Foam Rolling For Dummies

Introduction 1 About This Book 1 Foolish Assumptions 2 Icons Used in This Book 3 Beyond the Book 4 Where to Go from Here 4 Part 1: Getting Started with Rolling 5 Chapter 1: Rolling for Life 7 The Mind of an All-Pro Roller 8 Rollers 101 8 Getting Under Your Skin 9 Key Questions for You 10 How do I unlock my thigh and hamstrings muscles? 10 Why do my lower legs always seem to be my troublemaking “Achilles heels”? 11 If I could make my lower back and hips pain-free, would it make my life easier and more fun? 12 How can I improve my posture to relax my chest, upper back, and neck? 13 How can I eliminate my shoulder and arm pain with a small roller ball? 13 Working Out with Rollers 14 Using Rollers to Manage Your Injuries 15 Preventing Injuries with Roller Treatments 17 Chapter 2: Choosing the Right Roller(s) for You 19 Not All Rollers Are Created Equal 20 Circular rollers: Keeping it simple 21 Multi-pattern design rollers 22 Vibrating rollers 23 Roller balls 26 Half rollers 27 Travel rollers 28 Other Equipment You May Want 28 Handheld rollers 29 Handheld massager 30 Yoga mat 31 Chair and balance dowel 32 Pad and pillows 33 Stretch bands 34 Resistance bands 34 Finding a Roller to Meet Your Needs 35 Chapter 3: Finding the “Perfect” Roller Launch Pad 37 Improvising in Unique Roller Settings 38 Finding a Relaxing “Roller Rink” 39 Having Enough Room to Roll 40 Other Tips to Rolling Right 42 Padding and Pressure Relief 43 Chapter 4: Caring for Your Roller 45 Cleaning Your Roller: Illness Prevention 101 45 Understanding What’s Good and Bad About the Covering on Your Roller 48 Storing Your Roller 49 Chapter 5: Roller Safety 101 53 Assessing the Safety of Your Roller Rink 53 Rolling surface 54 Roller rink real estate 55 Objects in the roller rink 55 Objects positioned over the roller rink 55 Objects landing in the roller rink 55 Who Should Not Be a Roller 58 What Not to Roll 59 Avoiding Injury on a Roller 61 Part 2: Rolling the Right Way 65 Chapter 6: Timing is Everything: When and When Not to Roll 67 Knowing When to Roll 68 Best times to roll 69 Pre-sleep rolling tips 72 Knowing When Not to Roll 75 Listening to a painful injury 75 Rolling warning signs you should never ignore 78 Chapter 7: Warming Up Your Body for the Roller 79 Preparing Your Entire Body for the Roller 79 Warming Up Your Mind Before Rolling 81 Getting the Rolling Site Ready for Contact 83 Chapter 8: Work With Your Muscles, Not Against Them 85 My Five Ryan Rolling Rules 87 Align the spine 89 Breathe 90 Slow your roll 91 Seek and destroy trigger points 92 Move the muscle 93 Working with Your Muscles by Keeping Them Hydrated 97 Good Roller Pain versus Bad Roller Pain 99 Chapter 9: Supercharging Your Post-Workout Recovery with a Roller 103 The Value of the Recovery 104 Give Me Six: The Six-Minute Recovery Roll-Down 104 Stretching a Freshly Rolled Muscle 108 Common Recovery Mistakes to Avoid 109 Part 3: Meeting the Muscles You’re Rolling Over, and More 111 Chapter 10: Discovering What’s Under the Skin: Knowing Your Anatomy 113 Muscles and Tendons 114 Bones and Joints 115 Fascia 116 What’s a Myofascial Trigger Point? 117 The Treasure Hunt 119 Chapter 11: Upgrading Your Posture 123 Why Good Posture is So Important 123 Understanding Posture 125 Key Landmarks for Evaluating Posture 127 Head 127 Shoulders 128 Lower back 129 Pelvis 130 Feet 131 What Does Perfect Posture Look Like? 132 Perfect standing posture 133 Perfect sitting posture 133 What Does Poor Posture Feel Like? 134 Neck and upper back symptoms 134 Shoulder symptoms 135 Lower back symptoms 135 Improving Your Posture 135 Chapter 12: How Muscles and Joints (Supposedly) Work in Harmony 139 Your Body — The Ultimate Machine 140 Understanding How Healthy Muscles and Joints Work Together 142 Knowing When Your Body Needs a Wheel Alignment 146 Compensating to keep moving 146 Looking at long-term consequences of altered movement 147 Identifying pain and limitations in order to fix them 150 Chapter 13: Fascia: Taming the Beast 151 How Tight Fascia Makes Even Simple Movements Hard 151 Tight Fascia’s Impact on Other Types of Tissue 155 Tips for Healthy Fascia 156 Chapter 14: Managing Scar Tissue 157 What is Scar Tissue? 157 Four Phases of Scar Healing 158 Factors Making Scar Tissue Good or Bad 160 Symptoms of Scar Tissue Pain 161 Types of Scars 162 Tips to Manage Scar Tissue 163 Part 4: Unlocking Tight Muscle and Fascia with Rollers 165 Chapter 15: Scouting Your Body for Pain, Stiffness, and Restrictions 167 Constructing and Interpreting Your True Past Medical History 168 Why all three elements are key 168 Interpreting the information 169 Body Assessment 170 Standing 171 Walking 174 Squatting 177 Finding the Source of Your Pain 179 What a muscle injury feels like 179 What a joint injury feels like 180 What a bone injury feels like 180 What a nerve injury feels like 181 What overly tight fascia feel like 181 Putting Your Scouting Report Together 182 Evaluating your TPMH 183 Identifying blinking red lights (warning signs) 183 Matching blinking red lights with tissue symptoms 184 Chapter 16: Unlocking Your Upper Legs 187 Ryan Rolling Rules for the Upper Legs 188 Unlocking the Quads (aka the Workhorses) 189 Getting ready 190 The exercise 190 Do’s and don’ts 193 Unlocking your Iliotibial Band (ITB) 194 Getting ready 195 The exercise 195 Do’s and don’ts 198 Unlocking the Groin Muscles 198 Getting ready 199 The exercise 199 Do’s and don’ts 202 Unlocking the Hamstrings 204 Getting ready 204 The exercise 205 Do’s and don’ts 208 Chapter 17: Unlocking Your Lower Legs and Feet 209 An Inside Look at the Lower Legs and Feet 210 Ryan Rolling Rules for Lower Legs and Feet 212 Unlocking the Calf — Back of Shin 214 Getting ready 214 The exercise 215 Do’s and don’ts 217 Unlocking the Peroneals — Outside Corner of Lower Shin 218 Getting ready 219 The exercise 219 Do’s and don’ts 221 Unlocking the Ankle Dorsiflexors — Front of Shin 223 Getting ready 224 The exercise 224 Do’s and don’ts 226 Unlocking the Arch 226 Getting ready 227 The exercise 228 Do’s and don’ts 229 Chapter 18: Unlocking Your Lower Back and Hips 231 Ryan Rolling Rules for Your Hips and Lower Back 232 An Inside Look at the Lower Back and Hips 233 Unlocking the Lower Back — Back Extensors 235 Getting ready 237 The exercise 237 Do’s and don’ts 238 Unlocking the Front of the Hip — Hip Flexors/Upper Quad 240 Getting ready 240 The exercise 241 Do’s and don’ts 242 Unlocking the Side of the Hip — Hip External Rotators, aka “The Ladder” 243 Getting ready 246 The exercise 247 Do’s and don’ts 248 Unlocking the Back of the Hip — The Glutes, aka “The Roof” 249 Getting ready 252 The exercise 252 Do’s and don’ts 254 Chapter 19: Unlocking Your Chest, Upper Back, and Neck 257 An Inside Look at the Chest, Upper Back, and Neck 258 Ryan Rolling Rules for Chest, Upper Back, and Neck 260 Unlocking the Front of Your Chest — The Pecs 261 Getting ready 262 The exercise 263 Do’s and don’ts 264 Unlocking Your Upper Back — Shoulder Blade Stabilizers 265 Getting ready 267 The exercise 268 Do’s and don’ts 269 Unlocking Your Side — Latissimus Dorsi 270 Getting ready 271 The exercise 272 Do’s and don’ts 273 Unlocking Your Neck — Upper Trapezius 274 Getting ready 276 The exercise 276 Do’s and don’ts 278 Chapter 20: Unlocking Your Shoulders and Arms 279 An Inside Look at the Shoulders and Arms 280 Starting with the shoulder girdle 280 Moving down the arm 281 Ryan Rolling Rules for Shoulders and Arms 281 Unlocking the Front and Side of the Shoulder — Delts 283 Anterior delt 283 Middle delt 284 Level 1 and Level 2 for anterior and middle delts 286 Do’s and don’ts 286 Unlocking the Back of the Shoulder — External Rotators 287 Getting ready 289 The exercise 290 Do’s and don’ts 291 Unlocking the Palm-Side of the Forearm — Wrist Flexors 293 Getting ready 294 The exercise 295 Do’s and don’ts 297 Unlocking the Back of the Forearm — Wrist Extensors 297 Getting ready 298 The exercise 299 Do’s and don’ts 300 Unlocking the Palm of the Hand — Finger Flexors 301 Getting ready 302 The exercise 303 Do’s and don’ts 304 Chapter 21: Foam Rolling Workouts and Key Stretches 305 Strengthening with a Roller 306 Forming your strengthening game plan 306 Key strengthening tips 307 Stretching with a Roller 307 Forming your stretching game plan 308 Key stretching tips 308 Upper-Body Roller Workouts and Stretches 308 Upper body–strengthening exercises 309 Upper-body stretches 319 Core and Spine Roller Workouts and Stretches 321 Core- and spine-strengthening exercises 321 Core and spine stretches 329 Lower Body Roller Workouts and Stretches 331 Lower body–strengthening exercises 332 Lower-body stretches 339 Part 5: Workouts, Stretches, Injury Management, and Injury Prevention with Rollers 343 Chapter 22: Injury Management with Rollers 345 ROLLER Treatment Planner 346 R: Research your muscles and joints (the What) 347 O: Origin of your restrictions (the Where) 347 L: Listen to your body (the Why) 347 L: Lay out your treatment plan (the How) 347 E: Execute your treatment plan (the Work) 348 R: Reset the way you move (the Reward) 348 Shoulder Injuries 350 Impingement syndrome 350 Rotator cuff strain 351 Elbow Injuries 353 Tennis elbow 353 Golfer’s elbow 354 Lower Back Injuries 355 Lower back pain 356 Glute pain and tightness 357 Hip Injuries 358 Hip flexor strain 359 Hip rotator strain and tightness 360 Thigh Injuries 361 Quadriceps strain 362 Hamstring strain 363 Knee Injuries 365 Patella tendonitis 365 Chondromalacia 366 Ankle Injuries 368 Ankle arthritis and tightness 368 Achilles tendonitis 369 Chapter 23: Injury Prevention with Rollers for Your Sports 371 What is Injury Prevention? 372 Three Steps to Prevent Injuries 373 1 Unlock the motor muscles 374 2 Strengthen opposing muscles 374 3 Launch prevention exercises for your sport 374 Applying the Three Steps to Preventing Injuries in Your Sport 375 Running 375 Cycling or spinning 376 Gym weight training 376 Swimming 377 Basketball 378 Golf 378 Soccer 379 Tennis 379 Gym cardio 380 Part 6: The Part of Tens 381 Chapter 24: Ten Roller Do’s and Don’ts 383 Do Breathe 383 Do Trust Your Roller and Your Body’s Response 384 Do Be Creative 384 Do Toughen Up 384 Do Follow Up Your Roll with Reset Moves 384 Don’t Hold Your Breath 385 Don’t Roll on Swollen and Inflamed Injuries 385 Don’t Add Joint Motion Too Early 385 Don’t Work Against Your Body 385 Don’t Roll on Nerves, Bones, or Open Wounds 386 Chapter 25: Ten Changes Your Body Will Feel from Rolling 387 Looser Muscles 387 Increased Joint Range of Motion 388 Less Effort to Move 388 Smellier Urine 388 Faster Warm-Up 389 Less Pain and Fewer Injuries 389 Increased Muscle Strength 389 Improved Posture 390 Faster Recovery 390 Better Sleep 391 Chapter 26: Ten Groups Who Love Rollers 393 Stiff or Inflexible People 394 The Injury-Prone 394 Runners 394 Mature Athletes 395 Cross Trainers 396 Bikers 396 Stop-and-Go Athletes 397 Walkers and Hikers 397 Human Cardio Machines 397 Yoga Haters 398 Index 399