Foam Roll your troubles away

The catalyst for this blog is that today is ‘World Foam Rolling Day,’ and as an advocate and instructor for a Foam Rolling Technique company (Trigger Point Performance) I thought it made sense to blog about this subject. The benefits of Foam Rolling (FR) have been felt for a long time by people in fitness and rehab settings. But why? Why is foam rolling effective and what is it effective for?

Before we delve into those two questions, I think it is important to see where and how Foam

Rolling developed.

The first iterations of FR became popular during the 1984 Olympics when athletes were able to mimic the work done by massage therapists and feel improvements in recovery and performance. As is happenstance in the fitness industry, if it’s good for pro athletes, it’s good for non-pro athletes (let’s call them gym enthusiasts) as well, and foam rollers in various forms can now be found in almost every training facility in the world. Sometimes FR is named Self Myofascial Release (I am guilty of this in the past), and this has become a controversial term especially when using foam rollers. Depending on the techniques used, the pressure applied and the direction of application you are possibly not releasing the myofascial network. But fret not! There are still some significant benefits to FR!

Let's address question one from above; why is FR effective? I was fortunate enough to cover this topic in a presentation at the recent FILEX Fitness Industry Convention in Sydney earlier this month. FR is beneficial for many reasons the first one we can look at is a reduction in soreness after training traditionally called Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS). In a study conducted by MacDonald, G., Button, D., Drinkwater, E., & Behm, D. in (2014) [1], foam rolling was seen to reduce the duration of DOMS felt but also the peak amount of soreness in total. This graph shows the findings of the above reference.

The bottom line is the group that FR'd, and the top line is the control group that just stretched. As you can see, the FR group had a shorter duration of DOMS, a quicker peak point of discomfort and less total discomfort. That's surely a win for everyone!

The next major benefit to FR is increasing hydration (for more on hydration click this link) to the sliding interfaces between structures of the connective and muscle tissues. A huge advantage as it helps these structures become more lubricated and able move better. The mechanism that allows this also allows improved hydration (compression) also aids the removal of metabolic waste substances. These are elements left over from the excretory process, which cannot be used by the organism and therefore must be removed. This includes nitrogen compounds, water, carbon dioxide, and sulphates. All metabolic wastes are excreted in the form of water solutes through the excretory organs, except CO2, which is discharged together with the water vapour throughout the lungs. The elimination of these compounds enables the chemical homoeostasis of the organism. Increased oxygen levels (possible from a workout) means there is decreased binding of CO2 to haemoglobin, this is known as the Haldane Effect. Therefore, after a workout, CO2 may need to be "encouraged" out of the working muscle into the bloodstream so it can then be taken to the skin and the lungs and excreted [2].

Then, of course, there is the benefit to posture and the balancing of length tension relationships throughout the body. An excellent benefit to FR is that we can help undo some of the constant postural pressure people place themselves under in their daily lives and again, help people deal with the stress of exercise a little better.

There are a lot more benefits to FR, but that is what the course if for ;)

Now let's get onto what are the benefits of FR. Well as you can see by the graph displayed earlier, there is a reduction in the time of peak and total discomfort after a bout of exercise. To me, that is one of the huge benefits! It allows you and your clients to feel ready to perform movement again more quickly and may help reduce the effects of DOMS for exercise beginners.

A study conducted by Healy (2013) [3] demonstrated that FR delays the onset of fatigue during a bout of exercise. The researchers concluded that while there was no significant difference in the performance tests, there was a significant difference in the time to fatigue. So if you’re trying to punch out that extra rep of be better for a bit longer during the big game, FR is certainly going to help. Probably a big reason why most major sports teams now practice FR.

Another study (Mc Donald 2012) [4] demonstrated that FR also helps increase your Range of Motion (ROM). The researchers found no significant difference between muscle force, the rate of force development or muscular activation between the foam rolling group and the group who did not foam roll. But, they noted there was a significant increase in the range of motion of the knee joint with the FR group.

So there you go. Oh, hang on, a quick word on technique. No, getting on the roller and rolling up and down quickly is not the best method! I say again: No, getting on the roller and rolling up and down quickly is not the best method! There are ways to get the most out of FR and you can and should learn these techniques by attending a reputable FR company education session (shameless plug for Trigger Point Performance here!).

So, happy international FR day!

Move well

Move often!

Chaddy