Foam rollers are a self massage tool that can be used to release tension and increase mobility of muscles and other connective tissues. They can be used to aid injury recovery, or also included in warm ups or cool downs, before and after exercise with numerous benefits.
The theory behind how foam rollers work is debated but it is thought to work directly with your muscles, as well as stimulating your nervous system via receptors, to relax your muscles and surrounding tissues.
Foam rollers are cylindrical tools that can have a smooth or textured surface, based on how concentrated or even you want the pressure from the foam roller to be.
Benefits:
- Increase range of motion – as the tissues relax and move from a contracted to elongated state, the range of motion around your joints increases.
- Warm up muscles – the friction generated by rolling over muscles and other tissues creates heat. Having warm muscles before starting exercise also decreases your chances of injury.
- Eases muscle pain – using a foam roller immediately after exercise can decrease delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), which is the achy pain that you can get 24-48hrs after intense exercise.
- Increases circulation – before exercise this can increase blood flow and therefore oxygen and nutrients to muscles. This can also be beneficial for fascia, tendons and ligaments which tend to have little blood flow. Foam rolling after exercising can aid the removal of metabolic waste products accumulated in muscles after exercise.
- Help with relaxation- studies have reported psychological benefits, with reported feelings of being more relaxed, less tension, stress relief and improvement in mood.
How to Foam Roll:
- Slowly roll each specific muscle/area for 1-2 minutes.
- Try to relax the area while foam rolling to decrease the possibility of cramps.
- If an area is too painful to foam roll, roll over the surrounding areas instead.
- Do not roll over joints e.g knees, ankles, elbow.
Sam’s Favourite Foam Rolling Positions:
Come in and talk to our physiotherapists about what type of foam roller is best for you and how it can be used to aid your injury recovery, or even just incorporated into your everyday workout!
