You gotta roll with it!

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Do you own a foam roller? If the answer is yes, is it shoved in a cupboard or under the bed? If the second answer is also yes then go dig it out and start incorporating it into your recovery regime.

Now a few tips before you jump on the roller:

Foam rolling can feel uncomfortable and “sore” to some extent. If you find that when you’re rolling it is extremely painful or something doesn’t feel quite right, try adjusting position and pressure so you don’t have full bodyweight on the roller.
Roll slowly with control. Don’t start rolling your muscles like you’re trying to flatten out some dough as fast as you can. Move your roller slowly with intent, focussing on the tender areas of the muscle around 2-3cm of movement at a time.
You will find some spots that might make you want to hold your breath, breathe through it, adjust pressure as you need to, the tenderness should subside and ease, try to focus on an area only for a round 20-30 seconds at a time.
DO NOT ROLL YOUR BONES!!!!!!!! Try to stay away from anything bony as this will just cause you pain.
Depending on where your injury is and what your therapist has advised, sometimes rolling directly on an injured area can be beneficial and sometimes not, make sure you get advice regarding specific injuries from your therapist.
The neck, this is a sensitive and intricate area so again, only use the roller in areas around the neck with guidance and advice from your therapist.
Don’t try to test the limits of your pain threshold, it should be uncomfortable but not painful to the point where you are wincing or holding your breath, this can be counterproductive.

Of course you now want to know what the benefits are before you start inflicting a level on pain and discomfort on yourself.

It can reduce the feeling of soreness after exercise
It can temporarily increase range of motion in some joints
It can make you feel good and a great tool to help with mobility work

Foam rolling is a great tool that can be used as part of your training and exercise regime to help add a little extra to your recovery and make you feel good.

Foam rolling has been proven to reduce the feeling of soreness after exercise, which most people would be over the moon with, reducing soreness after exercise can make your training sessions in the following days more enjoyable or if you’re not training, just make you look less silly when you walk up and down the stairs at work.

It is also a great activity to incorporate into your warm up for exercise, help stimulate the nervous system through pressure in the muscle groups you’re going to be working. Also, as stated above rolling can have a temporary effect on range of motion, so by rolling before exercise we can increase our range of motion available in joints which can then lead to a better execution of a specific movement pattern or exercise, such as a squat or deadlift by rolling quads or hamstrings, or an overhead press by rolling our lats. By having more range of movement when performing an exercise it allows us to train the muscles in that position which in turn over time will have a direct impact on mobility, and who doesn’t want better mobility?

Foam rolling can also have a positive effect leading into your massage and treatment sessions, it allows you to explore different muscle groups and find areas of tension that you may have not already brought to the attention of your therapist. Foam rolling is also not a comfortable activity, which is usually why people don’t do it, however by rolling regularly you can help with the sensitivity of an area which could make your treatments and self massage with the roller feel less painful in general.

We have only really discussed “foam rolling” here but you can use trigger point balls as well for a similar result especially for smaller deeper areas, such as the sides of the glutes, the hamstrings, the lower back, back of the shoulder. These are areas where you might want to do more trigger point pressure release rather than rolling.

A quick guide to foam rolling

Below are a few suggestions for positions and techniques to try for different muscle groups, below each muscle group you'll also find a picture highlighting where the muscle groups are and suggested positioning.

Quadriceps AKA quads

Probably one of the easy ones to access, but generally very tender for most people. You have 4 quads but try to think of your thigh as 3 main sections, more medial (inside), central and more lateral (outside). Work up and down each section and remember slow controlled movements, as mentioned above, when working more laterally try not to roll right on the side (this is your ITB) and that will be very painful with little benefit.

Calves, made up of your Gastrocnemius (two heads more superficial) and Soleus (deeper):

Similar to your quads, think of them in 3 sections, more medial, central and more lateral, this will help to get all areas of the calf and you will find you have more tender spots in one area compared to others. To reach more medially or laterally, change the angle of your body/leg on the roller. Also the image below shows the hips lifted off the floor one leg across the top of the other, to reduce the pressure on the calf you can take the top leg off and roll both calves at the same time side by side.

Hamstrings, two medial and one lateral:

Now hamstrings, I personally find foam rolling doesn’t feel too effective as the hamstrings tend to “spread” over the roller. I like to release hamstrings using a trigger point ball or a tennis ball/equivalent while sitting on a hard chair. Start by placing the ball under your thigh on an area of your hamstring that is problematic or you feel tension, then push into the ball gently and then actively straighten out your leg. This allows you to perform a “pin & stretch” type release allowing you to get a stretch through a specific area of your hamstring.

Glutes

The main muscles highlighted below are the glute medius, glute maximus (right side of anatomy image) and piriformis (left side of anatomy image). This muscle group is another one where we can either use the ball or the roller. The roller is good if you are comfortable in a position on the floor, if not the ball is a great way to get into those deeper smaller areas and it can be done against the wall, this gives more control and easier to modify pressure.

Latissimus Dorsi AKA Lats

Probably a forgotten about muscle, this one is a big player in lower back tightness and can restrict us in overhead movements. This one is best done with a foam roller and on the floor, it can be done on the wall with a roller but might be a little awkward. As you roll the top part of the lat near the scapula/back of shoulder you will also touch on your Teres major and minor which can be tender areas so make sure you modify your pressure in this spot.

Infraspinatus

Nice problematic rotator cuff muscle, can get tight and uncomfortable and has a really juicy deep trigger point that can give a sharp stabbing like referral into the front of the shoulder. This is a great one to get in using the ball against the wall, you will feel like you can’t find the spot and then bam all of a sudden you’ll be on it, holding pressure and performing a rocking type motion over the spot is a great way to help release the tension in here.

Quadratus Lumborum aka QL

This is a sensitive area and an area you want to be cautious with as you don’t want to end up rolling on your spine. This muscle sits in your waste gap and can be accessed using the roller, placing it on your lower back and slowly leaning to one side. If you are a well-seasoned roller and know the spot and want to get a bit deeper then you can go at it with a ball as well. Again this can be done agaisnt the wall with a ball but will be less pressure.

Thoracic extension – mobility focus

You can use your roller to help with some thoracic mobility as well as add a little chest stretch while you’re there. This puts us into a position that is usually the opposite to how we spend most of the day (all of you office workers out there hunched over at a desk, computer or patient for most of us here in Muscle Therapy). There are two foam roller positions you can try, one with the roller long ways down your thoracic (upper/mid back) and let your arms fall out and open up your chest, this can be seen in the image to the left below. Second position is by placing the roller across the back, just below your shoulder blades, in this position you can extend over the roller as you breath out, this will help improve thoracic mobility.

Hopefully this provides you with some good information on where to start with foam rolling, if you want some more guided advice on positioning, technique or you have an injury and you’re not really sure what or where to roll then book in with one of us here at Muscle Therapy Australia and we can give you some direction and advice.