How often should you use a foam roller?
If you are new to foam rolling, you may have seen conflicting reports about how long you should be foam rolling and how often is the best frequency with which to do it. Many foam rolling newbies believe that if they use their foam roller once, their entire body will change and magically become pain free, de-stressed, etc. What they don’t realize that you actually have to foam roll consistently over time (at least a month or longer) to really see the positive effects associated with rolling your muscles out.
How much should you foam roll?
- Preferably Daily
- You can work up to multiple times a day
If you are beginning a foam rolling regimen, you should plan on foam rolling every day and develop the foam rolling habit. As you get used to foam rolling, you may want to increase the frequency to several times per day. You should always aim for at least once per day for good results.
What does foam rolling do?
Foam rolling is a way of breaking up knots in your muscles, and keeping your myofascial tissue healthy. Thera are a special type of muscle knots that can cause a whole variety of problems. These knots are called myofascial trigger points, and they are spots where your muscles are constantly in a state of contraction. These areas of muscles that are stuck in a state of contraction are cause by a variety of normal day to day muscle trauma and can cause a variety of difficult to diagnose muscular pain.
When you use a foam roller, it naturally places a good amount of pressure and compression on these spots, forcing your muscles to relax and release the tension. This is how trigger points are “released.” They are released when some sort of physical interaction and pressure is placed on them. Either a massage or foam rolling can do wonders to release these trigger points. Foam rolling and general muscular massage increases blood flow to your sore muscles, which brings much-needed hydration and nutrients to your muscles while removing all the toxins that have built up from trigger points and stress.
What causes myofascial trigger points?
Myofascial trigger points are extremely common in the modern world. We would go so far as to speculate that practically everyone has myofascial trigger points somewhere in their bodies. Paradoxically, they are caused both from overworking your muscles and by underworking them. People who body build and work out especially hard are likely to get myofascial trigger points. So are people who spend all day doing small, repetitive motions like clicking a mouse. People who lift heavy objects or who initiate thousands of repetitive movements both have one thing in common – muscle trauma. Any sort of muscle trauma can cause trigger points.
If you’re thinking that there’s no way to prevent myofascial trigger points, you’re pretty much right. Our bodies evolved for a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. If we spent all day walking at least 30 miles, climbing trees, stalking prey and gathering food in season, our muscles would be properly exercised and they would be able to contract and relax as needed. Even though trigger points would still be possible, they would be minimized in the hunter-gatherer lifestyle.
If you think about how your muscles automatically relax when you spend time in nature, you can understand how this is true. But in our modern world, we don’t spend all our time in nature. We have jobs to go to, we stay up late at night instead of going to bed with the sun, we carry onto mental stress, and many of us spend all day sitting behind a desk or standing in one spot only to go home and flop on the couch to stare at the television. It’s no wonder why our muscles get damaged from repetitive movements and bad posture that can lead to trigger points.
We can try to prevent too much stress from building up in our bodies by using different relaxation techniques and we can try to fix posture imbalances, but the best way to remove stress from the muscles is by applying direct pressure and massage. Since most people don’t have the money to spend on a daily massage, using a foam roller is the next best option. A foam roller is a way for you to initiate a self massage, anytime you want. Foam rollers break up your myofascial trigger points, force your muscles to relax, and help your body heal your muscles.
Why do I need to foam roll every day?
The modern lifestyle typically causes bad posture and tension to build up in our muscles. Not only that, but if you have myofascial trigger points, portions of your muscles fibers are essentially stuck in a contracted state until you physically release them. Have you ever had a massage and discovered a couple days later that you are just as tense as you were before? Though a general body massage is highly recommended, if you have a specific trigger point and your massage therapist isn’t trained in trigger point therapy, they will likely fail to give enough attention to your trigger points.
This is exactly what happens – our muscles relax for a little while but then they become tense again. A massage can leave you temporarily relaxed, only to realize that the pain or tension is still there because your trigger points have not been completely released. When you use your foam roller every day, you essentially train your muscles to relax. This is why people often see long-term benefits from foam rolling every day, as their muscles are able to heal with a cumulative effect. But you can’t stop. Modern life is full of stressors and factors that cause tension to build up, so for maximal muscle health you need to be foam rolling every day or even several times per day.
Can you foam roll too much?
The more pertinent question isn’t “how often do I need to use my foam roller?” but “what is the maximum amount I can use my foam roller?” Foam rolling is something you need to work up to. It hurts, and the tenser you are the more it hurts. It can actually cause a vicious cycle if you overdo it or go at it with a “no pain no gain” attitude.
Using a foam roller too much
- You can use it too often: The important thing you need to understand is that you don’t want to overdo it.
- Listen to your body: if it is way too painful or you are still too sore from a previous foam rolling session, just give it some time before you get on the foam roller again. If it feels too painful, you can foam roll every other day or once a day, until you can workout to more.
- Let your body heal itself: The pressure from the foam roller allows your muscles to relax, however you have to give your body time to heal itself after that pressure has been applied.
Pain causes the body to tense up. It is simply a natural reaction to feeling pain. The problem is that if the thing that is causing you pain is also supposed to be relaxing your muscles, you have a conundrum. So you have to start easy and work up to more intense foam rolling. Take it light, and take your time to relax into the roller. If it hurts too much for you to relax into it, it may be a sign that you need to ease up. Try rolling around the painful area until the surrounding muscles relax a bit, and then try rolling directly on the tense spot again.
Keep in mind though that the nature of trigger points and dehydrated myofascial tissue is that it can hurt while foam rolling. So if you experience some tenderness and pain, realize that it is a normal part to foam rolling and is just a part of the journey to healing your muscles. Just remember not to overdo it.
The more you foam roll, the more you will be able to foam roll. But you should start off slow, keeping in mind that muscles that have not been foam rolled before are probably going to be very tense and therefore very painful.
What is bad pain and good pain when foam rolling?
Foam rolling hurts, but that doesn’t mean that every time your body hurts your muscles are releasing tension. Here’s what foam rolling pain should feel like:
- A hard workout
- An intense stretch
- A deep tissue massage
Foam rolling pain should stop hurting immediately if you take pressure off the tender spot. Furthermore, as you relax into a tender spot, you should find that the pain subsides and you are able to press deeper in. In this way foam rolling is like a stretch – as your muscles relax into the stretch, you are able to stretch farther.
Foam rolling should never feel like:
- A sharp, stabbing pain
- Pain that doesn’t go away when you take pressure off
- Pain that you feel in your bones or joints instead of your muscles
If you feel any of these sensations, you should stop foam rolling immediately and consult your doctor. Foam rolling on an injury is never good. It is a good way to get even more injured, but not to heal quicker. Foam rolling is all about treating your body kindly.