What is a Foam Roller Exercise?
Foam rollers come in various colours, densities, lengths and designs. The most common ones are the short, cylindrical-shaped rolls often found at gyms or studios. Some options, like textured foam rollers, are designed to target deeper tissue layers. Foam rolling is a form of self-myofascial release (SMR) stretching technique. As mentioned earlier, it can be included in a person’s cooling down or stretching routine after a workout.
What is a Trigger Point?
To give some background, our body is covered with soft tissue called fascia, and it covers every structure of our body, including muscles, organs, nerves, and blood vessels. The fascia that covers explicitly our muscles is called myofascial. When the myofascial is stressed from overuse or trauma, it can tear and adhere together. These adhesions are called “trigger points” and can prevent a muscle from working well.
Trigger points often increase muscle stiffness, leading to a decreased range of motion. Trigger points restrict blood flow throughout the muscle fiber, starving the tissue of oxygen and its essential nutrients. These restrictions cause a buildup of metabolic waste and toxins around the trigger points, resulting in muscle tightness, delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), and even intense pain.
What are the Benefits of Foam Rolling?
Using a foam roller brings relief to tight muscles. Foam rolling helps break up the adhesions and trigger points to speed up the healing and recovery. Using a foam roller perpendicular to the muscle fibers can help reduce muscle tension and improve flexibility. When you roll slowly over the trigger points, the body’s natural response to pressure causes the muscles to relax.
Foam rolling can help alleviate muscle knots around areas like the shoulder blades or the left knee. Applying sustained pressure to tighter muscles, such as slowly rolling under the left foot, can also reduce tension. To ensure proper technique, keep your knees bent during many foam rolling exercises to maintain stability and control. However, it is essential not to use too much pressure, as this may lead to discomfort or exacerbate pre-existing conditions.
However, those with congestive heart or kidney conditions should take extra precautions when attempting to do foam rolling. Check with our physical therapist or your medical practitioner to see if it is safe for you to do foam rolling if you have a pre-existing condition.
When is it a Good Time to do Foam Rolling Exercise for Back?
Foam rolling can be done virtually anytime! Highly recommended to be done before static or dynamic stretching activities. Foam rolling would be most effective when it is done as part of your workout routine. It can also be done post-workout as part of the cooling-down routine.
Many resources on the web (an example) and on YouTube (an example) show different foam rolling techniques. Everyone is unique and you should use the technique that works best for your trigger points. It may hurt at the beginning, but as you foam roll over the tender areas (about 30 to 90 seconds per trigger point); over time you will find that it gets easier.
If you need more information or clarification, please visit our clinic and speak to us. Our team will be more than happy to meet with you and if required, you can make an appointment to consult with the doctors to get all your questions answered.