Mastering Foam Rolling: Essential Tips for Recovery and Injury Prevention

Foam rolling as a recovery tool, for injury prevention, or treatment of mild injury has become common practice amongst endurance and strength athletes alike. There are almost as many theories about the do’s and don’ts of correct foam rolling technique as there are varieties of the rollers themselves. They come in all shapes and sizes, varying in softness and length, with a large variety of surface areas from smooth to some gnarly-looking rollers that seem more fitting in a medieval melee. Whatever your choice of weapon, such as the REBEL Fitness Foam Roller or the REBEL Grid Foam Roller, there are some fundamentals that apply to the technique to get the best possible results.

Foam rollers, in essence, are a tool used for myofascial release and can be incredibly beneficial. Foam rolling is a self-massage technique involving applying controlled pressure to our muscles and fascia. A pressure that would normally only be possible while being treated by a physio or massage therapist. Most areas that require attention are difficult to access with our own hands and applying a suitable amount of pressure ourselves, is mostly impossible to achieve. Foam rollers allow us to use our bodyweight and gravity in order to exert the required pressure and this is thought to do the following:

Break up muscle knots and adhesions – Fascia, the connective tissue surrounding your muscles, can become tight and restrictive, limiting movement and contributing to pain. Foam rolling is believed to help loosen these adhesions, improving tissue mobility and reducing discomfort.

Increase blood flow – Applying pressure while rolling can boost blood flow to the specific area, supplying vital nutrients and oxygen to our muscles. This aids in the healing process and facilitates muscle repair.

Trigger our nervous system – Foam rolling stimulates mechanoreceptors within our muscles and fascia, sending signals to our nervous system. This can help modulate pain perception and promote relaxation, contributing to our overall recovery.

Does foam rolling actually do this though? For example, another recovery and muscle maintenance technique, massage, has recently been found to have little to no effect on the muscles and the prevailing theory is, that a good massage after strenuous activity is more useful as a relaxation technique, and that the perceived effects on the muscles themselves are more placebo than actual.

Unlike massage though, research does seem to support foam rolling in its claims as a recovery and injury prevention technique. There have been numerous published studies that acknowledge the potential benefits of foam rolling for pain management and rehabilitation, stating its ability to improve muscle tone, decrease muscle stiffness, and reduce pain sensitivity.

These studies have shown that benefits of foam rolling include:

Reduced Muscle Soreness – Rolling out tight muscles after exercise can help reduce the dreaded DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness), enabling us to train hard again after a shorter space of time.

Improved Range of Motion – By breaking up adhesions and increasing flexibility, foam rolling can enhance our range of motion, allowing us to move more freely and efficiently. In endurance sports like running and swimming, where restrictions in range of motion in the hips and shoulders can seriously reduce stride and stroke length, this could yield significant results.

Injury Prevention – Prevention is always better than cure and keeping muscles supple and flexible has been proven to reduce the risk of both over-use and traumatic injuries, such as muscles strains and tears. Improved tissue mobility and increased blood flow can help prevent injuries by reducing muscle tightness and improving neuromuscular control.

There are some things to avoid when using a foam roller though:

Too much or too little pressure – Foam rolling should definitely not be comfortable, but it shouldn’t be excruciating, either. When using your roller correctly, you should be applying steady pressure that creates mild discomfort. You should be able to breathe easily and relax your body through the movement.

Too much time in one area – We often find one tight area and stay there for several minutes, trying to get it to release. Even when we find a particularly tight area, we shouldn’t be spending more than a minute on that spot. Ideally, we go from static to dynamic movement, spending the first 30 seconds holding the muscle over the roller and applying constant pressure, then beginning to use small, back-and-forth and side-to-side movements to cover all the fascia.

Too hard on cold muscles – Ideally, our muscles should be warmed up before we jump on our foam roller, but if they aren’t, we need to make sure that we ease into it with gentle pressure before trying to go any deeper. Attacking a cold muscle could end up bruising it, which does more harm than good. Most will often go straight for their biggest, tightest knots when they foam roll, but this isn’t the most effective way to go about working on our problem areas. Instead, rolling the fascia above and below the knot first, loosening it up, making it easier for us to actually get rid of the knot in our muscle.

Rolling the Iliotibial band – The ITB is a common problem area for many cyclists, triathletes and runners, but attacking it with our foam roller won’t help. The ITB is not a muscle, so it can’t be loosened like one. If we have tight ITBs, we’re better off focusing on our glutes, quads and muscles around the knee to solve the problem as these areas create the tension in the ITB which in turn causes the rubbing where it inserts at the knee, which everyone knows as ITB Syndrome.