I often find myself advising people to foam roll to help them ease tightness in their muscles and to supplement the benefits of treatment. Foam rolling is a fantastic way to break down tightness and spasm in the larger muscles of the body.
Take a look at the video below to learn how to foam roll and which muscles I think are the most important to focus on.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/YBJvIhaancs
Why Should You Foam Roll?
As you go through your daily routine you are probably not moving around that much. Naturally your muscles will become used to being at a certain length and will develop some tightness. Or if you have been exercising you will have created some level of damage to your muscles. As your muscles begin to repair they tighten up in certain parts of the muscles.
By foam rolling you are trying to break down these areas of the muscle that have become tight and encourage your body to reset those tight parts back to how they should be.
What Should You Foam Roll?
In theory you can foam roll any muscle. However through experience, some muscles are hard to roll and others are difficult to achieve the desired effect.
So based on that I suggest that you roll your large muscles; Calves, Quadriceps, Buttocks and your Thoracic spine.
Although your hamstrings are also a large muscle group, a foam roller is not very effective and therefore I suggest you use a massage ball instead.
How To Foam Roll
Place the muscle you are trying to release on top of the roller.
Move around along the length of that muscle until you can find a part that is painful and hard.
Put pressure on that part of the muscle and stay in that one position.
To begin with it will be very painful, but if you stay in that same position for some time the pain will start to decrease and your body will relax.
After about a minute roll to a different place and repeat.
You probably won’t notice immediate changes but over time doing this consistently you will get some great results.
What Foam Roller Should I Buy?
This is mainly down to budget and personal preference.
A while ago I published a page detailing the different types of foam rollers and there’s also a video showing you which ones I prefer myself.
The page is Foam Rollers Review- Which Foam Rollers Do We Recommend?
I hope that helps you!
Speak to you soon,
Ashley