscles. By changing positions, you can use the rollers to isolate different parts of the body. Why foam rolling has become so popular is largely down to the affordability, ease to use, time efficiency, as well as its close relationship to massage.

Effects

Foam rolling can have a number of additional health and performance based improvements. These can include an increase in physical strength, stamina and power, mobility and flexibility, and reduced injury risk. As well as that, physiological benefits include increased blood flow, parasympathetic circulation (stimulation activities when the body is at rest), increased response to inflammation or injury, and trigger point break down, you've probably heard it called a knot. These are an inflexible band of muscle resulting from a muscle spasm and can lead to muscle weakness, stiffness and fatigue. Even just by eliminating these, our wellbeing will no doubt increase. Psychological improvements can also be seen, such as improved perceptions of wellbeing and recovery due to decreased arousal level, activation of parasympathetic response, and the placebo effect (belief in the method).

When Should I Foam Roll?

Foam Rolling after a workout has been shown to increase the effectiveness and time of recovery. Within the next 24 hours, perceived fatigue and fitness are better when compared with other methods of recovery such as static stretching.

Therefore, I recommend you use a structured recovery foam rolling session, lasting 15 - 20 minutes at the end of a workout to enhance recovery. The main advantage of post workout foam rolling is that it reduces the muscle pain sensation meaning it will be more comfortable to continue to workout over the next few days.

Foam rolling as part of a warm up can also be useful however must be accompanied by other activation and mobilisation movements. In comparison to other methods such as static stretching, the main benefit of using foam rolling as part of a warm up is the fact that it increases flexibility and mobility without having a detrimental effect on other physical factors such as strength or power.