Benefits of Foam Rolling and Self-Myofascial Release

When I was in graduate school, I finally had the time, financial stability and energy to train more. We also had a good group of triathletes and runners here in Lexington, Kentucky (and it’s only getting better). The combination of more time and more training partners meant that I was putting my body through periods of training it had never been through before.

As a direct result of this I had some good race results, including moving my marathon personal best from 3:28 to 3:04 that first year I was here. The other direct result that I saw was a need to improve my recovery. I’ve shared in this blog previously how I felt that my dedication to mental preparation, yoga along with adequate amounts of sleep were key in my development.

I still wanted something to alleviate those few aches and pains that I couldn’t seem to leave behind. Everyone suggested that I try massage, but as a graduate student living on a stipend, that was not financially possible on a consistent basis. Eventually someone suggested I try to use self-massage or self-myofascial release.

I ended up checking out some instructional videos from the nursing library, along with some text books from the medical library to learn some techniques and the ideas behind the methods. After using a foam roller for a few days, I gave up. Why? Because it hurt to roll out my legs and I didn’t want to deal with the pain.

This past summer, Nikki and I went to Houston, Texas to go through the NASM’s OPT for Performance Workshop. We walked away from the workshop with some good information about the NASM’s philosophies on training for sports performance, but the best thing that happened that weekend was I walked away with a renewed commitment to using the foam roller for self-massage.

When I use the foam roller:

I like to use the foam roller at 3 specific times of the day:

• a. early in the day to help release tension in my hips and legs prior to any activity, including work
• b. just before a cycling or running workout to release tightness, allowing for a better workout
• c. soon after a run or bike workout to help promote recovery

How the foam roller helps you recover:

By using some simple foam rolling techniques you can begin to correct or re-establish normal soft tissue function.  The main benefits that I’ve seen personally and with clients is a release of tension around joints (often around the knee), release of tension in the IT Band and TFL, release of iliopsoas tightness and deep glut release.

It will depend on your personal areas of need as to what you should focus on.  I often see long time runners begin using the foam roller and think that everything is going to be fine because they “stretch”.  Once they start to roll their ITBand out for a few seconds, they quickly realize that their soft tissue maybe in more need of help than they think.

I also see beginning runners benefit early on because using the foam rolling techniques allows them to properly recover and they can stay away from several of the common injuries that runners face; such as shin pain and knee pain.

The recovery benefits come from the ability to “work” on soft tissue areas that just are not easily managed by static stretching (like ITB, psoas, etc).  The other benefit that foam rolling offers over a static stretch is the compression that the foam roller applies to the soft tissue.  The compression from your body weight on the foam roll provides a release similar to what you might get from massage or trigger point therapy.

By providing this release of tension within specific muscles and other soft tissue elements, an athlete can regain their full functional range of motion.  This improved range of motion (or maintaining adequate ROM) allows an athlete to train without compensating or altering their natual movement patterns, which will ultimately allow them to train without further developing muscle imbalances or greater muscular tension.

My personal examples:

I have two very recent examples of how the foam roller is helping me.  In February and March, I was running regularly during the week with a back-to-back long run weekend.  This meant that I was running 12 – 15 miles on Saturday followed by 8 – 10 miles on Sunday.  While I ran comfortably on Saturdays, I often had trouble even walking pain free after the run.  I decided to not only use the foam roller several times a week, I began using it every morning and immediately post run (every run).  After a couple weeks I began to walk pain free 100% of the time, even post runs.

What did I do?  I stopped using the foam roller everyday and began using it a few times a week.  I also started riding my triathlon bike outdoors during this time.  I soon found that I had not only knee pain post workout, but I had hip flexor pain.  Ironciallly, it would get much worse from sitting and driving in a car.  After two weeks of regular foam rolling, I am 95% pain free again.

In my case, I know that I have to be diligent because I have weak hip abduction.  Combine the weak hip abduction with tight iliopsoas and tight ITB/TFL and it quickly becomes knee and hip pain.

Final Thought:

Consider adding foam rolling to your regular routine.  After being a semi-believer for the previous 5 years, I have seen too many people really benefit from using these techniques over the last 9 months to keep quite.  If you’ve been around me within the last 9 months, you’ve heard my speech.  I have all the Ironman Louisville group using them and as many of my running clients as I can convince.

Combine foam rolling with a semi regular massage or ART and you really have a program of recovery built around your program of training.

Where to get a foam roller?

• Locally in Lexington, KY:  John’s Run Walk Shop carries the 1′ foam roller with a instructional dvd
• Perform Better : I have been using the molded foam, but have heard the EVA rollers are nice?
• Amazon : lot’s of options, make sure you make note of the length and density

Other sources:

• Perform Better : Self – Myofascial Release Techniques
• StrengthCoach.com : Foam Rolling
• NASM : Foam Rolling 101