How To Effectively Use a Foam Roller
You’ve likely heard that using a foam roller is a great way of relieving sore muscles, aches and pains and most commonly, tight muscles. These are all true however, unfortunately the way most people use a foam roller is pretty ineffective and not worth the discomfort and time.
I recently did a written piece for Esquire, covering my thoughts on foam rollers. The questions I’ve received referencing this piece encouraged me to put this post together and delve deeper into the topic.
In this article, I break down the foam roller a little further. Let’s take a look at what it actually does (including what it doesn’t do), and most importantly how YOU can make the most out of one.
A Brief Overview…
A foam roller is an excellent tool that when used correctly, can play an important role in assisting muscle recovery, improving joint function and easing that feeling of ‘tight’ muscles.
It works by reducing the protective tension held in a muscle. In other words, the process of sinking a foam roller into your muscles helps send signals to your brain which in-turn tells your nervous system to reduce this protective tension (similar to how a warm bath might give similar results).
An easy analogy I often use with my clients is to imagine your nervous system is using a hand brake on your muscles. This is protective tension, the handbrake on your muscles that restricts range of motion because your body considers it vulnerable. By using protocols such as foam rolling, other trigger point therapy methods, warm baths etc. you’re telling your brain it’s safe and to ease off the brakes.
What is a Foam Roller Actually Designed For and How Does It Work? (More Science Based Deep-Dive)
A foam roller is a tool, ultimately designed to administer soft tissue therapy. Think of it as self massage!
The overarching goal of soft tissue therapy is to help restore joint function. There are many methods, techniques and approaches out there aimed at addressing soft tissue, in reality, the majority of these ultimately focus on one particular soft tissue dysfunction: Neuromuscular tightness.
Neuromuscular tightness is the fancier name for protective tension. It’s the name given to an area of tissue that’s overly contracted (too much muscle tone). When you get that feeling of when a muscle “feels tight”, this is typically why.
Methods of trigger point therapy such as foam rollers, address neuromuscular tightness and aim to restore ‘normal’ muscle tone. This essentially works by compressing the muscle at the right depth in a specific spot, then held with pressure long enough for the body to reduce the protective tension and re-calibrate that muscle tone into a relaxed state.
By sinking into a foam roller you’re causing a stimulation of mechanoreceptors and a general down-regulation of the sympathetic nervous system which results in the reduction in protective tension in the muscle.
Put simply: by foam rolling a ‘tight’ muscle or sensitive area of a muscle you’re flooding your nervous system with information about the area essentially telling it to take the hand-break off, which in-turn alters how that muscle feels, allowing a small increase in mobility, albeit temporarily.
If you’ve ever seen somebody jam a hard ball into their muscle… This is another common method of trigger point therapy. Think of it as a self administering alternative to a therapist jamming their thumb or elbow into you. A therapist's hand will of course trump a £25 tool from Amazon as a therapist has more control over the force, location, direction and depth. HOWEVER, when it comes to addressing ‘tight muscles’ on your lonesome in the comfort of your own home, a tool such as a foam roller can be an excellent addition to your toolbox!
Can Foam Rolling Actually Improve Flexibility and Mobility?
Foam rolling has been shown to temporarily create improvements in mobility and range of motion at a muscle and joint, but not by physically lengthening the muscle or creating any structural changes. As mentioned earlier, by down-regulating the sympathetic nervous system and reducing protective muscle tone to a ‘normal’ state, your brain will allow that muscle to be slightly more flexible which will help to improve joint function.
I recommend my clients use a foam roller for a few minutes prior to resistance based workouts to benefit from that temporary increase in range of motion. We will also use one for a few minutes following most aerobic based workouts such as running or cycling, as this can help restore muscle tone and kickstart recovery following on from your muscles being used in a very repetitive and often shortened range.
The Benefits of Foam Rolling Effectively
With some of the science around foam rolling wrapped up, let’s set-out a few of the major benefits effective foam rolling can have:
Improved function and range of motion at a joint (temporary)
Reduced sensation of tightness and soreness
Sometimes a reduction in aches and pains (It depends)
Helps to enter a parasympathetic state (essential for improving sleep quality - I’ll touch on this next section)
Foam Rolling and Its Relationship with Improving Sleep Quality
To optimise your sleep cycles, increase overall sleep quality and achieve adequate deep sleep (the stuff we need to actually feel and perform at our best) our body should be in a parasympathetic state. This essentially means being in a state of relaxation, commonly known as the term: rest and digest.
The process of effectively foam rolling (with controlled breathing) helps you to enter this parasympathetic state. This is why I often recommend my clients carry out a short 5-10 minute soft tissue session within the hour before bed. Whether that be using a foam roller or a hard ball, it really can be an excellent time to kill two birds with one stone by using your muscle recovery session to help improve your sleep quality.
There are 3 Important Things to Remember When Foam Rolling:
The muscle must be relaxed. A tensed up solid muscle won’t allow the roller to sink deep enough and will act as a barrier. It’s important you position your body in a way that you can support your weight and stay balanced whilst keeping the target muscle relaxed on the roller.
Slow and steady. This process of foam rolling involves the brain communicating with your body to help resolve the tightness. However, for this communication to occur you need to find that point of tension and sink into it, by moving quickly up and down on the roller, you’re not allowing this connection to happen. Stay steady and slowly move (I recommend 1 inch per 2 seconds) around scanning an area paying close attention to the sensations you’re feeling.
Breathing. Your ability to handle pain is not what foam rolling is all about. If you’re uncomfortable, gritting your teeth and holding your breath, you’ll just tense up and your chances of making a difference to your tightness is zero. It’ll likely lead to more tightness. Instead, you must control your breathing. For best results keep your mouth shut and focus on diaphragmatic breathing (belly breathing) only through your nose. Slow deep inhales of 3-4 seconds followed by 4-6 second exhales. This will enable you to tap into your parasympathetic nervous system, which will help further relax the muscles.
I Hope You Found This Article Helpful!
There you have it, the fundamentals of foam rolling and how to effectively use one! Let me know at @olliethompsonhealth how you get on with using your foam roller in your next recovery session.