The use of the foam roller is a simple technique of manual self-therapy, often used to improve flexibility, to reduce pain and/or muscle contracture or to improve sports performance.

The foam roller offers benefits similar to a sports massage by applying pressure (your own body weight) to release muscle tension.

Using our own body weight on a foam roller, you de-stress the problem areas of the muscles, muscle fascia and trigger points, thus optimizing flexibility and recovery time after exercising or after certain injuries. In order to understand the benefits of using the foam roller, we must first understand the structures which it acts upon, more precisely the muscles, the fascia and the trigger points. If the term muscle is known, the term fascia and its role in the body as well as the term trigger points are less known.

The fascia is a strip or sheet of connective tissue, located under the skin that attaches, stabilizes and separates the muscles and other internal organs.

Fascia can be:

➢ superficial, being located immediately under the skin and which due to its viscoelastic properties can stretch when adipose tissue accumulates in excess or during pregnancy and returns to normal after pregnancy or after losing excess kilograms.

➢ deep, also called the muscle fascia, is dense fibrous connective tissue that interpenetrates and surrounds muscles, bones, nerves and blood vessels.

➢ visceral, located around the internal organs.

Other functions of fascia:

➢ It helps the muscles slide easily during muscle contraction

➢ It performs a function similar to that of ligaments and tendons, namely it transmits movement from the muscles to the attachment points of the muscles to the bones

When it becomes inflamed or loses its flexibility and becomes too rigid, the fascia affects the ability of the muscles to move or function properly.

Known better using the English term, the trigger points are hyperirritable places or palpable nodule in the strips of skeletal muscle fascia. We all have trigger points in the body, but their presence does not always lead to the appearance of pain, but only when there are joint problems, poor posture, contracture or muscle overstrain

For this, the movements on the foam roller must be long and slow.

In the case of muscles, the foam roller acts similarly to a deep and firm massage. To obtain this effect, the movements on the foam roller must be long (between the 2 ends of the muscle, slow and pressed (up to the limit of pain), always watching the length of the muscle fiber.

These profound effects are most commonly obtained in large muscle groups, such as the calf muscles, thigh or upper back.

In order to get this positive effect on the trigger points, the technique used with the foam roller must contain small, repetitive movements, applied directly to the trigger points. The best effects are obtained on the trigger points located at the level of the calf muscles, thigh, buttocks, upper paravertebral muscles and pectorals. These are generally the muscles most frequently affected by overwork, fatigue, poor posture or prolonged sitting.

Ideally, it should be used every day for about 15 minutes. But using it 3 times a week is also useful, the mechanism is the same as in the case of movement, the more often we use it, the greater the benefits.

If the pain is unbearable, then the use of the foam roller should clearly be stopped. If the pain is bearable, continue the slow movement on the painful point at least 5-6 times before giving up. Usually, the pain diminishes after the first 2 movements.

It is an alternative if, by regular stretching, we mean static stretches, rather than dynamic ones. Static stretches are useful for people who are already flexible. Increasing or improving flexibility is achieved with the help of dynamic stretching. Therefore, only the foam roller is used, without stretching, when there already is good flexibility.

It is not advisable to use the foam roller directly on the joints or on very small muscle groups. For these parts of the body is preferable a massage accessory smaller in size (for example a foam ball or trigger ball) that can be much more effective and much safer.

You should also avoid using the foam roller in the lower part of the spine (lumbar area). In most cases, the pain felt in this part of the spine is caused by a mechanical factor (sciatic nerve brushing, slipping of the intervertebral disc etc.). In this situation, the pressure exerted by the foam roller could aggravate the lesion. In the case of low back pain that is not of a mechanical nature, such as pain caused by muscle contractions, poor posture etc., a foam ball can also be used.