Foam Rolling Part 1: Potential Benefits
Foam Rolling Part 1: Potential Benefits
I recently had a major realization about how obsessed high level athletes are with foam rolling. In college, I remember it being a big part of our warm up in the weight room. I recently started watching “Head Above Water” on Prime, which follows four elite level international swimmers, including Olympic Champions Kyle Chalmers and Ian Thorpe. There are scenes that show athletes walking in and out of high level facilities and they ALL have foam rollers or massage/percussion guns hanging or clipped onto their bags. So this got me thinking about why the heck everyone foam rolls, including me. Besides it being a “good hurt,” I’ve never thought twice about what exactly it did besides make me feel a little more loose. I dove into some scientific journals about the topic and came up with three big topics: What it aims to do, Does it actually work, and when to do it/how often to do it to get some benefits. This will be a 3 part article, with the Potential Benefits being Part 1.
According to Pablo B. Costa, Ph.D., associate professor of kinesiology at California State University, Fullerton, and research committee member for the National Strength and Conditioning Association the limited research that’s out there suggests that foam rolling may be able to do most of what you hope, like warm up your body for a workout, help you recover from one, or just loosen tight, achy muscles. For example, a small, 16-person 2018 study from the University of Stirling in the UK found that after foam rolling, it took less effort for a muscle to produce a given amount of force. Its findings resolidify previous (again, pretty small) studies in which people reported that they felt less fatigued when they foam rolled as part of their warm-up.
In a comprehensive review published in the International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy concluded that foam rolling promotes short-term increases in range of motion. According to Polly de Mille, R.N., C.S.C.S., director of performance services at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City, research consistently shows that foam rolling can increase muscle flexibility, which means you feel less tight and probably perform your workouts with better,
more efficient, and safer form.
As you’ve probably noticed, these are all really small studies—and Lewis J. Macgregor, Ph.D., an exercise physiologist and lead author of the University of Stirling study, explains that despite the fact that most physical therapists, exercise physiologists, and fitness trainers fervently suggest foam rolling, when it comes to nailing down the benefits, we just aren’t there yet. It takes a long time and requires many different steps to arrive at conclusions and recommendations that can be generalized widely. Still, foam rolling is a go-to recommendation for warming up before a workout, improving mobility, and helping with soreness, thanks to what professionals have observed it can do in clinical settings.
See you all on deck and enjoy watching trials the next few days!
Julián
