Why We Didn't Buy Any Foam Rollers
Are you overusing foam rollers?
Probably, yes.
Our Physical Therapists are constantly telling people to do a little less foam rolling, and a little more moving. Even our Massage Therapists tell most of their people to lay off the lax ball massage and go for a walk instead.
Our Boston based clinic is fully a equipped gym with squat rack, assault bike, and kettlebells of all weight ranges. Our treatment rooms are fully up and running and constantly being used to get people out of pain, and back onto the gym floor.
Now, we're trying to outfit the 'recovery' wing of Ripple. The full body Normatec's have just arrived and we're scheming up what other recovery tools are best to add in. The idea of having a lounge area to watch the Bruins and do your CARs has been thrown out, and even adding a hyperbaric chamber into the mix. Honestly, we might just go all out.
The one thing I haven't even thought of buying might be one of the most prevalent items in the modern day gym or treatment space. But to be honest, I just don't have time for foam rollers.
Now this post isn't a shame foam roller blog.
My issue with foam rollers is that most people think they do something that they really don't. You can't just smash your tissue into a round piece of styrofoam and think that your jacked up hip is now ready to squat. Unfortunately, the human body doesn't work like that.
Most people think that foam rolling is going to help lengthen their muscles or 'break up scar tissue' to help make their joints move better and feel less tight. Eugh 🥴
People gravitate towards a specific self myofasical release techniques because it's kinda the cool thing to do. Let's be honest, people socializing on the mat while foam rolling just look cool. Plus, if you're sore from the last workout, hitting those spots with a foam roller is going to feel ohhhh so good. But, this doesn't really translate over to a high yield of benefits which means all the cool tools and time you have just cost you a bunch of money and 15 minutes of your workout.
The main reason we've never and probably never will buy foam rollers is because, well, they're pretty much a waste of your time.
Unless you have 2+ hours for your workout (lol) then the time cost/benefit just isn't worth it. If you had to choose between 10 minutes of foam rolling and 10 minutes of joint activation work, 100/100 times you'd choose the joint work.
We try to stay away from passive modalities of recovery here at Ripple. All of our treatments and sports massage are highly manual therapy based, but are ALWAYS followed up with active inputs of exercise. That same thought process is why we'd prefer you to do an active warmup opposed to just sitting and massaging yourself.
Instead, we opt for joint activation and internal training exercises to get the body warmed up for a workout. This includes a full body run down of CARs and a combination of passive stretching with ACTIVE isometric contractions (PAILs RAILs if you're familiar).
So instead of foam rolling your upper back because you feel tight from sitting at a desk all day, we'll get the upper back, shoulder blades and shoulders moving individually through their full range of motion instead. Then, we'll find where you're 'most tight', stretch that then contract the stretched muscle. This creates a positive feedback from the joint itself (not the muscles your crushing with your foam roller) to the brain and normally calms tightness or other stress down. THAT is priming the body to lift.
Here's an example of what we'd do for a tight upper back instead of fancy foam rolling
1) Get the deepest stuff moving
2) Move the joint through its full range of motion
3) Add active internal input
It might feel great to stick something in between your shoulder blades, but this series is how we actually improve function and range of motion in a joint. Foam rolling's affects are pretty transient, even if you see increased mobility after getting off a foam roller chances are it won't last and could even put you in a bad position while lifting. You gotta own that range of motion!!
Now don't get me wrong, foam rolling DOES do is make you feel better. Trust me, I used to sit and roll my glutes, hip flexor, and hamstring for waaay too long because damn it felt good. Did that 'prime' my system to get into squatting or deadlifting? No. But, I was feeling better and ready to take on the workout which in itself might be useful to a lot of people.
Foam rollers have a lot of value, but mostly people are using them for the wrong reason. Here's a couple examples of how to use a foam roller, none of which include smashing your muscles on top of them.
Thoracic Spine Extensions on Foam Roller
Foam Roller Band Pull Apart
Hello,
Annnd... that's all I got for you.
To be honest, I don't love either of those exercises. The TSpine segmentation is TOUGH to achieve and most people will do this by moving their whole spine but really defeats the purpose. The band pull-apart exercise is fine as well, but there is just other exercises that will give you much more bang for your buck in whatever you're looking to achieve.
The point of this was to shed some light on picking your spots and using time wisely while working out. You probably only have 4-7 hours a week to exercise, should 25% of that time be spent on a foam roller? If you ask me, the answer is a resounding no.
Feeling confused? Sorry about that!!
Luckily, we can help. Get our of your foam roller routine by getting properly assessed by one of our highly trained coaches and therapists. We are currently offering a FREE 60 minute movement evaluation to find out where exactly you need to work on improving range of motion, and how to change your foam rolling routine to something much, MUCH better.
Have other questions? Feel free to give us a holler at Contact@ripplebasecamp.com or schedule a call below!
