How does foam rolling compare to those plastic roller sticks? Same thing?

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TrainingBible Coaching
http://www.trainingbible.com

They discuss the amount of pressure used when using the foam roller, so if "The Stick" or "Tiger Tail" gets the same pressure, they should get the same result.... least that is my assumption.

I started increasing mileage 10% per week to train for a 100 mile ultra about a month ago, starting at 55 miles. When I hit 82 miles last week, my left achillies tendon flared up so bad, I was going to have to stop and seek surgery if I took another step. Friend recommended foam rolling and I was nearly healed and back running in only 2 days. Craziest thing I've ever seen. Been doing it several times a day since and hit 93 miles last week. Nearly pain free for every run now, which was certainly not the case before I started rolling.

I'm using the roller to seek out "pain spots" which I gather are adhesions and inflamed areas. Working on those lengthens them back out, which reduces strain. Makes sense with the language of the study. I'm definitely a believer now. And I could see why this works while stretching doesn't. Rolling fixes problem areas, stretching just pulls on them.

I'm new to it, so I could be wrong. But I'm definitely impressed.

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Zen and the Art of Triathlon. Strava Workout Log
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I do the whole shebang. Roller on the legs, trigger point rollers and balls on the lower leg and foot. keeps me going.

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"In the world I see you are stalking elk through the damp canyon forests around the ruins of Rockefeller Center. You'll wear leather clothes that will last you the rest of your life. You'll climb the wrist-thick kudzu vines that wrap the Sears Towers. And when you look down, you'll see tiny figures pounding corn, laying stripes of venison on the empty car pool lane of some abandoned superhighway." T Durden

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Supple Leopard Legion UNITE!!!

Yep, foam rolling saved my legs. Had bad IT band issues but not anymore. Oh, and for those who are going to buy one....get a good one like trigger point. You don't want the ones that look like a pool swim noodle (all foam). Those just break down after a few months and you end up with a dent in your roller.

Its a small preliminary study that seems to jive with my own anecdotal experience

I love my foam roller. I love a handheld roller too but I decided against shelling out $25 for one and instead picked up a wooden rolling pin for $1 at goodwill. Works perfectly.

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who's smarter than you're? i'm!

Have you had any issues with rolling multiple times a day? I have a nagging back / glute pain going on now I would like to roll multiple times a day but was always kind of scared I wouldn't give my muscle tissue enough time to recover (for lack of a better word).

I sometimes do it a few times a day, ESPECIALLY if I have a sore back. No problems from doing it multiple times

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who's smarter than you're? i'm!

x2 on the rolling pin. I have pretty much all of the trigger point rollers/balls and pin works just as well as the stick.

If it improved the vertical of the test subjects, this gives me hope that, with alot of rolling, I will be able to dunk again.

But seriously, it has cured my ITB issues. Hoping it will cure my mad calf too but haven't been so aggressive with that lately. Thanks for sharing.

2 to 4 times a day seems to be the sweet spot. For just about everything.

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Zen and the Art of Triathlon. Strava Workout Log
Interviews with Chris McCormack, Helle Frederikson, Angela Naeth, and many more.
http://www.zentriathlon.com

Interesting

I've had chronic achilles issues and have been put out of training for months at a time due to them. Tried every solution and have done a million eccentric heel drops. The one thing that I think actually helps is rolling- yes, but also getting my thumb in there very hard and breaking up the scar tissue. I'm working my way through 55-60mpw right now in prep for my 1st 50mi ultra. Training going well so far, and the achilles is under control.

but yes- I make love to my foam roller every evening for a half hour. Wife doesn't appear to be jealous.

I have had the same experience with my Achilles. My RMT promoted it big time. I tend to have tight calves leading to Achilles injuries.

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NCCP certified Comp coach

This is all really great stuff to hear. I picked up a Trigger Point when I was just getting into training for my 1st IM last year so I really dont have anything to compare it against. Great to hear that my investment is likely paying off..

I can do a slight comparison against stretching injured areas. Never had much luck in that department. Sometimes it would hurt, sometimes it would feel good...but in both cases I would still be fairly tender etc for days to come. Never had that issue when rolling (taking days to work out kinks).

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Can't wait to see which ST'er is the first to tell you that the time spent rolling your body would be better spent swim, bike and run training.....


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I'd much rather see a study that showed foam rolling pre-workout. Unless I have a nagging problem, I never use it post-workout.

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"That doesn't make any sense at all, you can be second, third, fourth... hell you can even be fifth." - Reese Bobby, Taladega nights

Ya, you are right - some young whipper snapper will say just that (heck, I would have :-| ). But not me. I'm am so sick and tired of my AT "issues." this thread gives me some additional hope that there may be light at the end of the tunnel. I've been rolling with a "spikey" roller my wife got at Target. It hurts so good. Now I realize I should (and can) roll more than I have been.

Thanks everybody

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I saw this on a white board in a window box at my daughters middle school...
List of what life owes you:
1. __________
2. __________
3. __________

+ 2 - My Physio guy is a big believer in using a baseball as it gives you the point to point contact to really work a specific area. Best $2 I've spent.

The study used 20 minutes of foam rolling... that sure seems like a lot. For me 5-10(max) minutes post run has been more than enough to keep my IT bands, glutes, and calves happy and coming back for more.

I've always wondered whether rolling just teaches the brain that stimulation/pressure on a given area won't necessarily result in micro tears, so the muscle relaxes, so it functions better the next time it's used. In other words nothing to do with 'breaking up adhesions' and everything to do with turning down the 'stop don't use it' alarms in the brain itself.

Having ITB issues myself, I'm curious which areas you adress with the foam roller. Do you perhaps have youtube examples of different rolling-strategies?

For any problem area, the best thing, IMO, seems to be to roll all over and find the tender spots then start to work on them. Personally I try not to overdo any one spot and leave it, then come back. Or I will stop completely and come back after 10-20 minutes and try again. Keep the roller near the TV and work on things while watching a show. And you should be able to get right into the glutes as well with one.

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Ian

A foam roller,Pc of 4" pvc, lacrosse ball and tennis ball are my choices. I also have a book for trigger point therapy. Its very useful since sometimes the area that hurts isn't the area that needs work.
When I first got this stuff 3 yrs ago I rolled every day, now I only do it if I feel a problem area starting up.
There have been 2 or 3 times that I have woke up and thought I would not be able to run that night, opened up my book, worked the correct areas and ran pain free that evening.

WHich trigger point therapy book did you get?

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No coasting in running and no crying in baseball

What are the five foam rolling exercises that are the basis of the study?

Trigger Point Therapy for Myofascial Pain

by Donna Finando, L.Ac., L.M.T
and
Steven Finando, Ph.D., L.A.c

thanks

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No coasting in running and no crying in baseball

Just do a YouTube search for "foam rolling IT band", all the videos show pretty much the same exercise. Laying on your side, leg you are working on straight out, other leg crossed over with foot on the floor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoHBDim_fzk

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Portside Athletics Blog

I have used the usual foam roller log with pretty good results but it compressed over time and over works in one plane. My Physio/Chiro recommended I foam roll on a ball since it allows movement in multiple plans and really zeros in on the hot spot and hard to reach areas. I found this much more effective than the foam log.
Foam Rolling seems to be one of those remedies that actually works.
Good Luck, John

What about rolling too much? I've been rolling a lot lately trying to work on my IT issues , but I think I may have irritated the trochanter bursa. Is that possible?

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I taught Chuck Norris everything he knows

I had an ITB flare up when I was using the foam roller a lot. Nothing else really changed that I could link it to. No big jump in miles, same brand of shoes, same bike fit etc. I stopped rolling on that side and it went away. Was it the cause? I'll never know but I haven't had an issue since I stopped.

There's several studies out there that suggest IT band issues are rooted in damage to the connecting tissue from the IT band to the knee, and not the IT band itself. This theory essentially renders rolling and stretching useless for IT band cures. I just got over an IT band issue myself that flared up for the first time during IMWisc. I am just now (4 months later) increasing my running miles after months of PT, stretching, icing, and even rolling. In fact, there's also evidence that the swimming I did those 4 months as "alternative exercise" actually slowed down my recovery. The only real cure seems to be time or surgery since the IT band is so misunderstood in the medical community. I myself am victim to the "it's inflamed" diagnosis from a knee specialist, which turned out not to be the case.

I think rolling is great for muscles and I fully support it, but it's not meant for curing/preventing ITBS! In the end, it comes down to listening to your body.

where do you use the roller for your achilles?

There are probably multiple causes for various IT band problems. If it's exclusively tissue damage at the insertion of the IT near the knee, rolling may not help. But if tightness in the connecting muscle (tensor fascia lata) is straining the IT band, then rolling the TFL muscle should help, just as rolling the calves helps with achilles problems. Loosen the muscle, take the strain off the tendon. If the problem is adhesions of the outer hamstring or outer quad muscle to the IT band, which I get a lot, then rolling the adhesions should help that, too.

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<The Dew Abides>

I've got quite a selection of rollers and I'll have to disagree with this. Sure, my ordinary blue roller is dented but is hardly useless. Just as useful as Day 1, just dented. That said, there is no one roller that's good for every body part. Larger, surface muscles (quads, traps, obliques) are well suited to the ordinary blue roller. Smaller, deeper muscles need something else, like the knobby roller or balls of various sizes/hardnesses.

Up and down the back and sides of the leg. Search for spots that hurt when you rub them.

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Zen and the Art of Triathlon. Strava Workout Log
Interviews with Chris McCormack, Helle Frederikson, Angela Naeth, and many more.
http://www.zentriathlon.com

Ding ding ding, we have a winner. Cutaneous nerve stimulation, non-painful (read: non"symptomatic") afferent nerve signals bombarding CNS, decreased sense of threat on the tissue, etc..etc...

This at least is where my current research (my current reading of the research) as a PT has led me. Although "breaking up adhesions and scar tissue" is a much easier explanation and sell to the patient than "well, you see there are tiny nerve receptors that send ultrafast signals to the brain, which is on high alert to the painful area due to yada yada yada yada..." The patient falls asleep well before understanding what the **** I'm saying...

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It won't be me! 23 here, and I've been foam-rolling the ITB and calves for probably 5+ years now. Completely alleviated some patellar tendonitis, and keeps my shin splints (mine due to Posterior Tibialis tightness) at bay. Plenty of young people are susceptible to injury, especially when first getting into endurance sports. It seems to take a few years to discover all of the random niggles you'll end up with and figure out how to treat them. I have nothing but good things to say about the foam roller.

If you're going with a solid foam roller, closed-cell foam (looks like Styrofoam, foam rollers of this type are frequently black) is far superior to open-cell foam (looks like a pool noodle, may be many colors). The closed-cell foam will outlast the open-cell foam by a factor of 3-4, mostly because the open-cell foam has macroscopic air pockets that allow the foam to easily deform, whereas the open cell foam only has microscopic air pockets.

Even better than the above would be the triggerpoint grid roller.

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I tweet!

Going to give this a try...suffered from AT issues early last year in my train up for Boston.

AT feels ok, but training for IMTX right now and I'm worried that it might flare up again.

I use The Stick and think Helga would love one for her house of torture...