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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Ratgeber
- Sprache: Englisch
A full-color, step-by-step guide to get fit, prevent injury andend pain using your foam roller Foam rolling is not just a fad; if you're active in sport or work out regularly, you know how crucial it is to keep your muscles limber and pain-free to stay active and mobile. As a form of Myofascial Release Therapy, foam rolling is an effective technique for unlocking your tight muscles and restrictive myofascial connective tissue. Foam rolling helps increase your overall body mobility and joint range of motion, decreases pain and shortens recovery times--and it generally supercharges your body to reap the benefits of your active lifestyle! Written in an easy-to-follow, no-jargon style by NFL physical therapist and trainer for 26 years Mike Ryan, Foam Rolling For Dummies shares proven roller tips usually reserved for professional athletes to help you quickly restore healthy harmony between your muscles and joints. Once you know the science behind foam rolling, you'll understand how to use specific body-rolling techniques to address specific problems and goals, whether they're eliminating painful muscle trigger points, loosening tight fascia, improving body flexibility, or just relaxing muscles faster after a workout. * Enhance athletic performance * Improve injury prevention * Learn rapid roller techniques * Manage fibromyalgia * Reduce soft tissue injuries * Understand your myofascial system * Reduce painful muscles Whether you want to maximize your fitness program, manage your muscle pain or pursue other health goals, this guide puts on a roll for an enhanced body--and an enhanced life.
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Foam Rolling For Dummies®
Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2021 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2020949681
ISBN 978-1-119-75732-0 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-75733-7 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-75734-4 (ebk)
Foam Rolling For Dummies®
To view this book's Cheat Sheet, simply go to www.dummies.com and search for “Foam Rolling For Dummies Cheat Sheet” in the Search box.
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Introduction
About This Book
Foolish Assumptions
Icons Used in This Book
Beyond the Book
Where to Go from Here
Part 1: Getting Started with Rolling
Chapter 1: Rolling for Life
The Mind of an All-Pro Roller
Rollers 101
Getting Under Your Skin
Key Questions for You
Working Out with Rollers
Using Rollers to Manage Your Injuries
Preventing Injuries with Roller Treatments
Chapter 2: Choosing the Right Roller(s) for You
Not All Rollers Are Created Equal
Other Equipment You May Want
Finding a Roller to Meet Your Needs
Chapter 3: Finding the “Perfect” Roller Launch Pad
Improvising in Unique Roller Settings
Finding a Relaxing “Roller Rink”
Having Enough Room to Roll
Other Tips to Rolling Right
Padding and Pressure Relief
Chapter 4: Caring for Your Roller
Cleaning Your Roller: Illness Prevention 101
Understanding What’s Good and Bad About the Covering on Your Roller
Storing Your Roller
Chapter 5: Roller Safety 101
Assessing the Safety of Your Roller Rink
Who Should Not Be a Roller
What Not to Roll
Avoiding Injury on a Roller
Part 2: Rolling the Right Way
Chapter 6: Timing Is Everything: When and When Not to Roll
Knowing When to Roll
Knowing When
Not
to Roll
Chapter 7: Warming Up Your Body for the Roller
Preparing Your Entire Body for the Roller
Warming Up Your Mind Before Rolling
Getting the Rolling Site Ready for Contact
Chapter 8: Work
With
Your Muscles, Not
Against
Them
My Five Ryan Rolling Rules
Working with Your Muscles by Keeping Them Hydrated
Good Roller Pain versus Bad Roller Pain
Chapter 9: Supercharging Your Post-Workout Recovery with a Roller
The Value of the Recovery
Give Me Six: The Six-Minute Recovery Roll-Down
Stretching a Freshly Rolled Muscle
Common Recovery Mistakes to Avoid
Part 3: Meeting the Muscles You’re Rolling Over, and More
Chapter 10: Discovering What’s Under the Skin: Knowing Your Anatomy
Muscles and Tendons
Bones and Joints
Fascia
What’s a Myofascial Trigger Point?
The Treasure Hunt
Chapter 11: Upgrading Your Posture
Why Good Posture Is So Important
Understanding Posture
Key Landmarks for Evaluating Posture
What Does Perfect Posture Look Like?
What Does Poor Posture Feel Like?
Improving Your Posture
Chapter 12: How Muscles and Joints (Supposedly) Work in Harmony
Your Body — The Ultimate Machine
Understanding How Healthy Muscles and Joints Work Together
Knowing When Your Body Needs a Wheel Alignment
Chapter 13: Fascia: Taming the Beast
How Tight Fascia Makes Even Simple Movements Hard
Tight Fascia’s Impact on Other Types of Tissue
Tips for Healthy Fascia
Chapter 14: Managing Scar Tissue
What Is Scar Tissue?
Four Phases of Scar Healing
Factors Making Scar Tissue Good or Bad
Symptoms of Scar Tissue Pain
Types of Scars
Tips to Manage Scar Tissue
Part 4: Unlocking Tight Muscle and Fascia with Rollers
Chapter 15: Scouting Your Body for Pain, Stiffness, and Restrictions
Constructing and Interpreting Your True Past Medical History
Body Assessment
Finding the Source of Your Pain
Putting Your Scouting Report Together
Chapter 16: Unlocking Your Upper Legs
Ryan Rolling Rules for the Upper Legs
Unlocking the Quads (aka the Workhorses)
Unlocking your Iliotibial Band (ITB)
Unlocking the Groin Muscles
Unlocking the Hamstrings
Chapter 17: Unlocking Your Lower Legs and Feet
An Inside Look at the Lower Legs and Feet
Ryan Rolling Rules for Lower Legs and Feet
Unlocking the Calf — Back of Shin
Unlocking the Peroneals — Outside Corner of Lower Shin
Unlocking the Ankle Dorsiflexors — Front of Shin
Unlocking the Arch
Chapter 18: Unlocking Your Lower Back and Hips
Ryan Rolling Rules for Your Hips and Lower Back
An Inside Look at the Lower Back and Hips
Unlocking the Lower Back — Back Extensors
Unlocking the Front of the Hip — Hip Flexors/Upper Quad
Unlocking the Side of the Hip — Hip External Rotators, aka “The Ladder”
Unlocking the Back of the Hip — The Glutes, aka “The Roof”
Chapter 19: Unlocking Your Chest, Upper Back, and Neck
An Inside Look at the Chest, Upper Back, and Neck
Ryan Rolling Rules for Chest, Upper Back, and Neck
Unlocking the Front of Your Chest — The Pecs
Unlocking Your Upper Back — Shoulder Blade Stabilizers
Unlocking Your Side — Latissimus Dorsi
Unlocking Your Neck — Upper Trapezius
Chapter 20: Unlocking Your Shoulders and Arms
An Inside Look at the Shoulders and Arms
Ryan Rolling Rules for Shoulders and Arms
Unlocking the Front and Side of the Shoulder — Delts
Unlocking the Back of the Shoulder — External Rotators
Unlocking the Palm-Side of the Forearm — Wrist Flexors
Unlocking the Back of the Forearm — Wrist Extensors
Unlocking the Palm of the Hand — Finger Flexors
Chapter 21: Foam Rolling Workouts and Key Stretches
Strengthening with a Roller
Stretching with a Roller
Upper-Body Roller Workouts and Stretches
Core and Spine Roller Workouts and Stretches
Lower Body Roller Workouts and Stretches
Part 5: Workouts, Stretches, Injury Management, and Injury Prevention with Rollers
Chapter 22: Injury Management with Rollers
ROLLER Treatment Planner
Shoulder Injuries
Elbow Injuries
Lower Back Injuries
Hip Injuries
Thigh Injuries
Knee Injuries
Ankle Injuries
Chapter 23: Injury Prevention with Rollers for Your Sports
What Is Injury Prevention?
Three Steps to Prevent Injuries
Applying the Three Steps to Preventing Injuries in Your Sport
Part 6: The Part of Tens
Chapter 24: Ten Roller Do’s and Don’ts
Do Breathe
Do Trust Your Roller and Your Body’s Response
Do Be Creative
Do Toughen Up
Do Follow Up Your Roll with Reset Moves
Don’t Hold Your Breath
Don’t Roll on Swollen and Inflamed Injuries
Don’t Add Joint Motion Too Early
Don’t Work Against Your Body
Don’t Roll on Nerves, Bones, or Open Wounds
Chapter 25: Ten Changes Your Body Will Feel from Rolling
Looser Muscles
Increased Joint Range of Motion
Less Effort to Move
Smellier Urine
Faster Warm-Up
Less Pain and Fewer Injuries
Increased Muscle Strength
Improved Posture
Faster Recovery
Better Sleep
Chapter 26: Ten Groups Who Love Rollers
Stiff or Inflexible People
The Injury-Prone
Runners
Mature Athletes
Cross Trainers
Bikers
Stop-and-Go Athletes
Walkers and Hikers
Human Cardio Machines
Yoga Haters
Index
About the Author
Advertisement Page
Connect with Dummies
End User License Agreement
List of Tables
Chapter 5
TABLE 5-1 Potential Injuries When Rolling With Poor Posture
Chapter 10
TABLE 10-1 Sources of Muscle Pain
List of Illustrations
Chapter 1
FIGURE 1-1: Unlocking the hard-working upper quadriceps muscles.
FIGURE 1-2: Roller treatment for a tight calf.
FIGURE 1-3: Unlock glute muscles on the “roof,” and hip external rotators on th...
FIGURE 1-4: Unlocking the pectoralis minor allows the entire shoulder girdle to...
FIGURE 1-5: Unlocking the shoulder external rotator muscles inside “the scapula...
Chapter 2
FIGURE 2-1: Circular rollers come in various sizes and lengths.
FIGURE 2-2: Multi-pattern rollers provide varying surfaces to treat muscles ten...
FIGURE 2-3: Cylindrical vibrating roller.
FIGURE 2-4: Round vibrating rollers, large and small.
FIGURE 2-5: With their round shape and various sizes, roller balls provide very...
FIGURE 2-6: Half roller adds stability to the standard roller.
FIGURE 2-7: Travel roller transforms from a slim travel mate to a solid roller....
FIGURE 2-8: Simple stick roller for warming up a muscle.
FIGURE 2-9: Complex stick roller to provide isolated muscle treatments.
FIGURE 2-10: Handheld massager with varying speeds and applicators.
FIGURE 2-11: Balance improves with a simple dowel in hand.
FIGURE 2-12: Pad under an elbow equals a happy elbow.
FIGURE 2-13: Protecting a bony knee with a pillow or towel.
FIGURE 2-14: Think of stretch bands as an extension of the arms to properly pos...
FIGURE 2-15: Adding resistance bands helps activate certain muscles while you u...
Chapter 3
FIGURE 3-1: Rolling at home with the family.
FIGURE 3-2: Many leg-rolling techniques require elbow padding to relax.
FIGURE 3-3: Knees are bony, so extra padding is helpful.
Chapter 4
FIGURE 4-1: Thoroughly clean your roller before and after each use.
FIGURE 4-2: Closeup view of the different surfaces on rollers
FIGURE 4-3: Love thy roller, in sickness and in health.
FIGURE 4-4: A sad roller haphazardly thrown into a dirty gym bag.
Chapter 5
FIGURE 5-1: Padded and consistent surface for rolling.
FIGURE 5-2: Solid wall with plenty of space to move and twist.
FIGURE 5-3: Rollers are used by athletes in every sport: Colleen Quigley (Olymp...
FIGURE 5-4: “Good pain” accompanies post-rolled muscles, tendons and fascia rel...
FIGURE 5-5: All-too-familiar bad pain!
FIGURE 5-6: Examples of dangerous rolling treatments.
Chapter 6
FIGURE 6-1: Inside look at fascia.
FIGURE 6-2: Roller ball used for hip and low back pain when sitting.
FIGURE 6-3: The busy neighborhood of the thigh.
FIGURE 6-4: The most ignored, but important, system in the human body: the lymp...
Chapter 7
FIGURE 7-1: Low-intensity exercise to increase blood flow into the tissue to be...
Chapter 8
FIGURE 8-1: The author working in the NFL.
FIGURE 8-2: The author practicing what he preaches.
FIGURE 8-3: A well-aligned spine.
FIGURE 8-4: Our muscles’ troublemaker: the myofascial trigger point.
FIGURE 8-5: An active contraction on one side of a body part helps the roller r...
FIGURE 8-6: Reciprocal inhibition in action.
FIGURE 8-7: The author in Ironman Austria.
Chapter 9
FIGURE 9-1: Draining the legs to supercharge your recovery.
FIGURE 9-2: Squats and arm circles to assess what parts of your body need some ...
Chapter 10
FIGURE 10-1: The anatomy of a muscle.
FIGURE 10-2: The cycle of pain and abnormal movement.
Chapter 11
FIGURE 11-1: Strong sitting posture.
FIGURE 11-2: Poor sitting posture.
FIGURE 11-3: Improving your spine posture is similar to improving the position ...
FIGURE 11-4: Poor head posture.
FIGURE 11-5: Perfect head posture.
FIGURE 11-6: Poor shoulder posture.
FIGURE 11-7: Perfect shoulder posture.
FIGURE 11-8: Poor lower back posture.
FIGURE 11-9: Perfect lower back posture
FIGURE 11-10: Poor pelvis posture.
FIGURE 11-11: Perfect pelvis posture.
FIGURE 11-12: Poor foot posture.
FIGURE 11-13: Perfect foot posture.
Chapter 12
FIGURE 12-1: Athletic movements with effortless grace and precision.
FIGURE 12-2: The human body is the ultimate machine.
FIGURE 12-3: Golgi tendon organs located in the anchoring tendons for each musc...
FIGURE 12-4: Muscle spindles are stretch receptors in skeletal muscle.
FIGURE 12-5: Poor posture changes the role of muscles, joints, and fascia.
Chapter 13
FIGURE 13-1: The beauty, complexity, and strength of the human body’s fascial w...
FIGURE 13-2: Fascia is tightly wrapped around almost all of your muscles, joint...
Chapter 14
FIGURE 14-1: The four steps to healing a wound.
FIGURE 14-2: Rolling to mobilize scar tissue.
Chapter 15
FIGURE 15-1: Assessing your standing posture.
FIGURE 15-2: Assessing your walking posture.
FIGURE 15-3: Assessing your squatting form.
Chapter 16
FIGURE 16-1: The workhorses’ stable located on the front of the thigh.
FIGURE 16-2: Rolling the quad muscles — starting, middle, and finishing positio...
FIGURE 16-3: Level 2 quad treatments involve adding a slow, 45-degree knee bend...
FIGURE 16-4: The short, strong TFL muscle feeds into the ITB as it lays firmly ...
FIGURE 16-5: Rolling your ITB and lateral thigh — starting, middle, and ending ...
FIGURE 16-6: Level 2 ITB treatments involve adding a slow, 45-degree knee bend....
FIGURE 16-7: The busy and complicated landscape of the inside of the thigh.
FIGURE 16-8: Groin rolling technique, starting, and finishing positions.
FIGURE 16-9: Level 2 groin treatments involve adding a slow knee extension.
FIGURE 16-10: A more aggressive game plan involves groin treatments with a smal...
FIGURE 16-11: Manual groin treatment options.
FIGURE 16-12: The hammies — the three muscles on the backside of the thigh.
FIGURE 16-13: Rolling the three hamstring muscles.
FIGURE 16-14: Rotating the treated leg will isolate the inner or outer hamstrin...
FIGURE 16-15: Level 2 hamstring treatments involve adding a slow knee extension...
FIGURE 16-16: Alternative Level 2 hamstring treatments in a chair with a roller...
Chapter 17
FIGURE 17-1: Lower leg in motion.
FIGURE 17-2: You balance your entire body on two tiny pieces of real estate equ...
FIGURE 17-3: The calf muscle includes the more superficial gastrocnemius and th...
FIGURE 17-4: Calf treatment with a roller.
FIGURE 17-5: Level 2 calf treatment involves slowly pulling the foot upward two...
FIGURE 17-6: Another option to work with rollers to relax lower leg muscles.
FIGURE 17-7: Getting to know your hidden peroneal muscles.
FIGURE 17-8: Rolling the peroneal muscles: start, middle, and finishing positio...
FIGURE 17-9: Level 2 peroneal treatments involve slowly swinging the foot inwar...
FIGURE 17-10: The pride and glory of the front of the shin.
FIGURE 17-11: Rolling the ankle dorsiflexor muscles.
FIGURE 17-12: Level 2 dorsiflexion treatments involve starting with the ankle a...
FIGURE 17-13: The engineering marvel known as the human arch.
FIGURE 17-14: Rolling the arch with your Most Valuable Tool.
FIGURE 17-15: Level 2 arch treatments involve a non-stretch cord to assist the ...
Chapter 18
FIGURE 18-1: Anatomy of the lower back and hip region.
FIGURE 18-2: Anatomy of the lower back.
FIGURE 18-3: Positioning for rolling the lower back.
FIGURE 18-4: Level 2 lower-back treatments involve adding two crunches on each ...
FIGURE 18-5: Anatomy of the hip flexors.
FIGURE 18-6: Starting position for hip flexor treatments.
FIGURE 18-7: Level 2 hip flexor treatments involve adding a slow leg lift of si...
FIGURE 18-8: A trusted ladder.
FIGURE 18-9: A closer look at the “ladder”: the hip external rotators.
FIGURE 18-10: Starting position for treating hip external rotators.
FIGURE 18-11: Level 2 hip external rotator treatment involves adding “opening t...
FIGURE 18-12: Using the wall is another option to “walk up and down the ladder”...
FIGURE 18-13: The anatomy of the “roof”: the three glute muscles.
FIGURE 18-14: Starting position for glute muscle treatments.
FIGURE 18-15: Alternate figure-four position for rolling the roof.
FIGURE 18-16: Level 2 glute muscle treatments, “opening the gate” and “closing ...
FIGURE 18-17: Using the wall is another option to “walk around the roof” to eli...
Chapter 19
FIGURE 19-1: Poor posture with the “bad three” — forward head, flexed neck, and...
FIGURE 19-2: The chest muscles are the pectoralis brothers: pec major and pec m...
FIGURE 19-3: The starting position for rolling the chest against the wall.
FIGURE 19-4: Level 2 chest treatments involve an active reach back to unlock bo...
FIGURE 19-5: Alternate option to unlock your pec major and pec minor with a rol...
FIGURE 19-6: Shoulder blade stabilizer muscles located between each shoulder bl...
FIGURE 19-7: Rolling the shoulder blade stabilizers.
FIGURE 19-8: Alternate option: Using a ball in a sock to unlock shoulder blade-...
FIGURE 19-9: Level 2 shoulder blade–stabilizing muscle treatments include a cro...
FIGURE 19-10: The long and winding path of the mighty latissimus dorsi.
FIGURE 19-11: The starting position and path for unlocking the lats with a roll...
FIGURE 19-12: Level 2 lat treatments involve active motion to expand the pain-f...
FIGURE 19-13: Using the floor and a roller is another way to unlock the upper l...
FIGURE 19-14: The upper portion of the large trapezius muscle as seen on the ri...
FIGURE 19-15: Eliminating trigger points and restrictions in the upper trap.
FIGURE 19-16: Using a handheld massager on the upper trap.
FIGURE 19-17: Level 2 upper trap treatment helps to eliminate muscle tension he...
Chapter 20
FIGURE 20-1: A look at the front of the shoulder joint.
FIGURE 20-2: The starting position for unlocking the anterior deltoid muscles.
FIGURE 20-3: The starting position for unlocking the middle deltoid muscles.
FIGURE 20-4: Level 2 deltoid muscle treatment for your anterior deltoids and mi...
FIGURE 20-5: The shoulder external rotators, the infraspinatus and teres minor ...
FIGURE 20-6: The shoulder triangle.
FIGURE 20-7: The starting position for unlocking the shoulder external rotator ...
FIGURE 20-8: Level 2 unlocking for the shoulder external rotator.
FIGURE 20-9: Alternative treatment options to unlock your shoulder external rot...
FIGURE 20-10: The and anterior forearm flexor muscles and the medial epicondyle...
FIGURE 20-11: Eliminating trigger points and restrictions in the palm-side of t...
FIGURE 20-12: An alternative treatment for unlocking deeper forearm muscles.
FIGURE 20-13: Level 2 palm-side forearm muscle treatments.
FIGURE 20-14: The lateral epicondyle.
FIGURE 20-15: Eliminating trigger points and restrictions in the back of the fo...
FIGURE 20-16: An alternative treatment to unlocking deeper forearm wrist extens...
FIGURE 20-17: Level 2 muscle treatments on the back of the forearm.
FIGURE 20-18: The busy palm of the hand.
FIGURE 20-19: Starting position for rolling the palm of the hand.
FIGURE 20-20: Level 2 palm treatments.
Chapter 21
FIGURE 21-1: Chest press, Level 1.
FIGURE 21-2: Chest press, Level 2.
FIGURE 21-3: Rows with bands, Level 1, keeping palms as far apart from each oth...
FIGURE 21-4: Rows with bands, Level 2.
FIGURE 21-5: Prone reverse flies, Level 1.
FIGURE 21-6: Prone reverse flies, Level 2.
FIGURE 21-7: Standing delt raises, Level 1.
FIGURE 21-8: Standing delt raises, Level 2.
FIGURE 21-9: Hand squeezes, Level 1.
FIGURE 21-10: Hand squeezes, Level 2.
FIGURE 21-11: Stretching your lats.
FIGURE 21-12: Stretching your triceps.
FIGURE 21-13: Stretching your chest.
FIGURE 21-14: Shoulder joint flexion.
FIGURE 21-15: Crunches, Level 1.
FIGURE 21-16: Crunches, Level 2.
FIGURE 21-17: Front planks, Level 1.
FIGURE 21-18: Front planks, Level 2.
FIGURE 21-19: Side planks, Level 1.
FIGURE 21-20: Side planks, Level 2.
FIGURE 21-21: Bird dogs, Level 1.
FIGURE 21-22: Bird dogs, Level 2.
FIGURE 21-23: Balance, Level 1.
FIGURE 21-24: Balance, Level 2.
FIGURE 21-25: Hip flexors.
FIGURE 21-26: Latissimus/groin reach-out stretch.
FIGURE 21-27: Lower back stretch.
FIGURE 21-28: Chin tucks.
FIGURE 21-29: Squats, Level 1.
FIGURE 21-30: Wall sits, Level 1.
FIGURE 21-31: Wall sits, Level 2.
FIGURE 21-32: Reverse lunges, Level 1.
FIGURE 21-33: Reverse lunges, Level 2.
FIGURE 21-34: Toes raises, Level 1.
FIGURE 21-35: Toes raises, Level 2.
FIGURE 21-36: Bridges, Level 1.
FIGURE 21-37: Bridges, Level 2.
FIGURE 21-38: Hamstring stretch.
FIGURE 21-39: Quad stretch.
FIGURE 21-40: Iliotibial band stretch.
FIGURE 21-41: Groin stretch.
FIGURE 21-42: Stretching the calves.
Chapter 26
FIGURE 26-1: It’s hard to hide this kind of love!
FIGURE 26-2: A prolonged compressed hip posture on a bike increases the need fo...
Guide
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Table of Contents
Begin Reading
Index
About the Author
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Introduction
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” is a famous Chinese proverb attributed to Lao Tzu. As a sports medicine specialist, physical therapist, former National Football League Head Athletic Trainer and six-time Ironman triathlete, I playfully remind my patients, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single roll.”
I want to congratulate you on taking your first step to gaining control of your body by seeking the skills to master the use of rollers. I see way too many people with chronically tight muscles and painful joints seeking complex and expensive means to restore their muscle and joint mobility. Too often, they overlook simpler and inexpensive solutions, like rollers and roller balls, as a trusted tool to reduce their muscle pain without medicine.
Humbled by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, most of us, myself included, have come to the realization that our most treasured human possession is our health. My passion as a sports medicine specialist is to help people just like you to manage your pain using safe and effective techniques without medicine. That is why I’ve focused a large part of my physical therapy treatments to include rollers, half rollers, roller balls, and vibrating rollers.
About This Book
This book is for you. I’ll share with you sports medicine tips normally reserved for elite, professional athletes. This book will help you master roller treatments, workouts, and stretches to reduce your muscle pain and increase your joint mobility.
Rollers will change your life. You’ll learn to scout your body for painful muscle restrictions, quickly unlock tight muscles, perform targeted strengthening exercises, and finish with tailored functional drills to keep you pain-free.
We’ll start with everything you need to know about the rollers themselves — the round ones, the ball ones, the half ones, and even the vibrating ones. Next, you’ll look at all the muscles and stuff under the skin that you’ll be treating with those rollers. Becoming familiar with tight muscles, bound-down fascia, trigger points, and scar tissue will make you an expert at fixing your nagging aches and pains quickly just like world-class athletes do.
The next five chapters is the “fun part,” says the physical therapist. You’ll learn 56 muscle-unlocking treatments, neatly arranged into five treatment zones:
Upper leg
Lower leg and foot
Lower back and hips
Chest, upper back, lats, and neck
Shoulders and arms
After your muscles are unlocked, loose, and limber, they’re perfectly primed for the challenging roller workouts found in Chapter 21. Your key muscles will be targeted for both strengthening and lengthening with your new versatile training partner: your roller.
We all have aches and pains that try to slow us down. They won’t succeed if you implement the pain-eliminating game plans found in the injury management chapter, Chapter 22. I’ll share with you my easy-to-follow sports medicine checklist developed to safely return injured professional athletes back on the field.
Lastly, this book provides another level of support for your health and wellness by helping you to stay injury-free by customizing your injury prevention game plan. All you need to do is plug in your sport, and you’ll be given customized treatments, strengthening drills, and preventative exercises to keep you injury-free.
Foolish Assumptions
I didn’t write this book solely for professional football players or Ironman triathletes, who I’ve treated for a majority of my professional career. As I wrote this book, I made some assumptions about you, the reader.
I assume you’re a hard-working, non-professional “athlete,” who wants to stay very active and healthy as you juggle a full-time job, a significant other, children, a moderately active social life, and, a few nagging injuries that just don’t seem to go away.
You have a roller or two but you don’t use them too often. And when you do, you just kind of roll them around “here and there on the sore spots” in an effort to warm up your muscles. You hear others talk about rolling, but you don’t “get” it based on your limited use of the rollers.
My assumptions continue:
You dream of moving pain-free without stiffness or limitations throughout your busy day.
You strongly yearn to be active, youthful, and happy.
Sweating is a form of cleansing for your body, mind, and soul.
You’re scared of your body get old too soon with so many cool things waiting for you on your Bucket List.
You’re tired of being in pain.
You're starting to make funny noises when you get out of low chairs or pick up anything off the floor. (Oh, no! You’re sounding like an old person!!)
You’re tired of doctors and medical specialists not taking your complaints and frustrations seriously.
You’re tired of personal trainers showing you cool workouts that feel fine for a week or two until the pain takes you back to where you started: in pain and out of shape!
You’re tired of your old body not keeping up with your youthful mind.
You’re willing to put in the work to get rid of your pain if someone credible gave you simple, proven directions on what you need to do.
And
when
you are healthy, you’re more than willing to do your daily maintenance work to stay pain-free!
Icons Used in This Book
Throughout the book, I use a handful of icons to point out various types of information. Here’s what they are and what they mean:
The Remember icon is like a little sticky note, labeling everything in the book that’s key to remember.
The Tip icon indicates a quick way to remember important material or perform a task. Use these tips to help you improve your health and wellness.
The Warning icon helps you steer around mistakes that active people commonly make. Don’t let them happen to you!
The Ouch icon highlights material related to pain. It helps you recognize when an injury or treatment might be uncomfortable so that you can keep your eye on the prize: pain-free movement.
The Physical Therapy Note reminds you when the author is putting on his physical therapy hat to share sports medicine tips to help you master the art of self-myofascial muscle unlocking with rollers, roller balls, and handheld massagers.
Beyond the Book
As if there isn’t already a ton of great information in this book, you can also access the book’s Cheat Sheet at dummies.com. This Cheat Sheet provides quick and handy info and tips you can use on the go. It includes a body assessment, easy and hard roller workouts injury prevention with rollers and more.
To access this Cheat Sheet, simply go to www.dummies.com and search for “Foam Rolling For Dummies Cheat Sheet.”
Where to Go from Here
The layout of this book makes it easy for you to learn everything you need to know to become a master roller. You can read it from front to back or jump into a chapter to address your immediate needs. The simple titles of both the parts of the book and the chapters make it easy for you to find what you’re looking for quickly.
Chapter 1 is a great introduction to the wonderful world of rolling. It will help answer many of the questions novice rollers commonly have. After that, continue onto Chapter 2 or consult the Table of Contents and jump in anywhere you like. I use plenty of cross-references so you know where to go if you need more information about a particular topic.
Part 1
Getting Started with Rolling
IN THIS PART …
Understanding the benefits of roller treatments, workouts, and stretches
Choosing the best roller for you and your body
Finding a safe and effective place to work your roller magic
Safely cleaning and storing your rollers
Staying safe on rollers, half rollers, and roller balls
Chapter 1
Rolling for Life
IN THIS CHAPTER
Understanding how rollers will change your life
Answering questions to see how rollers impact your five body zones
Challenging yourself with roller workouts
Managing and preventing injuries to change your life
Welcome to the first physical therapy–based roller treatment book with easy-to-follow treatment programs. After using the treatments and workouts in this book, you’ll never look at your rollers in the same way again.
I’m assuming that you purchased Foam Rolling For Dummies for one of three reasons:
You have a roller, but you don’t really know how to use it properly.
You’re looking for an effective way to keep you body moving like it did ten years ago.
You’re tired of being in pain or always being injured.
If so, you’re reading the perfect book for you. All three are great reasons to learn how to use a muscle roller in the right way.
I want to clarify a terminology issue before we start our journey together. The title of this book obviously includes “Foam Rolling.” While you will be using some foam rollers with your muscle treatments, I’ll refer to all of them simply as “rollers.” Many of the rollers, roller balls, vibrating rollers, and roller sticks I use are made of a variety of materials other than foam.
The Mind of an All-Pro Roller
I worked for 26 years in the National Football League (NFL) in a hands-on role as the Head Athletic Trainer/Physical Therapist. I learned the art of teaching sports medicine techniques to elite athletes to help them both manage their injuries and optimize their ability to move pain-free. I want to share those same sports medicine skills, normally reserved for world-class athletes, with you and your roller.
This game plan starts with teaching you to think about using rollers in your daily routine. Knowing when and when not to use a roller or roller ball is extremely important in order to stay safe. Understanding the following benefits of rollers will help you effectively apply them to your busy schedule each day:
They improve posture after a great night of sleep.
They loosen tight muscles before exercise.
They reduce pain in a trigger point or a “knot” in a muscle.
They accelerate recovery following exercise.
This is not your typical how-to book. I’m not taking the easy route by simply telling you to “use this roller for that injury” or “roll like this.” You’ve spent your hard-earned money to purchase this book, and you deserve better.
Understanding the many amazing uses of a roller will help you apply the roller treatments in Chapters 16 to 20. Each treatment in the five body zones and the challenging roller workouts has a progression structure built in to help you accelerate your improvements. I’ll help you think like an all-pro roller, knowing exactly when to ramp your roller treatments and workouts up or down.
Rollers 101
Finding the right roller for you is the smart place to start. With so many variables when it comes to rollers, this task is not as easy as it sounds. Rollers vary in shape, size, material, uses, and mechanical vibrations. Because of the wide range of roller traits, they provide a wide range of benefits.
To help select the perfect roller for you, let’s assume you’re experiencing muscle tightness. You desperately want to run in the local 5K road race this weekend, so you need to reduce the muscle tightness and its associated pain.
With this scenario in mind, here are a few examples to help you select the best roller for you:
Pain is located in the front (quadriceps), back (hamstrings), outside (iliotibial band), or inside (groin) of the thigh.
Use a cylindrical full roller (see Chapter 2).
Pain is located in the lower, outside corner of the shin.
Use a round, hard roller ball (see Chapter 17).
Pain is located in the lower back and outside corner of the hip.
Use a half roller (see Chapter 18).
After selecting the perfect roller for you, you need to find a safe place to roll. I don’t want you getting injured while rolling, so your “launch pad” to roll needs to be risk-free. Rolling surfaces can include a carpeted floor, a hard wall, backyard grass, dirt in a campground, or a wooden gym floor. The key safety tip is to have plenty of space, with no risky obstacles nearby disguised as pets, sharp objects, children, unstable objects, or sporting equipment.
Getting Under Your Skin
If you’re like most people, you’re looking for safe and effective ways to stay healthy. This starts with understanding what’s really going on under your skin. If you think the same, well, I have you covered in Chapters 10 to 15. It won’t earn you a medical degree, but you’ll love my “keep it simple” teaching style helping you to understand your body’s inner workings. Together, we’ll walk through cool topics like muscles, fascia, trigger points, pain, scar tissue, nerves, and posture.
As an example, when your muscles are forced to work hard in a limited range of motion, they become tight and restricted. Think of the last time you had to carry a heavy bag in your hand for a prolonged period of time. Maybe you were carrying heavy luggage through the airport or groceries in from the car. Regardless, your finger flexor muscles quickly became tight and painful.
This would be a simple example of tight, overworked muscles and fascia that would benefit from a two- to three-minute rolling treatment from Chapter 20 using a roller ball.
Tight fascia wrapped around all your muscles, bones, organs, and joints will limit your mobility. Roller treatments are quick solutions to keep your fascia and muscles loose and limber. Unlike long flexibility classes and tedious flexibility routines, the roller treatments found in Chapters 16 to 20 focus on the source of the tightness — painful trigger points — which can be eliminated in less than five minutes!
Key Questions for You
The power of this book lies in both your hands and your mind. This book gives you the ability to take ownership of your muscles and how they function. Too often, I see individuals blindly hand their health and livelihood over to someone else. In doing so, a vast majority of the responsibility for that patient’s health, activity level, and attitude is guided by their doctor, family members, spouse, physical therapist, personal trainer, and so on. That type of passive approach is a formula for a sub-par outcome.
Instead, I encourage my patients to take an active approach to their health. I don’t recommend that you “go rogue” and blaze your own trail back to a healthy you. But I do encourage you to build your own wellness team with skilled and caring specialists while keeping yourself firming positioned in the driver’s seat.
To find the right answers as the captain of your wellness team, you must start with some key questions.
How do I unlock my thigh and hamstrings muscles?
Prolonged sitting, walking in dress shoes, and standing on hard surfaces typically results in tight and painful quads and hamstrings. These restricted muscles struggle to flush out waste products as they desperately scream for the inflow of fresh, oxygen-heavy, healthy blood.
Besides your audible grunts and groans, your simple active movement can become labored and strenuous. After periods of prolonged sitting or standing, do your legs feel like you’re wearing a pair of jeans that are two sizes too small? If so, then you’ll love Chapter 16. You’ll learn how to unlock your thigh muscles, as shown in Figure 1-1, to regain pain-free muscle mobility and flexibility.
Photography by Haim Ariav & Klara Cu
FIGURE 1-1: Unlocking the hard-working upper quadriceps muscles.
Why do my lower legs always seem to be my troublemaking “Achilles heels”?
Your quads may get all the hype in the beach photos, but your shin muscles have certainly earned the need for some love. Your calf muscles on the back, peroneal muscles on the outside, and ankle dorsi flexor muscles on the front of the shins are the unsung heroes of your active lifestyle.
Your shins and their many muscles, tendons, fascia, and ligaments have a difficult task of keeping you balanced while battling with the ground on each and every step. Because of this, when any of the muscles in your shin or foot become tight or injured, the results can be painful.
Training for my sixth Ironman triathlon in Austria at the age of 46, I strained my calf three times! The last muscle injury, five weeks before my big race, was so severe that I had to break off small branches of a tree to build a mock heel lift for my shoes just to be able to limp home.
The outcome: Thanks to the treatments in Chapter 17 (see Figure 1-2) and the strengthening exercises and stretches in Chapter 21, I had my personal best time of 10 hours, 36 minutes, and 46 seconds.
Photography by Haim Ariav & Klara Cu
FIGURE 1-2: Roller treatment for a tight calf.
If I could make my lower back and hips pain-free, would it make my life easier and more fun?
If this question made you smile and nod with approval, hurry on to Chapter 18 to make your happy lower back dream a reality. I say that because lower back pain is so common in today’s society. Chances are good that you experience painful lower back symptoms on a daily basis. This is a sad fact that I want to significantly reduce with this book.
If you’ve experienced lower back or hip pain, you’ll recognize some of the symptoms noted in Figure 1-3, represented by the “roof” and the “ladder.” The roof represents your three gluteus muscles, while the ladder represents your hip external rotator muscles entwined with your sciatic nerve.
Photography by Haim Ariav & Klara Cu
FIGURE 1-3: Unlock glute muscles on the “roof,” and hip external rotators on the “ladder.”
If you suffer from pain in either of those two regions, the secret roller ball treatment plans in Chapter 18 will change your life! The step-by-step protocol to unlock painful lower back and hip muscles is the same treatment used by professional football players preparing for their NFL games.
How can I improve my posture to relax my chest, upper back, and neck?
It’s kind of a chicken-and-egg type of a dilemma. What comes first: tightness at the base of your neck or in your chest muscle? Either way, your shoulders become rounded, your chin protrudes forward, and your neck becomes tight and sore. With prolonged sitting and working at the computer, both your symptoms and posture will worsen.
Look around. You’re not alone. The proven sports medicine tricks that you need are in this book, as shown in Figure 1-4. Those posture-improving tricks can be found in Chapter 19.
How can I eliminate my shoulder and arm pain with a small roller ball?
If you suddenly got excited and snapped into a daydream about playing tennis again, well, Chapter 20 was written just for you!
After 26 years of working with professional football players, I want to share with you the tricks used to unlocking their strong, and often painful, shoulders. The easy-to-follow technique, shown in Figure 1-5, wisely uses the stronger shoulder muscles to unlock the weaker, tighter muscles with the help of a roller ball.
Photography by Haim Ariav & Klara Cu
FIGURE 1-4: Unlocking the pectoralis minor allows the entire shoulder girdle to naturally glide backwards.
Photography by Haim Ariav and Klara Cu
FIGURE 1-5: Unlocking the shoulder external rotator muscles inside “the scapular triangle.”
Chapter 20 is packed with fast-acting roller treatments for your shoulders and arms.
Working Out with Rollers
Roller treatments are perfect for reducing your pain, relaxing your muscles, and getting you back into “your game.” Your game may be tennis, running, swimming, hiking, yoga, biking, or anything that makes you happy and enhances your health. Now you’re ready to take your game to a new level with the help of your versatile roller.
Roller workouts help you improve your body in four ways:
Muscle strength
Muscle endurance
Muscle and fascia length
Body balance
Take a moment to review those four important body benefits. Now envision how much your body and lifestyle would improve if each of those four traits improved by a mere 20 percent!
The workouts and stretching section in Chapter 21 will challenge you to the max! I was forced to do my obstacle course training workouts at home during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic quarantine. I developed a series of two-level roller workouts for the upper body, core, and lower body, which I’m very proud of. If you feel like laughing and scoffing at “lame workouts on rollers,” you just might want to put those workouts to the test before you laugh at them in public. Trust me, they’re much harder than you think.
Using Rollers to Manage Your Injuries
We all seem to have our share of aches and pains. Certain activities, movements, and even lack of movement while sitting can bring on painful symptoms. Because I’m a physical therapist and athletic trainer, this is my wheelhouse. I’ll walk you through quick roller treatments to unlock your muscles, decrease your pain, and increase your joint range of motion.
I take great pride in educating non-professional athletes, just like you, to manage your injuries safely with rollers. What you do with your new looser muscles and limber joints is your priority. I’ve watched my patients, young and old, change their lives with simple rollers and my proven treatment game plans. Instead of just lying on a roller and rolling around, you’ll learn easy-to-follow protocols. Each treatment is fast and effective, and most treatments take a mere two to four minutes to complete!
With so many rollers to choose from — full rollers, half rollers, roller balls, vibrating rollers, roller sticks, and even vibrating roller balls — I’ll help you to determine exactly which roller is best suited for your ailment or injury.
When you have muscle pain, it’s important to find the source of the pain. When most people think about finding the source of their muscle pain, they revert to the age-old mindset of seeking an expensive doctor for expensive tests.
I have a new option that puts you in control of your care. I don’t want you to avoid your doctor or healthcare specialists when dealing with severe medical conditions. However, when muscle tightness and pain is limiting your active lifestyle, I want to empower you to quickly find the source of your pain and start your roller treatment.
My ROLLER Treatment Planner in Chapter 22 is a game changer when it comes to helping you assess your body, isolate your restriction, determine the exact treatment needed, treat the source of your pain, and follow through with preventative exercises to reduce the risk of the pain returning.
The previous paragraph is worth re-reading because it may seem too good to be true.
Let’s walk through a quick example of applying my ROLLER Treatment Planner.
Symptoms:
Lower back/hip pain
Finding:
Tight
left
hip flexors, bilateral weak glute muscles, poor posture
Source of pain:
Overly tight
left
glutes
Treatment plan:
Half roller treatment, Level 1 —
left
hip flexors
Roller ball treatment, Level 2 — bilateral glutes
Bird dogs, Level 2 — bilateral pelvis/shoulders
Roller hip flexor stretches — bilateral
Preventative exercises:
Roller hamstring stretches
Roller body squats, Level 2
It’s that simple. The ROLLER Treatment Planner in Chapter 22 is easy to use, it provides you with a clear solution and, most importantly, it works!
How will you know the muscle and fascia treatments work? In Chapter 16, I’ll show you a simple pre-test/post-test that you can do before and after your roller treatments to show you exactly how much your movement has improved. Without spending hours stretching, twisting, and massaging, your improvements in tightness, pain, joint stiffness, and weakness will be felt in less than five minutes!
Seeing people’s faces light up with gratitude when they quickly find themselves moving pain-free after months or years of suffering with muscle pain and tightness. This is another example of why I love my career in sports medicine.
Preventing Injuries with Roller Treatments
Preventative medicine isn’t sexy and it’s not commonly bragged about on social media. But injury prevention works. If you follow the same simple sports medicine roller techniques I used with my NFL players, your risk of an injury will be drastically reduced. And if you stay injury-free, as my wife will confirm as it relates to me, you’ll be much easier to live with!
I’d like you to think about the following statement for 30 seconds and see if you agree with it:
If you found a way to decrease your pain while increasing your muscle range of motion, you’d be a happier friend, more loving sibling, healthier neighbor, stronger athlete, more caring parent, more focused worker, and better sleeper.
I hope this statement resonates with you, and you agree with the words wholeheartedly.
Both personally and professionally, this is the impact I believe rollers will have on your life. I’ve witnessed those types of positive impacts on hundreds of people’s lives thanks to rollers and the preventative exercises found in Chapter 23.
How would your life and attitude change if your pain was significantly reduced while your muscle and joint range of motion returned to the mobility you experienced ten years ago?
The three steps — unlocking muscles, strengthening opposing muscles, and preventative exercises — in Chapter 23 are perfectly designed for each sport to keep you injury-free. I made it simple: Find your sport. Implement your three steps. Repeat the three steps twice a week. It’s that easy.
Preventing injuries becomes more important as we age. None of us heal like we did when we were in our 20s. Therefore, we all need to make preventing injuries a higher priority. Chapter 23 is loaded with roller tips to keep you out of the doctor’s office and in the game.
In summary, I hope you find the roller information in this book to be both body- and life-changing. Rollers will make your muscles, fascia, and joints looser and happier. Start slow, follow the treatment guidelines and photos to improve your form. And always listen to your body. Your body knows what it needs to get better, and we can always be better listeners.
Let’s rock and roll!
WHY I’M EXCITED ABOUT THIS BOOK
I wrote this book to help people who suffer with pain and limited motion every day. I’m not going to insult you, or myself, by assuming that I can help everyone who’s in pain. But I can help a large percentage of people suffering from tight muscles, chronically tight fascia, restricted soft tissue, and painful trigger points. Many times a week, people tell me, “I only wish someone told me how to use rollers months ago,” or “If I knew how to use these rollers years ago, it would have saved me a lot money and pain!”
It’s powerful feedback like this that motivated me to put my roller treatments, workouts, and sports medicine insight into this book.
I’ve worked aggressively using rollers with patients at every level of fitness and sports. My patients range from professional football players, to weekend warriors, professional golfers, elite high school athletes, Olympians, walking-on-the-beach grandparents, retired NBA basketball players, world-class Ironman triathletes, and everyone in between.
As a six-time Ironman triathlete, former collegiate miler, and extreme sports enthusiast, I use all of the roller techniques and workouts in this book on myself. My routine of rolling two times a day helps me both fine-tune the techniques and better communicate the fine details of each technique to you, the reader.
Chapter 2
Choosing the Right Roller(s) for You
IN THIS CHAPTER
Understanding the many functions and benefits of various rollers
Picking the perfect rollers for your needs
Learning which assistive devices will help you maximize your benefits when rolling
You’re probably reading this book because you roll on a roller now and then to help with your chronic leg pain or a tight hip, with no set roller game plan. Your results are probably encouraging yet not life changing. Meanwhile, you’re probably somewhat intrigued by rollers, making you want to find out more. Sure, you see rollers everywhere: at friends’ houses, in the gym, on social media, and in online fitness classes. And you may even hear some of your friends bragging about their roller routines.
“Okay, enough already!” you tell yourself. Now both your mind and your chronically sore legs are finally on board to learn how to safely and effectively master the use of a roller.
Next, you do a quick “foam roller” search on Amazon. It stops you in your tracks. You find a whopping seven pages of rollers! Where do you start? There are way too many shapes and sizes to choose from. Suddenly, your head is hurting more than your legs.
Not to worry. In this chapter, I will help you find the perfect roller(s) for you. I explain the differences between rollers and the best uses for each one. Whether you need a roller to relax your shoulder muscles, eliminate painful knots in your thighs, or improve your posture, I will help you adopt the best roller for your needs.
Not All Rollers Are Created Equal
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, I’ll show you how to optimize your body’s benefits from the many roller options available to you.
The term foam rollers is generally used to describe all rollers. Case in point: the title of this book. 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. With that being said, I will consistently refer to these valuable wellness tools as simply “rollers.”
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.
“THIS REALLY WORKS!”
It’s not unusual to find even high-level athletes who haven’t been exposed to elite sports medicine techniques with rollers. At first, they’re skeptical about the benefits of using a roller and the device’s role in keeping them healthy.
That’s when I love to help them see the results firsthand. These athletes know their bodies better than anyone, me included. Therefore, it’s important for them to feel the benefits more than for them to simply hear the benefits from me or their coach.
