Does It Work: Foam Roller

Two words: HELLS YEAH!!

If you’re new to running (or anything athletic), you could benefit from the “joys” of foam rolling. Foam rolling is a type of self massage / self pressure therapy that you can do as you use your body weight to roll up and down a cylindrical piece of hard foam. It’s meant to "work out" sore muscles.

I bought a foam roller a number of years ago to work my IT band (which is a movement much like in the photo above). It hurts. But works so well. Now I use it on my perennially sore calves. Some evenings, I spend 10 minutes foam rolling my IT band, my calves, my quads, and my hammies. I’ve even started to put it under my neck and roll my head side-to-side to help with neck tension.

“They” say to make sure to not overdo it. (I don’t know who “they” are, but I’ve heard this from many people.) Some people say to start with muscles closer to the center of the body and work your way to the outer limbs. Some people say to pause over sore areas while others say to just roll right through them (I usually roll right through). Most people say to just do 10 slow passes or so before moving on to a different spot.

You can pick up a foam roller at any “good” running store, most sports stores, and anywhere online. Some are only about a foot long. I have a bigger one:

Sometimes (as I’ve joked about before), my foam roller looks like this:

I find myself sometimes rolling up and down the “sweet spot” of my calves. I’ve learned I have to mix it up as I roll; if I stay in one area, it doesn’t do much. But if I go up and down different parts of my heel (pivoting my body a little to the left or right now and then), THEN it hurts more and is working areas that NEED to be worked.

Foam Roller: Grade of A+. I love it when I pretend to be John Mellencamp and sing “Hurts So Good” as I’m foam rolling. (No, not really...)

BTW, I came across the following image while doing a Google search on foam rollers. I don’t know what this is, but DON’T do this...

...or at least do this in the privacy of your own home...

Do you have a foam roller that you’re in love with? How do you use yours? For what “trouble spots?” And don't forget to check back at 2 am and 2 pm every day this week for more “Does It Work” posts. Click on the “Does It Work” tag to see all posts in this mini-series.