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Why does every runner not own a foam roller?
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I have a golf ball I use on my calves. 50 pence from a charity shop. Bargain.
I'm best mates with my foam roller at the moment. I had a tight achilles, caused by a tight hamstring, that was stopping me from running. Was quite painful to even walk more than 2 miles, and the tightness wouldn't go away even after the hamstring stiffness had gone, so I thought I had a complication/injury related to the old achilles tendinosis I had.
So, I took a punt and foam rollered my lower leg a few days ago, and straight away could feel two big painful muscle knots in or around the calf. That night, and the night after, I attacked the knots with the roller (eyewatering pain) and hey presto I could run completely fine again the next day, and have been great since.
So I was never really injured in the first place. I lost about a week of running through not utilising the roller sooner, so going to keep on with it a few times a week now.
Stress fracture and a near term goal meant I maintained cardio using a stationary bike (low impact and able to survive it infront of the tv). The evil bike allowed muscles to get lazy, resulting in a nice case of ITB. Enter my first foam roller. Who would ever have thought anything could be THAT painful!!! Anyway, a couple of weeks later I am able to use it with my full weight on it. It certainly helped me, but I would never replace seeing a physio with it.
It gets better. Really.
Never used one and never seen one in a gym. I must be missing out.
I have had mine for weeks and it is still agony, that said I am a girls blouse. I wouldnt be without though
I bought mine for injury however I was advised to use regularly as it can help reduce the risk of injury significantly and provides relief to sore quads, calfs, ITB, glutes etc. Buy one and look up youtube I dont think you can go too wrong with the demo's on there.
Once you use it a few times you will get to understand what works better for you, its really quite simple after you do it a few times. You can buy a short one (around 30cm) and a bigger 90cm one which I have. I like the big one but its personal preference I guess.
I must be really out of shape or was doing it wrong - I found I didnt have the upper body strength to hold myself up and roll backwards and forwards on mine. Its gathering dust somewhere
I love mine, any niggle can be cured with a couple of days of the foam roller. Mines the 14 pound amazon one.
They are great, in particular, for maintenance purposes, ie rolling your leg a couple of times a week to keep muscle knots from causing problems. I mentioned above somewhere that I used my roller to get fairly quick relief from some knots that were causing achilles pain - one of the knots is still there after a couple of weeks, but less painful than it was and under control, but a physio could have probably sorted it out in one session.
I agree also with Minnie above - you need some upper body strength to get the most out of a roller - a few months ago I had no upper body strength and couldn't keep my body propped up for too long, but after 12 weeks of incline press-ups, planks, bridges and dumbell work it's now a lot easier and I can really dig my leg down hard on it.
Also, for extra fun, foam rollers are good for confusing small animals and babies.