Foam Rolling: What’s the Point and How do I do it?
What is the point of foam rolling?
Foam rolling can provide health benefits by breaking down soft tissue adhesions and scar tissue that is in your fascia. Fascia is a three dimensional fibrous matrix that interconnects and surrounds all cells of the body including muscles, bones, and joints, providing integrity and strength.
Abnormal fascia can cause chronic pain, reduced flexibility, and decreased athletic performance. Foam rolling can be an effective, inexpensive and convenient way to keep your body healthy, limber, fit and flexible. I recommend a high density foam roller.
Whether you are a bodybuilder, athlete, or weekend warrior, foam rolling is important to allow strength along with flexibility and full range of motion.
How to use a foam roller:
Foam rolling is very simple to learn. Choose an area of tightness in your body and place it on top of the foam roller. Slowly roll along the muscle groups end to end until you find a tender spot. Stop right on top of the painful area and hold it there until the pain diminishes by about 75%. Then continue scanning around to find another area to hold until you can’t find any other tender points to work on. Over time, with practice and repetition, you might be able to work out all of the tender points throughout your body and then keep the foam roller handy for maintenance and prevention. You can increase pressure over the soft tissue by stacking your body parts upon one another or repositioning your body in many ways. You can use a foam roller before physical activity, or after, or both to reduce muscle soreness and speed recovery.
Target specific muscle groups with your foam roller:
Paraspinals: With your arms behind your head, lie on your back, face up, with roller positioned in the middle of your back and your butt off the ground. Roll up and down along your spine.
Latissimus: Lie on your side with your arm overhead. Roll back and forth along your side from your arm pit to your mid-torso.
Gluts / Piriformis: Sit on the foam roller while leaning forward into the side your working on. Roll up and down along the entire buttock area.
Hamstrings: Sit with the foam roller on your hamstrings on the back of your thighs. Roll up and down along the back of your thighs.
Quadriceps: Lay face down with the foam roller under your thighs. Roll up and down your quads and rock side to side to work the entire muscle group.
Iliotibial Band: Lay on your side with the foam roller on your lateral thigh. Roll up to your hip and down to your knee.
Calves Gastro-Soleus: Sit with the foam roller behind your legs. Roll up and down along your calves from behind your knee to your heels.
Peroneals / Tibialis: Kneel over your foam roller and roll up to the knee and down to the ankle while focusing on the outer / lateral portion of your shin.
If you have pain/discomfort which does not resolve or worsens with exercise and foam rolling, I encourage you to consider Chiropractic care. After you are more comfortable with your foam roller, a full body routine might take about 10-minutes to complete. I recommended to foam roll anywhere from 3 to 5 times each week. Take this time to focus on deep breathing.
