This big, cylindrical chunk of inorganic chemical material is hopefully what's going to keep me from getting injured this summer. I unwrapped it yesterday after waiting weeks and weeks for it to arrive in the mail. It was out of stock and backordered and I'd almost given up on it completely, but then...there it was, in all its three-foot-long, crimson glory: my new foam roller. |  |
The great thing about having one of these is that now I can perform self-myofascial release. What is self-myofascial release, you might ask, and is it appropriate to be reading about at work?
Myo refers to muscle, fascia to the tissue that surrounds the muscle fibers. By putting pressure on tender areas along the muscle tissue, the golgi tendon organs (I know, it all sounds so dirty!)help trigger the relaxation of the muscle spindles, helping to dissipate the adhesions, increase blood flow, and enhance overall movement.
The instructions that come with the roller say that to release the knots or adhesions with a foam roller, you must put pressure on the knots for 20-30 seconds while breathing. I love that they need to tell you that, but it's totally true. For a girl that's been running as much as I have, even applying a relatively light pressure to my calves or ITB creates a really unique level of pain and yes, it does inspire the impulse to hold one's breath.
I really enjoyed (in a sick sort of masochistic sort of way) the exercises I tried on it last night, but I think I'm going to have to be careful not to overdo it with my right calf. It's like there's a solid, painful knot right in the center of the muscle when I massage it against the roller and it just felt the worse for wear when I ran on it this morning. I'm going to stick with it for a while though, in hopes that gentle persistence will loosen those stubborn fibers without actually doing any new damage. I'll work on it a little more tonight and probably in the morning too, but I'm going to resist the urge to actually bring the foam roller with me this weekend to the wedding in Massachusetts.