My coach recommended I start using the foam roller every night after my workouts are done with the day. Obviously theres a reason he’s recommending it but I’m curious to hear what the benefits are and if it can cause injuries from misuse.
You can get many of the same benefits of massage. Better circulation and tension relief in areas particularly prone to tightness. As far as injury goes, I’ve never suffered from foam rolling, but if you have a super high pain tolerance, if dig really, really deep with the roller, really, really hard, I could see bad things happening.
I use this one:
The rumble roller… it is awesome.
I use one from time to time. I also get deep tissue massage regularly, and that helps a lot.
You are unlikely to hurt yourself with the foam roller, IMO.
I understood much beter how to use it effectively after having deep tissue massage from a VERY talented, knowledgeable, and experienced massage therapist. If you can get that sort of guidance, you will get more out of it, IMO.
x2 on being impossible to hurt yourself with a foam roller.
Way too many benefits, especially for us financially challenged triathletes who can’t afford messages.
Foam Rollers are invaluable when you need to get rid of knots in the leg muscles, which can led to lingering injuries like ITBS.
I got The Grid recently, but it just feels so difficult to use. I’m not sure why, but I keep having to shuffle around trying to do the motions. Does it get better with practice?
I’m having the same problem with The Grid. It’s great when I do take the time to use it, but constantly having to move it around to use the right portion is annoying. The cheapish foam rollers from Sports Auth. are easier to use and almost as effective. I’ve heard a lot of good things about The Stick <www.thestick.com> but I’ve been hesitant to use something called, The Stick.
Eachhas thier place…foam rollers or The Grid work great on leg muscles like your quads, etc. The Stick is less effective in those areas, especially your IT band.
The Stick is great for your calves, where rollers don’t work well, IMO.
Just got off my Grid after 5+ minutes of rolling my IT. It is still hampering me, but I have gone form not ebing able to tolerate a single pass on my IT to being able to roll it indefinitely.
My friend says that if you go in any direction other than toes to head, that it can be damaging to your veins, I read a lot of your guys responses and online but does that actually pose a danger?
you won’t damage your veins. He is saying this because there are valves in the veins that keep blood from flowing back down due to gravity. In very simple terms your muscles flex and push the blood up because it can’t go down.
The walls of the veins are flexible enough to deal with a little bit of pressure and since there are the valves, you’re not gonna push blood from the top of the thigh down to right above the knee.
It’s best to make little movements, find the spot that is really sensitive and roll back and forth on it maybe 2-3 inches, sort of massaging it for 30-60 seconds then move on. You’ll learn what spots need work. It helps to break up the adhesions of muscle fiber.
can be good to prevent/fix IT band issues, at least for me anyway
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I’m curious to hear more about why people do this. I’ve heard about it before from several different people but I’ve never heard a good solid physiological reason.
Correct. In general, a pretty safe tool. Just stay away from joints.
because it helps to break up adhesions in the body tissue. These adhesions prevent the muscles and tendons from working properly so others compensate to get the body to move the way we want it to.
It does require a lot of ‘finagling’ to find your tender spots. It will get better with practice as you find where your spots tend to hide.
Some positions require a bit of core strength and contortion as well.
Keep on rolling on!
Agreed. The rollers/TP Therapy Grid, etc…work great for the larger muscle groups. I love the Stick for my calves, achilles, arms, inner quads.
Foam roller is amazing on PF, ITB, Quads, Thoracic spine. Tennis ball/lacrosse ball hit those spots as well! Even more acutely.
Fascia is the soft tissue component of the connective tissue that provides support and protection for most structures within the human body, including muscle. This soft tissue can become restricted due to psychogenic disease, overuse, trauma, infectious agents, or inactivity, often resulting in pain, muscle tension, and corresponding diminished blood flow. Although fascia and its corresponding muscle are the main targets of myofascial release, other tissue may be affected as well, including other connective tissue.
As in most tissue, irritation of fascia or muscle causes local inflammation. Chronic inflammation results in fibrosis, or thickening of the connective tissue, and this thickening causes pain and irritation, resulting in reflexive muscle tension that causes more inflammation.
VIA Wikipedia.
By ‘releasing’ the tension in your fascia you can increase range of motion, and the ability to fire your muscles almost instantly. Amazing.
i have had regular foam rollers, but best one for really working the fascia is rumble roller…google it.
The TP Therapy Grid works pretty well. I also use a Lax ball for the harder to reach places.
I spend at least 2-3 times a week on my. Sometimes for only a quick 2 minutes or sometime longer.
I think its one of the few things that is keeping me healthier this year.
Love 'em!
I’m curious to hear more about why people do this. I’ve heard about it before from several different people but I’ve never heard a good solid physiological reason.
It’s basically a self-massage for your legs to work out the knots (trigger points) in your muscles. You roll over each muscle group (calves, quads, hams, ITB) until you find a knot. You’ll know it’s a knot because it hurts like a biatch. Keep pressure on that knot or roll back and forth a few inches over it until the pain subsides, generally around 30 seconds. Breaking up those knots allows your muscles to relax, stretch better, and you’re less likely to strain them. I have patellofemoral syndrome partially caused by a tight IT Band. In addition to stretching, I roll out my ITB twice a day and it’s helped my knee pain greatly.
-Regular foam rollers are great, but not always as effective as other methods
-Trigger Point Grid is firmer than typical foam rollers, so it gets deeper into your muscles and works excellent, but all the different surfaces on it are a pain to use.
-The Stick looks interesting. I currently use a regular rolling pin for basically the same thing. When I come to a knot I just focus on digging deeper and applying pressure. They’res one called Tiger Tail which is like the stick, but it only has one piece that rolls as opposed to The Stick’s multiple sections. I imagine it’s way better for those of us who like keeping our leg hair.