Is using a foam roller healthy for my back? 

Foam rolling is a great self tool for patients to improve mobility and flexibility at home. Foam rolling's adversity of the patients it can help is what makes it such a popular buy in todays fitness and rehabilitation market. What most people don't know is that there's a few different ways to use a foam roller to get maximum results.

Mid Back Mobility 

Desk workers and students are among the population who lack thoracic spine (mid back) mobility the most. Spending long hours in a hunched over position can lead to a stiff spine that lacks extension (arching backwards).

BENEFITS: improving spine motion, pain management (neck/shoulder/back), improved respiration volume and better posture.

Key Points for Improving Spine Mobility

• Keep your butt on the ground, move your way up the spine, starting in the low back  
• Deep breath in, then slowly let the air out as you motion your spine over the foam roller
• Use the foam roller as a fulcrum over each restricted area  
• Think of rolling out the spine in parts, not as a whole
• Hands can be crossed over your chest or over top of your head
• Only go to what is comfortable, hearing pops and cracks is perfectly healthy

• Will most likely be uncomfortable, but should not be painful

MUSCLE UP REGULATION VS. DOWN REGULATION

Your goal of what you want to accomplish when foam rolling will determine how you want to foam roll. Broken down, do you want to excite and awake the muscles? Or do you want to calm down the muscles and promote relaxation?

Down Regulation: We will use petting a dog as our analogy. If you want to get the dog to settle down (or down regulate) you pet the dog with slow, steady, long strokes.

Up Regulation: If you want the dog to get excited and get moving (up regulate), your petting will be more rigorous and quick with shorter strokes. The same principle can be applied to foam rolling.

Foam Rolling Pre- Exercise

The goal of foam rolling pre- exercise is for muscle stimulation, muscle warm up and pain avoidance. When foam rolling remember the dog analogy, we want to excite and wake up the muscles.

BENEFITS: pain avoidance during exercise, improved performance and improved flexibility.

Key Points for Pre- Exercise Foam Rolling

Find the problem area that feels tighter, with more restrictions. Perform quick, short oscillations over the area

Performing quick, short oscillations over the muscles that will be targeted during the upcoming workout, this will get the muscles ready for exercise and warmed up.

• Perform for 15-20 seconds on that area
• Work above and below the problem area
• Will most likely be uncomfortable, but should not be painful

Foam Rolling for Recovery

When foam rolling for an injury or post exercise, you will most likely want to down regulate the system. Meaning we want to calm down the tissues (petting the dog to calm it down).

BENEFITS: Pain management, decrease time of recovery, Improved muscle pliability and decreasing inflammation.

Key Points for Recovery Foam Rolling

• Apply firm, steady pressure over the affected area slowly oscillating back and forth
• Perform 15-20 seconds over the area
• Work above and below
• When working the back muscles (picture above), keep the core engaged to avoid extension.  
• This is different from working on spine motion in the previous example, keeping the spine neutral with core engaged will put more pressure on the back musculature.  
• Will most likely be uncomfortable, but should not be painful

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