DO YOU REALLY NEED TO FOAM ROLL?
I have a very short answer……
NO.
Time to replace the foam roller with education and movement!
How did this round piece of foam, often hard as wood become a solution for every injury under the sun?
Tight calves – foam roll them. Tight quads – foam roll them. Tight back, foam roll the back.
Seriously?
Some claim it’s like giving yourself a massage. This is a huge offence to any well practiced soft tissue therapist – who has likely spent years honing their palpation skills with ninja procision. Palpation, even the lightest touch, can help us identify tissue tone and structure.
The foam roller offers no such insight.
I would also wonder – how much damage is being caused – heaving your body over delicate areas, squashing blood vessels and other bodily tissue.
Sometimes people have more ROM (range of movement) after – but for how long? And is this new range ‘safe’ to the brain. Does it know how to integrate this new range of movement?
The classic foam rolling area is the IT band on the side of the leg. This is extremely painful. This rolling is performed again and again – rolled over and over – yet the tightness continues!
Insanity – doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result – Albert Einstein.
How about we STOP and THINK.
Let’s ask ourselves better questions.
Starting with WHY.
Why does my IT band feel tight? Why do my calves feel tight? Why do my quads feel ‘tight’?
Everything has a reason. The body doesn’t just give you the feeling of tight calves just for a laugh.
Is the reason your IT band is always ‘tight’ because it’s always under tension?
If so, the solution is surely to find a way to move out of tension.
Can we understand why you’re holding this posture that is keeping you under tension?
Maybe once you understand or learn about that – the solution to the problem gets directed elsewhere.
The brain is smarter than you. Ask yourself smarter questions, you will get smarter answers.
Understand a few fundamental principles about your body – and you will realise the best place for that foam roller – might just be the bin.