In Tune: The Best $20 Investment

“The foam roller offers many of the same benefits as a sports massage.”

By Wendy Buchanan

Editor’s Note: This will be the last In Tune column for the summer. The column will return in the fall.

If you are one of the many people that enjoys a professional massage for relaxation, stress management or as a necessary part of your training program but can’t afford the $85 on a regular basis, the foam roller might be the answer for you. A foam roller is a cylindrical piece of tightly packed foam roughly 5 inches in diameter and between 1 and 3 feet long and has become a useful training tool to use as part of your exercise recovery.

The $20 foam roller offers many of the same benefits as a sports massage, without the price tag. The foam roller stretches the muscles and tendons, breaks down soft tissue adhesions, or knots that develop over time, causes your nerves to relax and helps your body recover. In other words, foam rolling can alleviate soreness and make your muscles feel better.

By using your own body weight and a foam roller, you can perform a myofascial release, break up trigger points and soothe tight fascia while increasing blood flow and circulation to the soft tissues. The superficial fascia is a soft connective tissue located below the skin. It wraps and connects the muscles, bones, nerves and blood vessels of the body. The muscle and the fascia make-up the myofascial system. Sometimes with disuse, lack of stretching or injuries the underlying muscles can become stuck together causing adhesion, which results in restricted muscle movement. It also causes pain, soreness and reduced range of motion.

You can use the roller on all muscle groups. Glide your body over the foam roll to work each area individually, such as your IT band, hamstrings, quadriceps and back. Pause at any tender points for 10 to 30 seconds before moving on to the next area. Apply as much pressure as you can tolerate and build up the amount of time that you spend rolling.

The best time to use the foam roller is whenever you have the time. You can use it either at the start or the end of your workout, while sitting in front of the TV in the evening or anytime you feel tight and need a massage.

The first time you use a foam roller it may be a bit uncomfortable, but that is just a sign that you could benefit greatly from it. Once you are past the first few weeks it will get easier and considerably more comfortable. Typically, the foam roll is a barometer of the quality of your muscle tissue – the better it feels, the less it hurts and the higher quality of your tissue.

The greatest aspect of the foam roller is the affordability and the convenience of being able to do it anytime, anywhere and feel the benefits of a professional massage.

Foam Roller exercises

Iliotibial Band (IT Band): Position yourself on your side lying on the foam roll, with your bottom leg raised slightly off the floor. Maintain your head in a neutral position aligned with shoulders. Roll just below the hip joint down the lateral thigh to the knee. This one may hurt a bit, but put as much weight onto the leg as you can stand.

Piriformis: Begin positioned with your bottom on the roll with your foot crossed to the opposite knee. Roll onto the posterior hip area. Increase the stretch by pulling the knee toward the opposite shoulder.

Rhomboids (mid-back): Cross arms to the opposite shoulder to clear the shoulder blades. While maintaining tight abs, raise hips until unsupported. Stabilize head in neutral position and roll mid-back area on the roller.

Quadriceps: Body is positioned prone with quadriceps on the foam roll. Maintain tight abs and gluteals, keeping your back flat. Roll from the pelvic bone to knee, emphasizing the lateral thigh.

Hamstrings: Place hamstrings on the roll with hips unsupported. Roll from knee toward your posterior hip while keeping quads tightened.

Latissimus: Position yourself on your side lying with an arm outstretched and the foam roller placed in arm pit area. Your thumb is pointed up to pre-stretch the latissimus dorsi muscle. Movement during this technique is minimal.

For details on these exercises, visit www.coreperformance.com. If you would like to participate in a foam roller class, contact the Tahoe Center for Health and Sports Performance for class dates and times at (530) 587-3769.

Community health screening
Tahoe Forest Health System will host a Community Health Screening on the second Tuesday of each month from 7 to 9 a.m. The screening will offer a variety of affordable lab tests and screenings including Complete Blood Count, Comprehensive Metabolic Panel, Lipid Panel, Vitamin D and Hemaglobin A1C. No appointment is necessary.

Patients should fast for 10 to 12 hours before a lab test. This service is a low-cost laboratory screening, which is not necessarily reimbursable by your insurance company. Cash, checks and credit cards are accepted. Tests are available to individuals 18 years or older. For details, call (530) 587-3769.

Boot Camp
Tahoe Center for Health & Sports Performance is offering a Boot Camp group personal training class with the bodybugg starting on July 6.

The Boot Camp is a six-week session meeting on Tuesday and Thursday from 6 to 7 p.m. The class features the bodybugg, which tracks calories in and out., group personal training, fitness testing and goal setting with a certified personal trainer and more.

The Boot Camp is $200 or $150 for members of the center. Call (530) 587-3769 to register or for more information.

Wendy Buchanan, MS, is an Exercise Physiologist at the Tahoe Center for Health and Sports Performance. She has competed at the collegiate level for alpine ski racing at the University of Colorado, Boulder and enjoys back-country and skate skiing, as well. For more information, call (530) 587-3769 or visit www.tfhd.com.