Money for old foam

Someone asked me recently how many times a week did I foam roll - I have to admit looking blankly and blurting out “why the hell would I do that?”

So I know that most Sports Massage Therapists/PT’s and indeed runners swear by the foam roller and make a business out of teaching people how to use them, but I’m not your average SMT, Coach or runner – and personally I loathe the things.

Foam rolling is also called self-myofascial release (SMR), which is a medical-sounding way to say “self-massage.”

You can use a roller, a ball like a tennis or lacrosse ball, or just your hands; as long as you are applying your body weight pressure to trigger points (or the knots that form in your muscles) and the connective tissue, you are practicing SMR.

When you’re experiencing tight muscles or trigger points, it doesn’t mean you're necessarily doing anything wrong, but there could be things you want to pay more attention to in the future.

A number of factors could cause this type of pain or discomfort, including incorrect posture, diet, hydration, whether you warmed up properly before exercising, or even stress.

When you use controlled pressure to release trigger points and break up muscle knots, circulation is improved and your normal blood flow should resume – most people however,

(1) struggle to apply controlled pressure with a foam roller

(2) just go straight in on cold muscles and seem to think no pain no gain – ending up bruising muscle fibres

Its common place for runners to be advised to foam roll the IT band to relieve knee & hip pain - Problem is, the IT band isn't a muscle, you can't help it relax because it doesn't contract - it's a totally different structure. To make matters worse, a nerve runs through the IT band, most IT band-related pain is the result of inflammation that puts pressure on that nerve - to fix this issue, you need to relieve the pressure foam rolling only adds to it.

My advice – stretch, take up yoga, self-massage tight areas, use a pressure point ball you can control, get a sports massage every 6 weeks check posture & technique for reoccurring problem areas – warm up & cool down effectively for your individual needs.

I have two foam rollers which I bought many years ago on "Runners World" wisdom as a newbie runner - both of which I use to prop doors open.