Stretching Articles

Article / Updated 03-25-2021

Rollers come in many shapes, sizes, colors, and types of material. And with each of those different types of rollers come many different functions. Just like none of our bodies are the same, not all rollers are created equal. Although the sheer variety of rollers can sometimes be confusing, you optimize your body’s benefits from the many roller options available to you. The term foam rollers is generally used to describe all rollers. However, the standard round “foam” roller is just one type of roller you can use to unlock your muscles, increase your joints’ range of motion, strengthen your core muscles, and improve your body’s health. Because rollers have such a wide range of uses, no one roller will meet all of your needs. Rollers can be used to treat the spine, shoulders, upper extremities, core, hips, and lower body. Based on the wide range of muscle sizes and body variations, different roller sizes, shapes, and textures can be used throughout the body. If you’re a beginner, start with the basic cylindrical foam roller. It’s softer, more stable, and more comfortable for introducing someone to proper roller techniques. It may not be as effective for treating smaller, more localized trigger points, but you should start slower as you learn how to roll and unlock larger muscles on a more comfortable standard roller. Circular rollers: Keeping it simple The most basic of rollers is the round cylinder roller, shown in the following figure. Most of them are made of foam. Their diameter is typically 6 inches, while their length can range from 12 inches to 4 feet. Because they are larger and made of a softer material, they will be more comfortable for rookie rollers and those managing more painful ailments. Learning all the nuances of rolling will take some time. Learning on a softer and more comfortable roller like a standard circular foam roller will help accelerate or steepen “the learning curve.” Some discomfort can be expected when rolling on tight muscles and trigger points. Using softer rollers with a proper technique will help. Harder rollers with a multi-pattern texture isolate the pressure, which can be more uncomfortable. Pro: Softer, more comfortable, larger pressure surface, easy to balance, less expensive. Con: Less depth of pressure, less localized treatments. Multi-pattern design rollers A multi-pattern roller is usually the same diameter, six inches, as the basic foam roller, but its surface is very different. As the name suggests, the rolling surface of a multi-pattern roller is not flat. Instead, these rollers are covered with ridges, pressure pads, and grooves. They often look more like a truck tire than a roller. The inner core of the roller can be foam, hard plastic, or hollow. The purpose of these rollers, which are shown in the figure, is to apply more localized pressure on trigger points and scar tissue within skin, muscle, tendons, and fascia while rolling. With its many ridges and angled peaks, a multi-pattern roller allows you to maneuver the peaks of the roller into and around uneven muscles, tendons, and fascia. These rollers are effective at improving tissue mobility yet are more painful during rolling. Unlike the softer foam roller’s broad surface, which is applied to a bigger, wider area over a muscle, this varied surface will apply pressure to a smaller, isolated area. Think about the difference between a steak knife and a butter knife. The point of a steak knife has a much smaller contact spot. This makes the knife “sharper” and more painful if applied to your skin. Pro: Versatile for treatments, more hard-core for heavier body parts. Con: Not useful for workouts, more painful, moderately more expensive. Vibrating rollers “Long Roller and Roller Ball, I’d like to introduce you to Mr. Massage.” Here’s where high-tech merges with rollers and roller balls. These heavenly tools combine the many benefits of rollers while adding the relaxing effects of a vibrating massage. These rollers come in many shapes, from the cylindrical shape to the ball shape shown in the following two figures. They have varied degrees of control, such as vibration intensity, programmable waves of vibration, and heat to individualize your rolling experience. Following are some benefits of vibration therapy: Improved circulation Decrease in muscle soreness Increased soft tissue flexibility Improved lymphatic drainage Increased tissue temperature There are many reasons why people benefit from using a roller. Most of those reasons involve soft tissue such as muscles, tendons, fascia, scar tissue, and skin. When you look at that list of tissues being treated, it’s easy to see why vibration is beneficial. When any of those soft tissues are relaxed by increasing both the blood flow and the temperature in and between those tissues, they are much easier to treat. Tight tissue is typically unhappy tissue. Relaxed, warm, flexible tissue with a rich supply of healthy blood is typically happy tissue. The cool part about vibrating rollers like the ones shown is that they can also serve as effective rollers without the vibration component turned on. Normal rolling techniques and principles can still be applied if you don’t want to use the vibrating element. Pro: Relaxes body tissue, improved comfort while rolling, versatile for treatments. Con: More expensive, makes balance more difficult, less useful for workouts. Roller balls When it comes to applying localized pressure on an area of your body, it’s hard to beat roller balls. Because of their round contact points and varied sizes (shown in the following figure), roller balls apply concentrated pressure exactly where you need it to unlock a muscle or relax a trigger point. Roller balls are especially useful for smaller muscles in parts of the body that are more compact. These areas include hands, forearms, shoulders, hips, and feet. You could roll these body parts with a larger roller to warm the area up before you exercise. But if you want to treat those busy areas of the body, a roller ball is the perfect device. Unlike a typical roller, a roller ball can move in any direction. Where a standard roller functions like a steamroller as it rolls up or down a body part, a roller ball can change direction at any time with a 360-degree range. This hyper mobility is especially helpful when seeking multiple trigger points within a busy area of the body. It’s important to note that more isolated pressure often means a more intense and uncomfortable treatment. Pro: Isolated pressure, more dynamic treatments. Con: More intense treatments, not useful for workouts. Half rollers Half rollers, shown in the following figure, are foam rollers cut in half the long way. The result is a very stable and versatile tool for both treatments and exercise. For patients who are new to rolling or those who are challenged by balancing on a roller, they are perfect companions. Using half rollers for your shoulders and hips provides a stable roller to relax tight muscles allowing for a deeper treatment. Typically, their surface texture is limited, but that does not take away from the many benefits of treating and exercising on a half roller. If you’re doing a treatment on a roller and you’re having difficulty maintaining perfect form and relaxing, move to the half roller to improve your technique. This will allow you to breathe normally, maintain perfect positioning on the roller, and unlock your muscles. As you master this technique, you will probably be able to return to a more advanced roller. Pro: Stable, easier to use, allows longer position holds for postural corrections. Con: Less dynamic treatments and workouts. Travel rollers As the name suggests, travel rollers (shown) are collapsible and easy to bring with you on the road. With a simple pull of the strings, the skinny pad is quickly transformed into a stable and functional roller. The travel roller from Brazyn Life offers smooth or multi-patterned surface options. The smoother surface is used like a standard roller with larger contact areas. This allows you to relax larger muscles and larger trigger points. The multi-pattern surface provides multiple contact areas for a deeper treatment. Pro: Smaller size for travel. Con: Expensive, fewer size options.

Article / Updated 03-25-2021

Rollers aren’t for everyone, but for 80 percent of us, rollers rock! Take a look at 10 groups of people who love rollers. Much like the happy man in the figure, these ten groups are different in many ways, but what they share is simple: Rollers help them continue to __________. What they put in the blank is up to them. It can be a popular sport like running or biking. It can be a strenuous workout like cross training or weightlifting. It can be a very personal activity like walking with a grandchild or recovering from a major surgery. The “what” in the blank isn’t important; it’s personal, as it should be. The gratifying point here is that rollers help people return to doing what they love to do. What will you put in the blank? So, who are these ten groups who love rollers? Read on and find out! Stiff or inflexible people If you’re one of those individuals who always feels stiff and tight, you’ll love rolling. Blame it on genetics, posture, age, or your lifestyle, but the fact is you may never have been overly flexible. A roller will plow through your tight muscles and fascia in minutes, giving you more flexibility than you may have gained following 30 minutes of boring stretching. The injury-prone The unfortunate people who always seem to be injured and in pain need to use a roller daily for injury prevention. Keeping muscles, tendons, fascia, and joints moving properly will reduce the risk of soft-tissue injury. By maintaining your flexibility and staying injury-free with your rollers, you’ll achieve these three things: You’ll save pain. You’ll save time. You’ll save money. Runners By now you know how effective rollers are for keeping your muscles and fascia pliable, limber, and elastic. In other words, rollers keep your muscles “healthy.” When it comes to the demanding sport of running, healthy muscles will keep you injury-free while unhealthy muscles can easily lead you to a painful injury. Running is not kind to your leg muscles or joints. As the Law of Conservation of Energy taught us way back in our high school science classes, energy is neither created or destroyed. When we apply this law to our running, we now understand the force of our entire body slamming into the ground is being transferred into each of our legs as they strike the ground. The cushioning of our shoes absorbs some of that energy, but a large majority of the remaining force is immediately transferred to our legs. As your foot slams into the ground, the massive forces are now racing up your leg. But thanks to your rolling and stretching routine, your quad and glute muscles are ready for the onslaught of high stress. Like a compressing spring, your quad and glute muscles effortlessly absorb the loads with smooth lengthening (eccentric) contractions. Your now-loaded muscles are just waiting to release their new energy when the compressed leg is allowed to push off the ground. In contrast, a rigid, un-rolled, and therefore unhealthy leg muscles aren’t prepared for the rapidly approaching high forces racing up the leg. So, what do they do? They selfishly only think of protecting themselves. The weak, tight leg muscles lock down with a strong isometric (static, no motion) contraction. In doing so, per the Law of Conservation of Energy, every pound of the remaining energy is now transferred into your joints, mostly your knees and hips, with pain and injury not far behind. When healthy, loose and stretchy muscles are loaded when running, they absorb the forces like a giant spring. When unhealthy, tight and rigid muscles are loaded when running, they absorb the forces like a giant brick. Take-home point: If you’re a runner, you need to be a roller. Mature athletes While I recently stretched on a beach with my 11-year old son, I leaned to my side, spanning one hand skyward with the other desperately reaching for the sand, but stopping well short of my optimistic goal. Meanwhile, my son mirrored my stretch, with his 11-year-old spine effortlessly bent sideways, with his hand buried deep in the sand. “That’s sad, Dad, so sad,” he said empathetically. For those of us north of 40 years old (the “mature athletes”), our muscles seem to stretch more like leather belts, compared to youthful muscles, which stretch like rubber bands. Mature athletes desperately need the assistance of rollers to maintain less fascial restrictions on their tighter muscles and joints. Cross trainers Cross training involves a variety of exercises involving cardio conditioning, strength training, agility drills, balance training, core strengthening, climbing, ballistic drills, carrying exercises, and plyometric routines. In other words, cross trainers’ bodies work hard to do a lot of different types of intense workouts. Their entire muscular system is constantly overloaded, and their muscles are constantly in need of recovery. The use of rollers before a workout, as part of the workout, and following the workout will be a huge help to keep cross trainers injury-free. Bikers Bikers put a high demand on their quads and hip flexors in a restricted position on the bike, as shown. Unlocking their quads, hip flexors, and lower back before and after a ride using a roller or roller ball will improve performance and injury prevention. Stop-and-go athletes Athletes who do a lot of stopping and going during their sport, like tennis, basketball, volleyball, and frisbee, put high stress on their tendons and muscles. These are the types of athletes who often suffer from tendonitis, an inflammation of the tendon, because of the rapid loads placed on their tendons and muscles during their sport. The more pliable, flexible, and responsive their muscles are, the better prepared the tendons are to remain injury-free during stop-and-go sports. With tendons positioned on both ends of a muscle to anchor the muscle to the bones, much of the health of the tendon is reliant on the health of its muscles. Healthy and responsive muscles handle high forces with ease, which in turn protects the tendons. Think about anyone you know who has ruptured or torn an Achilles tendon, patella tendon, hamstring, calf, groin, or quad muscle. They were probably doing some type of ballistic, quick, change of direction type movement. Walkers and hikers If you think walking isn’t a difficult task for the body, think again. Walking may not apply a lot of stress to your muscles, tendons, and joints, but its high volume within a small range of motion makes it difficult for lower-extremity muscles to stay flexible. You take approximately 2,000 steps per mile when you walk, with all of those steps in a short, confined range of motion. Rollers help a walker or hiker’s tight muscles and fascia to stay looser, reduce trigger points, increase blood flow, and recover faster. The ability to travel with a roller and use it in the gym, in the park, or at the top of a mountain makes rollers a perfect training partner for hikers, walkers, trail runners, hunters, and even bird watchers. Human cardio machines When I watch the impressive “human cardio machines” in the gym jump from one cardio machine to the next, I’m in awe of their stamina and focus. They seem like massive lungs with legs as they sweat on the treadmill before switching to the spin bike, then the elliptical, and then the rower. I love their cross-training routines as they wisely enhance their endurance and strength. The diverse loads on their muscles desperately need the assistance of a roller to stay limber. Yoga haters “I hate yoga,” is a phrase I hear on a weekly basis. And a note to the yogis out there: Don’t shoot the messenger! I’m just quoting the yoga haters. Personally, I like yoga. But not everyone shares my opinion. For those who despise stretching and find stretching classes both boring and ineffective, rolling is the perfect substitute.

Article / Updated 03-25-2021

Sharing rollers is never wise. Because of the obvious health concerns associated with sweating in public areas, having your own roller is a smart move. We have all seen rollers available in public places like gyms, fitness centers, and recreational fields. The physical therapist in me loves to see the free access to rollers everywhere. But the healthcare provider in me gets nervous when I see people sharing rollers in public places. The COVID-19 virus has opened our eyes to the ease with which a virus can be spread not only throughout our communities but around the world. Treat your roller like your toothbrush: it’s for you and you only. Even if you are the only one to use your roller, cleaning the roller, as shown, and the rolling surfaces between each use is still highly recommended. It only makes sense if you think about it: Your roller’s digging into your clammy skin across a dirty floor or mat while you breathe and sweat over everything. When you look at it that way, it’s just common sense to clean the roller and the rolling surface before and after a rolling session. If you make this plan part of your normal routine, the cleaning will be very quick while you drastically reduce your risk of an illness. Think about what an amazing combination you create through properly rolling on your own roller in your own home and using effective cleaning habits: reduced body pain, improved joint mobility, and improved muscle flexibility while reducing the risk of contracting an illness from others. Now compare that to an image of working out and sharing a roller in a public gym. Many types of rollers are available, and their surface coverings vary greatly. Each roller surface differs in material, shape, size, and texture, as shown. The surface of each roller looks as varied as any landscape in the world: flat, high plains; smooth, rolling hills; short, steep foothills; and steep, jagged mountain cliffs. Each roller-covering material has different abilities to absorb or deflect fluids. Staying with the landscape analogy, each of the world’s landscapes manages rainwater differently, as do the different roller surfaces with sweat and germs. Rain will gracefully glide off hard mountain rock, yet be absorbed quickly into soft farm soil. Sweat and germs will do the same, depending upon the type of material, creases, and openings found on the surface of a roller. Identifying the proper cleaning solution for your roller is crucial. Carefully read the care and cleaning instructions for each roller. The cleaning details can be found in the shipping literature accompanying your roller or on the company’s website. I mention this because some strong disinfectants commonly used for cleaning bathrooms and kitchen counters may discolor a roller. Personally, I thoroughly clean my rollers with strong, Environmental Protection Agency–approved products to ensure that my family and I are safe, even if the strong cleaning chemicals make my rollers look slightly tarnished and aged. You can find more information at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) website. Commercial disinfectants are the most effective products because they kill bacteria and virus microorganisms on surfaces. Follow all instructions on cleaning supplies to optimize their antimicrobial and antibacterial capabilities. Here are some good options for cleaning your roller: Lysol disinfecting wipes Clorox disinfecting wipes Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-registered detergent-based spray cleaner Hot water and soap Completely submerging foam and solid rollers into hot water and soap is a quick and easy cleaning game plan, but this method will require extra time for your foam roller to thoroughly dry. Never submerge vibrating rollers, travel rollers, or any non-solid rollers into water. Cleaning electrical vibrating rollers requires special care to avoid damaging the electrical components inside the roller. Always defer to the manufacturer for specific care and cleaning instructions. After an outdoor obstacle race or a sweaty roller session, I often bring my solid rollers into the shower with me. Hot water, soap, and a good scrubbing is quick and easy way to initially clean my rollers post-race. When I arrive home, I breakout the “strong stuff” to thoroughly clean the rollers with EPA-approved wipes. I follow this by simply shaking the rollers out and placing them on a high shelf to air-dry. Drying your rollers after cleaning is important. Never put your rollers in a clothes dryer or direct sunlight. Air-drying your rollers in a well-ventilated area on a clean surface is always the best option. Allow time and fresh air to dry all the small creases and valleys on the surface of the roller. Those areas are more prone to store bacteria, mildew, and mold. Being smart with your roller cleaning and drying routine helps you avoid turning your roller into a germ-filled petri dish.

Article / Updated 03-25-2021

Take a look at 10 positive changes you will notice with your body when you add foam rollers to your daily wellness routine. As you become more flexible, more active, stronger, and healthier, your body will change. As you fight age, gravity, illness, and stress, your body will change. Change is inevitable in life. But you don’t have to play a passive role as your body changes. Taking constructive actions can positively influence how your body changes. These positive active steps include a healthy diet, more exercise, drinking more water, getting more sleep, stretching more, regular medical exams, and the daily use of rollers. Looser muscles With less painful trigger points and more mobile myofascial tissue from using rollers, your muscles will have less tension applied to them. We’ve been programmed our whole lives to think if our muscles feel tight, they need to be stretched to release the knots. I can still hear my college track coach yelling at my middle-distance runner teammates and me: “Stretch, stretch, stretch!” Question: If you have a knot in your shoelaces, will stretching the shoelace make it better or worse? Obviously stretching the shoelace will make the knot tighter and harder to release. Stretching a tight muscle will have the same effect. Rolling allows a tight muscle and fascia to stretch and elongate sideways without adding tension to an already tight muscle. Rolling reduces the pressure being cinched down on the tight muscle by the surrounding fascia and the muscle itself. It’s like taking duct tape off your muscles, allowing them to stretch in multiple directions as they were intended to do. Increased joint range of motion Muscles move joints. Therefore, when your muscles become looser following roller treatments, your joints will gain motion. The post-rolled muscles can move the joint through greater ranges because the muscles are now stronger. In addition, the rolled muscles stretch with less resistance when muscle on the opposite side of the joint are contracting. Less effort to move Looser muscles plus More mobile joints equals Less energy needed to move those muscles and joints. Using a roller frees restricted fascial tissue. This reduces the pressure being applied around the muscles, similar to taking off tight jeans before running five miles. It immediately reduces the effort needed to complete the five-mile run. Smellier urine This isn’t a typo. Stream rolling your muscles with rollers will assist the muscles’ ability to rid themselves of toxins and waste products. Those waste products are the normal by-products of hard-working muscles. Thanks to the rollers, your lymphatic vessels become less restricted. The lymphatic system, an important waste-product drainage system for your extremities, can now easily drain the extra muscle-waste products into the bladder to be added to your urine. As you will soon notice, the smell of your urine after using a roller will be stronger. That’s kind of gross, I know, but it’s a good thing to know. Would you rather have those strong-smelling toxins remain in your muscles or in the toilet bowl? Faster warm-up I love to work out early in the morning. It’s cooler here in Florida, the kids and dogs are still sleeping, and I can easily slip onto the plush golf courses to run without being cursed and run off the greens. But early rising means an early warm-up. (Ugh!) A 5:00 a.m. warm-up isn’t too inviting. But the roller is the perfect early-morning warm-up partner for three reasons: The roller hurts, so it wakes you up fast. The roller is easy to use, so you don’t have to think too much as your body and brain come to terms with the fact that you’re no longer in your warm bed. The roller is fast, so it reduces your warm-up time to mere minutes. Less pain and injury prevention By helping your muscles to loosen up, your joints to increase their range, your body to move with less effort, your muscles to eliminate more of their waste products, and your warm-up to be more consistent, the roller helps you move and feel better. And with all those previously mentioned benefits, you’ll have a reduced likelihood of pain and prevented injury. Tight muscles and compensations both during workouts and through your busy day are painful but, thanks to your rollers, they will be a thing of the past! Increased muscle strength When a muscle concentrically contracts, its muscle fibers shorten against a force while its opposing muscles lengthen. A muscle in pain and restriction cannot optimize its performance. Neither the muscle nor the brain will allow a strong muscle contraction if there is the threat of bodily harm. Envision what happens when you accidently step on a sharp object while walking barefoot. Your quad and calf muscle immediately turn off to reduce the pressure on your threatened foot. With the help of rollers that reduce the influence of painful trigger points on those muscles and that loosen surrounding myofascial tissue, the muscles can naturally generate a stronger contraction. Improved posture When the troublemaker muscles — the pectoralis minor in the chest, the latissimus dorsi in the back and shoulder, and the hip flexors — are overly tight and strong, this tends to create poor posture. The solution is easy: unlock those muscles and strengthen their opposing muscles. Better muscle mobility, length, and strength on both sides of your body will translate into improved posture. Faster recovery After a hard workout or a hard day at work, your rollers will accelerate your recovery. Your muscles will be tired and stiff from the long day. Allowing the rollers to work their magic for five to ten minutes will help flush out the bad stuff (inflammation, lactic acid, and damaged blood cells), while allowing the good stuff (fresh blood and water) to easily enter the fatigued muscles. Mechanically, the roller steamrolls through the muscles, fascia, skin, fat, and all the fluid throughout the soft tissue. That alone will help your body to recover faster after a busy bout of work. Better sleep I’ve only taken one sleeping pill in my life; my sleeping secret is my roller. It’s true, as my wife will confirm. I do two things every night before I put my head on my pillow, with an average fall asleep time of approximately two minutes: I roll my legs and hips. I get on my knees to pray and express my gratitude. Think of all the physical benefits you will gain from rolling. Now imagine creating all those positive changes — like looser fascia, longer, more relaxed muscles, and less waste products — in in your legs and hips. But then, immediately after you unlock you muscles, you just climb in bed and sleep. Think about this for a minute. Instead of only using the roller to make those muscle and fascia changes before running down the road, lifting weights, or playing a hard game of tennis, imagine if you used your new roller self-myofascial unlocking skills to relax all your muscles and fascia? The result: Your body is perfectly prepared for 8 hours of uninterrupted recovery time while you sleep like a baby. Give it a try.

Article / Updated 03-25-2021

When foam rolling for a treatment or a workout, it’s important to do it in a safe area. The space where you roll, or your “roller rink,” should be free of any hazards. Most hazards are obvious and clearly visible, but some of the most dangerous risks are harder to find. Foam rolling surface Make sure your foam rolling surface is well padded and consistent, as shown. Eliminate any localized slippery or sticky spots on your rolling surface. Ensure that there are no small, sharp objects that can cause injury when a body part is placed on top of them. If you’re rolling on an elevated deck or porch, it is wise to also make sure the underside of the entire rolling surface is well supported. Your roller rink will go vertical as well, including on walls. Make sure the wall surface you will use is strong and supportive, as shown. The concern here is not the wall falling down; that will rarely happen. The typical concern is that parts of the wall surface may cave in. Poorly supported drywall or too much pressure on a hard roller ball can result in dents in the drywall. Foam roller rink real estate Having enough floor and wall space to move in all four directions is important. A general rule of thumb, when appropriate, is to estimate how much floor surface area you need for your rolling treatment or workout, then double it. To start with, a twelve-by-eight-foot padded or carpeted space is sufficient for the average-sized person. Having worked with various professional athletes, I’ve noticed that they need a much bigger plot of land to roll out, as shown. When using a wall, it doesn’t require much space. Typically, a four-foot-wide wall is all you need. The important thing is that you have clear access to the wall. Avoid chairs, tables, pictures, lights, or windows that you have to work around. You also need a stable floor with good traction as you move, bend, and twist against the wall during roller ball treatments. Objects in the foam roller rink Any object located inside the roller rink is a potential hazard. These objects may include furniture, workout equipment, smartphones, extraterrestrial creatures (just making sure you’re awake), iPads, pets, or people. Move objects out of your space before you start to roll. Clearing the needed space beforehand helps you relax during your treatment. Not having to think about banging into a table or a rock in the grass while you’re rolling frees your mind to focus on breathing, maintaining perfect position, and unlocking tight muscles. Objects positioned over the foam roller rink It’s easy to simply focus on the ground or the wall when rolling. Take some time to look for objects positioned above your roller rink for potential cranial collisions. These objects don’t have to be hanging from the ceiling to be a potential problem for a roller. Hazards can include ceiling lights, tables, tree branches, pull-up bars, door handles, and open cabinet doors. Objects landing in the foam roller rink At first, this heading may sound far-fetched, but hear me out on this one. When rolling at home, you should avoid being injured by friendly fire. Friendly fire includes fast-walking spouses, high-energy kids, and love-seeking pets. In a gym or sports setting, keep a watchful eye open for projectile balls or fast-moving athletes. Rollin’ on the road When travelling to races domestically and around the world, I often find myself packed into small hotel rooms or mobile RV homes the night before the race. As you probably know, hotel rooms in most countries are much smaller than those we commonly see in the United States. It makes rolling and stretching more challenging. I ran in a long Spartan Beast Race in northern Montana in May of 2018. My wife, 9-year-old son, 6-year-old daughter, and I packed into an RV mobile home for the adventure shown in the following photo. The limited space in the mobile home was less than ideal for my daily rolling and stretching routine. My solution: I took my show outside. My family knowingly shook their heads as I rolled in the Old Faithful parking lot at Yellowstone National Park; on a Wyoming dirt campsite next to a 3-foot-high pile of snow; and in the wet, cold grass next to a flooded river in a town with the coolest of names: Anaconda, Montana. Here’s the cool thing about doing what I do. My kids love it! They both do Spartan Kids races and love to join me during my rolling sessions. Kids are so energetic and joyful about new “roller games” with their parents. We make it fun to pass the time in a healthy way.

Article / Updated 03-25-2021

You have the tools, the techniques, the treatments, the injury management, and the mindset to keep your muscles and joints moving as you intend them to move. Now it’s time to apply the magic of the foam rollers to prevent injuries. It only seems logical. If you know rollers are great at unlocking muscles, mobilizing fascia, warming up soft tissue, increasing joint range of motion, and improving how your body moves, why wouldn’t you apply that sports medicine wisdom to prevent injuries? What is injury prevention? Many of us have that one sport or activity that we love to do. Everything about the sport seems to blend with us as a person. We’re comfortable with it. It mixes well with our schedule and our friends. In a crazy kind of way, our sports “gets” us. We consistently use our one primary sport for many reasons: Stress management Weight reduction Strength training Socializing Social media posts Time away from work, kids, in-laws, finances, homework, home projects, to-do lists, and so on Adventure Creative thinking All those reasons are perfect motivators to get out and move. But there’s one problem: Using one sport or activity so often, for so long, and for so many reasons has a very strong tendency to alter the muscle balance in your body. Stronger muscles get stronger and tighter, while the weaker muscles get weaker and longer. It’s the perfect formula for an overuse injury. In addition, when a muscle imbalance gets worse over time, a person’s posture demonstrates those imbalances. Have you noticed how you can tell a person’s sport by the way they stand and walk? They just seem to have the “look” of a runner or basketball player or CrossFitter. What you’re seeing is a muscle imbalance in their posture. Injury prevention is the act of reducing the risk and/or severity of bodily harm. If we wanted to prevent all injuries for a person, we’d bubble-wrap them, lock them in a padded room, and implement 100 percent abstinence. That’d certainly be injury prevention overkill. Instead, I focus on smart injury prevention both above the neck and below it. In other words, I educate the person on the science of preventing injuries and help them perform specific exercises and stretches, based on their sport or activity, to keep their muscles balanced. Keeping muscles on both sides of the joints and on both sides of the body balanced keeps the body functioning well. A muscle imbalance, like a misaligned car tire, makes everything around it suffer. Other joints are forced to move differently. Muscles above and below alter their roles to compensate. Even the spine is impacted with the changes taking place around its 26 bones. 3 steps to prevent injuries Preventing injuries can encompass many factors involving your muscles, nutrition, footwear, weather, past medical history, mindset, warm-up, cool-down, equipment and so on. By now you know I like, no, I love to keep my sports medicine tips simple and positively impactful. Keeping with my “simpler is better” approach, I’ve boiled my injury prevention down to three easy steps. Step 1 will help you identify overworked muscles needing treatment with your new self-myofascial unlocking skills, Step 2 shares sports medicine insight on which muscles need to be strengthened and, Step 3 recommends smart activities to prevent future injuries. 1. Unlock the motor muscles With every sport, there are groups of muscles that do a large amount of the work. These prime movers are often referred to as the agonist muscles. That name sounds too stuffy for me. Instead, I call those blue-collar, hard-working muscles your motor muscles. They’re your body’s powerhouses to get the work done so that you can enjoy your favorite sports and activities. Whichever muscle or muscle group comprises the motor muscles depends on the sport. 2. Strengthen opposing muscles When the motor muscles are hard at work, opposing, or antagonistic, muscles are constantly being stretched and lengthened. These opposing muscles are located on the opposite side (front or back) of your body or limb. If the motor muscle is on the front side of an extremity, the opposing muscles are found on the back side of the limb. If the motor muscle is on the front side of the body, the opposing muscles are found on the back side of the body. Opposing muscles are not recruited during specific sports to do most of the work, as the motor muscles are. Meanwhile, opposing muscles are consistently lengthened, thanks to the pull from motor muscles, so they tend to become overly long and weaken. 3. Launch prevention exercises for your sport To avoid your body returning to an imbalanced and injury-prone state after a roller treatment, practice simple, preventative exercises designed to maintain your restored muscle balance. Let’s review the three-step plan: In Step 1, re-establish proper length of your motor muscles. In Step 2, identify opposing muscles which are too-long and too-weak and make them stronger. Here in Step 3, you’re wisely launching a movement piggybacking on Steps 1 and 2 to prevent future injuries to keep yourself in the game. In other words, to keep you in your “happy place.” Applying the 3 steps to preventing injuries in your sport Here’s where you apply the Three Steps to Preventing Injuries to your sport. Each sport has varying demands on your body. Each of the three steps is customized for your sport. Based on your sport below, you’ll be instructed which muscle you need to unlock, which muscles need to be strengthened, and what movements/activities you should do to prevent injuries down the road. As always, listen to your muscles and joints. They will tell you what part of your daily routine you need to tweak or adjust. Your muscles and joints will thank you. Running Here’s how to apply the three steps to prevent running-related injuries: 1. Unlock the motor muscles. Hamstrings Hip flexors Chest—the pecs 2. Strengthen opposing muscles. Reverse lunges Bird dogs Prone reverse flies 3. Perform prevention exercises. Quad unlocking—See "How to Unlock the Quads with Foam Rolling." Lat and groin reach-out stretches Pool running Cycling or spinning Here’s how to apply the three steps to prevent cycling- or spinning-related injuries: 1. Unlock the motor muscles. Hip flexors Quads Chest — the pecs 2. Strengthen opposing muscles. Bird dogs—See "Upper-Body Foam Roller Workouts and Stretches." Bridges Prone reverse flies 3. Perform prevention exercises. Hip flexor unlocking Aqua therapy/Swimming – Exercise in water is a great injury-preventing activity for athletes and non-athletes alike. Be it swimming, running in the deep end with a floatation device on, walking in the shallow end, or just moving your arms and legs against the resistance of the water, it’s time well spent. Lying face-up on a Swiss ball – Lying belly-up on a large (3 to 5 feet in diameter) Swiss ball is a heavenly position for a cyclist or anyone following prolonged sitting. If you think about it, laying face-up on a Swiss ball (lower spine extension) is the exact opposite position of a bicyclist (lower spine flexion). Lying belly-up on the Swiss ball lengthens your hip flexors, stretch your quads, and relax your abdominal muscles. Gym weight training Here’s how to apply the three steps to prevent gym weight training–related injuries: 1. Unlock the motor muscles. Chest — the pecs Biceps Lats 2. Strengthen opposing muscles. Rowing with bands Prone reverse flies Standing delt raises 3. Perform prevention exercises. Lat or groin reach-out stretches Resistive shoulder external rotation – Learn to master these exercises because they’re key strength exercises for everyone who’s active. With resistance originating from the opposite side of the body via a rubber exercise band, cable machine, or good old-fashioned manual resistance, forcefully externally rotate your lower arm outward with your elbow flexed to 90 degrees and inside of elbow held snuggly against your ribs directly below your armpit. Keep the motion slow in both directions and the resistance high enough for 8 to 12 reps per set for 3 to 5 sets. Yoga/flexibility classes – Commit yourself to improving your posture with a flexibility expert. As a cyclist, your hip flexors and quads become strong, short and tight. Yoga classes or flexibility classes will help you “reverse ship” to make your hip flexors and quads strong, long and loose. Swimming Here’s how to apply the three steps to prevent swimming-related injuries: 1. Unlock the motor muscles. Chest — the pecs Lats Lower back extensors 2. Strengthen opposing muscles. Rowing with bands Prone reverse flies Crunches 3. Perform prevention exercises. Lat or groin reach-out stretches Chest or pecs stretches Swimming the backstroke—Swimming the backstroke is a smart way to reverse your shoulder muscle firing patterns. The backstroke naturally adds balance to the muscles and fascia on the front/back of the chest/upper back as well as with your all-important rotator cuff. Basketball Here’s how to apply the three steps to prevent basketball-related injuries: 1. Unlock the motor muscles. Quads Calves Groin 2. Strengthen opposing muscles. Bridges Wall sits, with toes off the ground Side planks 3. Perform prevention exercises. Lat or groin reach-out stretches Pool running or swimming Bike riding—Bike riding is good for both your body and mind. It’s easy on your joints with a reduction in compression, it can get you outside with the wind in your face, and it has a magical skill to make you feel half your age! Who can resist smiling and feeling less stressed when riding an outdoor bike? Not me and, hopefully, not you. Golf Here’s how to apply the three steps to prevent golf-related injuries: 1. Unlock the motor muscles. Chest — the pecs Abs Hip flexors 2. Strengthen opposing muscles. Prone reverse flies Bird dogs Bridges 3. Perform prevention exercises. Chin tucks (see figure) Lat or groin reach-out stretches Lying face-up on a Swiss ball Soccer Here’s how to apply the three steps to prevent soccer-related injuries: 1. Unlock the motor muscles. Quads Groin Calves 2. Strengthen opposing muscles. Bridges Side planks Wall sits, with toes off the ground 3. Perform prevention exercises. Hip flexor stretches Calf stretches Bird dogs Tennis Here’s how to apply the three steps to prevent tennis-related injuries: 1. Unlock the motor muscles. Lats Groin Quads 2. Strengthen opposing muscles. Prone reverse flies Side planks Bridges 3. Perform prevention exercises. Iliotibial band (ITB) stretches—See "Lower Body Foam Roller Workouts and Stretches." Lat or groin reach-out stretches Lying face-up on a Swiss ball Gym cardio Here’s how to apply the three steps to prevent gym cardio-related injuries: 1. Unlock the motor muscles. Quads Hip flexors Calves 2. Strengthen opposing muscles. Bird dogs Bridges Wall sits, with toes off the ground 3. Perform prevention exercises. Front planks Hip flexor stretches Groin stretches

Article / Updated 03-25-2021

The four power muscles on the front side of the thigh are called the quadriceps muscles, or quads for short. These four muscles run the length of the femur or thigh bone, and anchor on the top of the patella or kneecap. Together, the quads are often referred to as the “workhorses” of the leg. Three of the quad muscles attach on the upper thigh bone. The fourth muscle, the mighty rectus femoris, is the only quad muscle that crosses the hip joint. Because it’s the longest quad muscle and, with the help of the kneecap and patella tendon, the only quad muscle to cross both the knee and hip joints, the busy rectus femoris is usually the tightest quad muscle and will therefore be the focus of your roller treatments. If you’re pulling an expensive boat through a narrow canal, you’ll have much more control using four medium-size ropes attached to the boat compared to using only one big rope attached to your treasured yacht. Applying this analogy to your thigh, if your four quad muscles are tight and bound together, they’ll pull on your kneecap and knee joint like one big, tight muscle instead of four independent, strong, and mobile muscles. This unlocking treatment will relax the four quad muscles and a smaller, less important quad-wannabe muscle. By unlocking your quad muscles, this treatment allows all four muscles to do their specific jobs independently. These are strong muscles responsible for straightening your knee joint and lifting the leg forward at the hip joint — two important movements for walking and running. Getting ready Lay face down towards the top half of your padded launch pad. Place the roller just above the kneecap, perpendicular to the leg. Rest comfortably on both elbows in a plank-like position. Swing the other knee outward, placing some of your weight on the inside of your bent knee. If this starting position is uncomfortable for your knees or elbows, use pillows or towels to support your body weight. As you prepare to unlock or relax tight muscles, now is a good time to start your slow and deep breathing pattern. Before you start any rolling treatment or exercise, it helps to quiet your body and mind. Close your eyes. Visualize your body resting in a relaxed and pain-free place. Perform three slow, deep breaths to prepare your body to heal. The exercise Here’s how you can relax your quad muscles by unlocking their trigger points. 1. Start by slowly rolling your leg downward, which allows the roller to glide upwards towards the hip, as shown. Moving your elbows and bent knee downward, slowly run the roller up the front of the thigh, searching for trigger points or areas of tightness. I playfully refer to these localized muscle restrictions with my physical therapy patients as “painful grapes.” Your job is to find all the painful grapes on the front side of the thigh and crush them. 2. Continue with loud, deep breathing, slow rolling, and grape crushing up the thigh until you reach the finish line: the crease where your thigh meets your abdomen. 3. Complete one roll in an upward direction; it will take approximately one minute. 4. When you’ve finished, safely lift yourself off the roller and pat yourself on the back for a job well done. Level 1 unlocking Rest on each painful grape for three slow breaths, allowing the roller to melt into the muscle like a hot knife through butter. Then resume the upward roll, seeking more trigger points. If your quads are both looser and pain-free with walking after a minimum of three days of Level 1 unlocking, progress to Level 2 unlocking. Level 2 unlocking Rest on each painful grape for three slow breaths, allowing the roller to melt into the muscle. Next, slowly bend the knee approximately 45 degrees before slowly returning to the straight position, as shown. Perform this slow bend two times in each direction on each trigger point. Note how much the muscle-unlocking intensity increases when knee motion is added. Resume your seek-and-destroy mission up the front of your thigh, looking for the next painful grape. Bending the knee too far during Level 2 quad treatments can trigger a painful hamstring spasm. Been there, done that. Those of us who carelessly bent our knees past 45 degrees while rolling our quads and then suffered the wrath of three angry hamstring muscles in full spasms only made that mistake once! I hope you learn from my painful mistake. Do’s and don’ts Keep the following do’s and don’ts in mind when rolling the muscles in the front of your thigh: Do breathe slow, deep, and loud. Do move the roller in one direction: upward towards the hip. Do try other roller options, like vibrating rollers and roller balls, to determine the best options to unlock your quad muscles. Do use towels, pillows, or pads to keep weight-bearing body parts like your elbows happy. Don’t roll on your kneecap or hip bone. Don’t roll on an acutely strained quad muscle. Don’t roll on any area that produces numbness, tingling, shooting pain, or weakness.

Article / Updated 03-25-2021

When you're working out your upper body or participating in a sport that uses a lot of upper-body muscles (such as rowing), you need to strengthen and stretch those muscles to prevent injury. Get started with the foam roller workouts and stretches for your upper body from your upper back to your hands. Your upper back and shoulders are part of your “upper body” because most arm activities transfer the forces proximally to your shoulders and upper torso. Upper body–strengthening exercises Try out the exercises in this section when you want a good upper body–strengthening workout using your roller. Each of these five upper body exercises will have two levels of intensity: Level 1 and Level 2. Always start at Level 1 in a slow and controlled manner. Focus on proper technique through a full range of motion. Many of these exercises have an important balance element included with the strengthening so start slow. Level 1: Two sets of ten reps; progress as tolerable to four sets of 20 reps with a 30-second rest between sets. Level 2: Two sets of ten reps; progress as tolerable to four sets of 20 reps with a 30-second rest between sets. Chest Press For Level 1 (see the following figure), follow these steps: Place both hands on a full roller. Lower the chest to the roller. Return to the starting position. When you’re ready, move up to Level 2 (see the following figure): Place both hands on a half roller. Lower the chest to the roller. Return to the starting position. Rows with bands For Level 1 (see the following figure), follow these steps: With hands up in front of the body and palms kept apart in a resistive band, lower the elbows towards the floor. Return to the starting position. When you’re ready, move up to Level 2 (see the following figure): With hands up in front of the body and grasping a resistive band, lower one elbow towards the floor. Return to the starting position. Finish all reps on one side before switching sides. Prone reverse flies For Level 1 (see following figure), follow these steps: Lift bent arms off the floor while maintaining a 90-degree angle at the shoulders, a 90-degree angle at the elbows, and forearms parallel to the floor until the elbows are elevated to shoulder level. Return to the starting position. When you’re ready, move up to Level 2 (see the following figure): Lift arms straight backwards, with or without a light weight, off the floor while maintaining a 90-degree angle at the shoulders, a 90-degree angle at the elbows, and forearms parallel to the floor, until the elbows are elevated to shoulder level. Return to the starting position. Standing delt raises For Level 1 (see the following figure), follow these steps: Lift bent arms while maintaining a 90-degree angle at the elbows until the elbows are elevated to shoulder level. Return to the starting position. When you’re ready, move up to Level 2 (see figure): Lift straight arms with or without a light weight while maintaining a 90-degree angle at the elbows until the elbows are elevated to shoulder level. Return to the starting position. Hand squeezes For Level 1 (see figure), follow these steps: Grab and squeeze a roller/dense foam/gripper with both hands, keeping it close to your body for 30 seconds. Perform five sets. When you’re ready, move up to Level 2 (see figure): Grab and squeeze a roller/dense foam/gripper with one hand extended away from your body for 30 seconds. Perform five sets. Upper-body stretches All upper-body stretches in this section are performed with a three- to four-foot stretch cord, so make sure you have one handy before you get started. Lats With the assistance of a stretch cord, reach your hand up and over the top of your head while side-bending away from the elevated arm (see figure). Triceps With the assistance of a stretch cord, elevate the elbow towards the sky while pulling the hand toward the floor behind you (see figure). Chest With the assistance of a stretch cord, reach the back of the hands towards each other behind your back while guiding the middle of the chest directly forward (see figure). Shoulder joint flexion With the assistance of a stretch cord, reach your hand forward and up toward the ceiling behind you (see figure).

Article / Updated 03-25-2021

You have so many options available to strengthen and stretch your hips and legs. Give these foam roller exercises and stretches a solid try for two weeks. You’ll find that they’re much tougher than you expected, and your legs will be happier. Lower body–strengthening exercises Try out the exercises in this section when you want a good strengthening workout for your lower body. Level 1: Two sets of ten reps; progress as tolerable to four sets of 20 reps with a 30-second rest between sets. Level 2: Two sets of ten reps; progress as tolerable to four sets of 20 reps with a 30-second rest between sets. Squats For Level 1 (see figure), follow these steps: Standing on a half roller, perform a squat, maintaining a tall spine until the thighs are horizontal. Return to the starting position. When you’re ready, move up to Level 2: As demonstrated, stand on a full roller, perform a squat, maintaining a tall spine until the thighs are horizontal. Return to the starting position Wall sits For Level 1 (see figure), follow these steps: Press the pelvis, spine, and shoulders against a stable wall while maintaining 90-degree angles at the ankles, knees, and hips. Hold this position for 30 to 90 seconds. Repeat five times. When you’re ready, move up to Level 2 (see following figure): Position the posterior pelvis against a full roller on a stable wall. Lower the hips, allowing the roller to roll upwards until you reach a position of 90-degree angles at the ankles, knees, and hips. Hold this position for 30 to 90 seconds before returning to the starting position. Repeat five times. Reverse lunges For Level 1 (see figure), follow these steps: Start with one foot flat on the ground in front of the pelvis, back knee bent, and hands on the hips. Drop the back knee towards the ground, keeping the spine vertical and never letting the lead knee bend past 90 degrees. Stop with the back knee slightly off the ground. Hold this position for 30 to 90 seconds before returning to the starting position. Alternate legs, performing five reps with each leg. When you’re ready, move up to Level 2 (see figure): Start with one foot resting on a full roller in front of the pelvis, back knee bent, and hands on hips. Drop the back knee towards the ground, keeping the spine vertical, and never letting the lead knee bend past 90 degrees. Stop with the back knee slightly off the ground. Hold this position for 30 to 90 seconds before returning to the starting position. Alternate legs, performing five reps with each leg. Toes raises For Level 1 (see figure), follow these steps: Sit tall in a firm chair, the front of the down foot resting on a half roller, knee bent to 90 degrees, the other leg rotated with the ankle resting on top of the bent down knee, hands on the top ankle. Elevate the lower heel while adding resistance with the hands on the top leg. Finish all reps on one side before switching sides. When you’re ready, move up to Level 2 (see figure): Standing tall with the front of both feet resting on a half roller, knees straight, and spine vertical. Elevate both heels to raise the head upwards while keeping the knees and hips straight. Bridges For Level 1 (see figure), follow these steps: Start by lying on your back, legs straight, and heels resting on a full roller. Tighten the glutes and hamstrings to raise the pelvis skyward until the hips are level with both the knees and shoulders without bending the knees. Hold this position for 30 to 60 seconds. Repeat five times. When you’re ready, move up to Level 2 (see figure): Start by lying on your back, knees bent to 90 degrees and heels resting on a full roller. Tighten the glutes and hamstrings to raise the pelvis skyward until the hips are level with both the knees and shoulders. Hold this position for 30 to 60 seconds. Repeat five times. Lower-body stretches The five stretches in this section help keep the important muscles of your legs limber and able to do their job. Strong legs are great. Strong and flexible legs are much better. Hamstrings Place the heel on the end of a roller, both legs straight, spine straight, hands on hips, head up and forward, leading with the navel, not the shoulders (see figure). Quads With the toes on the end of a roller, both knees bent, engaged abdomen, and hands overhead holding another roller, slowly glide the pelvis forward while bending the lead leg (see figure). Iliotibial band Start in a standing position, lead leg across the mid-line, and roller held overhead. Side-bend away from the lead leg while pressing the pelvis forward and away from the leaning-roller (see figure). Groin Start in a standing position, feet spread well apart, a full roller standing behind the bent knee, the other knee straight, and the elbow resting on the roller. Shift your weight towards the roller while sliding the straight leg sideways, away from your body (see figure). Calves Stand tall with the front of both feet resting on a half roller, knees straight, and spine vertical. Lean forward while keeping the knees and hips straight (see figure).

Article / Updated 03-25-2021

This article covers the importance of proper foam roller timing. As with every piece of exercise and physical therapy equipment, knowing when to use foam rollers is just as important as knowing how to use them. There are so many factors when it comes to rolling: the type of roller, the size of the roller, the length of the treatment, the type of warming up for the roller, how you manage the pain of the treatment, and how you assess the benefits of the treatment. So, it only makes sense that the timing of the treatment is important as well. There are times when a roller can be your BFF; Best Friend Forever. The roller timing issue is important because it will keep you safe while allowing you to optimize the many benefits of a roller. Simply stated: smart timing on a roller will help you decrease your risk and increase your results. As you gain experience with different rollers and enhance your ability to truly listen to your body’s response to the rollers, you will start adjusting your personal timing and techniques with them. When to foam roll Rolling is just a part of our wellness plan. Most of us use a roller and stretching to enhance our body’s ability to move better with less effort. If we and the rollers do our job well, our muscles have more flexibility, our joints have more mobility, and our body has less pain. The quote, “If a little is good, a lot is better,” does not apply to rollers. Many rehabilitation tools and instruments used by physical therapists and athletic trainers can be overused if not properly scheduled. When it comes to mastering the art of successful roller rehab, the timing of when and how to use the roller is a mandatory skill. Best times to roll There are certain times when a roller will optimize your body’s ability to do its job. For example: When your body feels stiff and tight, it’s a good time to use a roller. When you feel a knot or trigger point in a muscle, but you know this is not a new muscle strain, it’s a good time to use a roller. If you’re getting ready to start a physically demanding activity, such as exercising, working in the yard, playing with the kids, or carrying heavy luggage through an airport, it’s a good time to use a roller. When you’re in the middle of an activity, workday, workout, or project and a muscle knot or “creak” decides to make itself known in one of your muscles, it’s a good time to use a roller. After a hard endeavor when your muscles are ready for a well-earned nap, it’s a good time to use a roller. When you’re getting ready for bed and you want to relax your muscles so they can recover faster and more fully while you sleep, it’s a good time to use a roller. Simply stated: if part of your body needs to be less bound down, needs to reduce its waste products, and needs to increase its supply of good, oxygen-rich blood, it’s a good time to use a roller. A perfect time for a roller is before you plan to put a group of your muscles to work. You know that a relaxed muscle filled with a consistent inflow of healthy blood will perform better. A mobile, nourished, and strong muscle is a happy muscle. We can never forget about our fascia, as shown in the figure below. A roller improves the mobility of the ever-active fascia throughout the body. When the tension on and from fascia is reduced, it instantly decreases the restrictive stress on all the tissue that the fascia encompasses. It’s similar to unraveling duct tape that is tightly wrapped around a thigh. All the tissue in the front, inside, back, and outside of the thigh is now free to move as it was designed to move. In addition to the muscles throughout the thigh, the blood vessels, lymphatic vessels, nerves, tendons, scar tissue, and the fascia itself have significantly more mobility. And, when it comes to these very important types of tissue, each of them can now do their jobs much more effectively. Once again using the example of duct tape tightly wrapped around a thigh, imagine how difficult it is for blood to flow properly through fascia-restricted areas when exercising at a very high level. The nerves also become entrapped and sensitive because of the excess pressure. I often find nerve entrapments to be a common source of my patients’ chronic pain. With all the previously noted benefits of rolling, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to learn that rolling is also a valuable tool for post-activity recovery. Think about it this way: following a hard activity or busy day at work, your muscles need to rid themselves of all their toxins. They need to get the bad stuff out and the good stuff in. A roller is a perfect tool to improve the efficiency of the lymphatic system to drain off those toxins and waste products from the muscles and surrounding tissue. Another roller-recovery benefit involves the circulatory system. Relaxing muscles and fascia will improve the body’s ability to pump fresh blood, rich with oxygen, water, electrolytes, and calories, to hungry muscles. Tight and bound-down muscles are more likely to cramp when they become dehydrated. We spend a considerable amount of our time, effort, and money maintaining a healthy diet and hydration plan. But if our muscles are too tight and restricted, we may be limiting our body’s ability to effectively transport those calories and fluids to our hard-working and hungry muscles. Optimal times to rock and roll: Pre-morning coffee Post-morning coffee Pre-workout During workout breaks Long days at your desk (see figure A) During work breaks When you need a midday nap or a cold cup of water thrown in your face to wake you up, and neither one is an available option. During long car rides (see figure B and C) Post–long car rides Post-exercise While travelling While watching TV at home with your family Pre-sleep rolling tips I’m a big fan of using a roller before I go to bed. It helps me unwind from a busy day and removes tension and tightness in my spine and extremities. My pre-sleep rolling routine is my secret weapon to accelerate my recovery while I sleep. It allows me to wake up earlier and feel fresher for my daily pre-sunrise workouts. At the risk of sounding like a lunatic, I want you to take 1 minute to be super-creative with me. Imagine yourself living inside your thigh muscles (shown) — strange, I know, but stay with me. At the end of a long, busy day, you (thigh muscles) feel super-tight and bound down. You have lots of gunk and stagnant fluid just hanging around you. Minimal blood is moving in or out of you, because you’re all cinched down with yards of fascia wrapped around you and every muscle in your leg. You, the muscle, is now short and tight from sitting all day and you haven’t been stretched in nine or more hours! This sucks! But after a quick roller treatment, the tight tension is gone, and you can finally breathe — you’re alive again! As you’re tucked into bed for a solid eight hours of sleep, you and your neighborhood muscles are purring with pleasure. It’s like someone just opened the plug at the bottom of the bathtub in your muscle. All the bad gunk is flushing out of all your corners, as yummy, fresh blood effortlessly flows in. Life is good again. Now, come back to reality. Imagine the stark difference you would see and feel inside the thigh muscles before and after a rolling treatment. Just think how happy and relaxed those sleeping muscles and fascia would be in the morning! Instead of those leg muscles having to work hard both supporting your body and removing muscle waste products uphill against gravity, the freshly rolled legs and fascia are now relaxed and laying horizontally in bed. Now the muscles can easily absorb fresh in-flowing blood from the heart via the arteries and effectively remove toxins and waste products via the lymphatic system (shown) and veins. When Not to Foam Roll Knowing when not to roll is as important as knowing when to roll. Using a roller on certain injuries or body parts can be detrimental. Some of this is common sense. Being smart with our rollers helps us avoid creating an injury or making an injury worse. Listening to a painful injury Our bodies are extremely smart. But sometimes we’re not smart enough to listen to them. Now is a perfect time to learn to trust your “gut feelings” when it comes to your body. In this day and age when technology appears to be king, it’s easy to get away from our less-subjective and less-visible body and mind feedback. Too often, we rely on smartphones, apps, computers, videos, and experts to get our health and wellness advice. I want to change that. It’s time that we all go “old school” by improving our communication skills with our own bodies. Our bodies give us tons of information per second. We will become smarter and healthier when we improve our ability to listen to those messages. No one knows your body as well as you do. That is a powerful statement that needs repeating: “No one — not your doctor, not your spouse, not your personal trainer, not your mirror, not your bathroom scale, not your best friend — knows your body as well as you do.” Pain management versus avoidance of pain Now let’s shift to working with your body when managing pain or an injury. News flash: using a roller can be uncomfortable, if not painful. So, when you move a roller over a body part that is painful at rest, it’s an uncomfortable experience. Listening to that painful body part is an important skill that we all need to improve on. Some people’s quest is to avoid any and all pain. That is rarely possible when it comes to being active and even growing old. A smarter and healthier quest should be learning how to wisely manage pain, not avoid it. Pain is just another message from the body to the brain. It’s usually a loud message, that is true, but it’s still just a message. If a roller treatment, stretch, strengthening exercise, cardio drill, or workout routine makes your pain less severe, less frequent, or of a shorter duration, then it is good for you. Conversely, if anything you are doing is making your pain worse, common sense tells you to discontinue that part of your routine. The last thing you want to do is make a sore body part or injury worse with your treatments. But knowing how your body is responding to your routine is the key. For example, if your shoulder is suffering from an impingement syndrome causing pain in the front and outside of your shoulder, you will learn how to roll the muscles of your posterior shoulder rotator cuff. If done properly, your anterior and lateral shoulder pain will be much improved, but your posterior shoulder will be more painful. So, your injury pain (bad pain) is better, but the treatment site pain (good pain) is worse. This is where you need to understand that you are not seeking the complete absence of pain but, instead, seeking the healthy alternative of significantly reducing your “bad pain.” Seeking to understand and be understood: The mind-body connection To help reinforce this point, I want to piggyback on a great quote from Stephen Covey’s best-selling book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Seek first to understand, then to be understood. Seek first to understand your body: What does my body like or dislike? What helps my body move better or worse? What are my body’s strengths and weaknesses? Does my body run better on carbohydrates, proteins, or fats? What helps my body sleep better or worse? Then seek to understand your mind: What are my motivators and goals? What are my fears? How tough or weak am I? What is my mind’s Achilles heel? Another amazing skill our super-smart body has is to protect itself from bad pain. For example, if you’re aggressively rolling a painful posterior shoulder injury but demonstrating poor posture on the roller, your body may respond with an upper-back muscle spasm. This is the body’s attempt to protect the shoulder girdle and spine from injury. The human body is focused on protecting itself before it worries about performing at a high level. This is why I developed the concept of “working with the body, not against the body.” If your social media-driven ego is focused on a hefty outcome for which your body is not properly prepared, your body and mind will not cooperate. Therefore, listening to instead of ignoring a sore body part or injury is always a smart move. Your body will tell you what it needs more of and what it needs less of. This may include more or less rest, roller treatments, stretching, posture exercises, core exercises, fluids, sleep, stretching, electrolytes, manual therapy, and healthy calories. The roller routine for your sore body part or injury can be easily altered by using a softer roller, less pressure, a longer warm-up, and eliminating active motion during the treatment. Rolling warning signs you should never ignore There are a few warning signs from your body that indicate you may be rolling too aggressively. These warning signs should never be ignored: Intense localized pain Intense pain extending away from the roller pressure point Involuntary muscle spasm above, at, or below the roller pressure point Numbness, pins and needles, burning, or shooting pain at or below the roller pressure point An involuntary, blood-curdling scream worthy of a late-night horror movie Chest pains, pain down your upper-left arm, severe shortness of breath, or a combination of these Sudden rashes, hot flashes, or fever Dizziness, changes in balance, or blurred vision Joint catching, shifting, or locking