Don't you hate it when you have that specific, nagging spot in your muscle you just cannot get to no matter how hard you try?
Either you've slept in some weird position or you've been slouched over your work desk all day long resulting in a lovely tender and sensitive muscle...
First, you try stretching it out, poking and probing it with your thumb and eventually with your elbow...
But it's hopeless!
The thought of swinging by the closest massage clinic to get some deep tissue work done, but is the cost:benefit worth it when it's just a single muscular spot giving you grief?
Luckily, a cost effective solution has been created...
The foam roller!
Recent research suggests it reduces post-exercise fatigue when completed pre-exercise, reduces neural inhibition (I.e. keeps you strong as you fatigue), reduces the dreaded DOMS following exercise (FYI; Delayed onset muscle soreness) and improves joint range of motion without any detriment to power and performance1 & 2.
Sounds pretty good right?
Unfortunately not everyone is getting these benefits in its entirety simply due to poor execution and technique.
You're probably thinking.. "It's called a foam ROLLER for a reason", but simply rolling over that same tender point isn't doing much except for testing your pain threshold.
This is one I see time and time again. The problem here is that between these bony articulations and your skin, you have NERVES, and these little guys hate nothing more than getting compressed between the roller and your bones.
The key here is that you want to place yourself in a position where you can actually relax. Too often, I see people trying to foam roll out their lower body while keeping their upper body stiff and tense. The desired outcome here is to decrease the potential threat to your nervous system to actually allow your muscles to elongate and lengthen.
Give this a try next time..