Foam rollers. Have you noticed in the past year or so this new activity in the fitness world? In an area where participants typically are stretching, they are now rolling their bodies across these foam rollers. Why? What benefit can they be getting from this? Is there any research that supports this? And what exactly is it doing to their bodies that they would subject themselves to what appears to be painful? Really, it hurt the first few times I did it.
Self-Myofascial Release (SMR) is what is happening when you roll your body across these rollers. I’ve had massage therapists do a similar technique with their hands while working on me. But with a foam roller you can do this yourself. First off what is myofascia?
Myofascia is defined as the intrinsic connection between muscles and muscle fibers with connective tissue, fascia. (Wikipedia)
What has been found is that by moving your body across these rollers, you can then self-massage areas that could be very tight. Which then allows you to perform better. Or does it?
While there are conflicting reports as to whether or not foam rolling improves performance (NCBI)(NCBI) there is a real benefit to using this technique. The benefit actually comes out during the recovery stage of your training process. Since SMR helps loosens the connective tissue around your muscles you are then able to recover quickly from your workouts which then will allow you to workout with less soreness from your previous training. Which means you can get a better workout each time since you won’t be so sore.
If you follow this link you will find instruction on how to use a foam roller on different parts of your body. Foam Roller Video
So even if the statistics don’t show a direct increase in performance. Since this technique will allow you to workout more efficiently won’t you then be able to potentially perform better if you can train at a higher level consistently? How about you? Have you, or are you currently using these devices? What benefit do you get from them? Did it take a while to get used to how much pressure you would place on the roller?
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