The Acute Effect of Foam Rolling on Eccentrically-Induced Muscle Damage

Abstract

Previous studies have shown significant improvement in muscle soreness and muscle function loss after 300-s foam rolling intervention two days after intense exercise. However, this duration is assumed to be too long, so investigating the effect of short-term duration foam rolling intervention on an eccentrically-damaged muscle is needed. This study aimed to eccentrically induce muscle damage in the leg extensors, and to detect the acute effect of 90-s foam rolling on muscle soreness and muscle function of the quadriceps muscle. We enrolled 17 healthy and nonathlete male volunteers. They performed a bout of eccentric exercise of the knee extensors with the dominant leg and received 90-s foam rolling intervention of the quadriceps two days after the eccentric exercise. The dependent variables were measured before the eccentric exercise (baseline), and before (preintervention) and after foam rolling intervention (postintervention), two days after the eccentric exercise. The results show that the preintervention muscle soreness and muscle strength values were significantly increased, compared with the baseline values, whereas the postintervention values were significantly decreased, compared with the preintervention values. Furthermore, 90-s of foam rolling intervention could improve muscle soreness and muscle function loss.

The Accumulated Effects of Foam Rolling Combined with Stretching on Range of Motion and Physical Performance: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Wilke et al (2020) reported in a recent meta-analysis that foam rolling and stretching have a similar magnitude of change on ROM, so that athletes could apply either stretching or foam rolling to increase ROM, according to their preference. However, several studies have reported enhanced recovery and reduced delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS) following foam rolling (MacDonald et al, 2014;Nakamura et al, 2020;Pearcey et al, 2015), but not following a stretching exercise (Afonso et al, 2021;Henschke 2011). Therefore, if a secondary goal is to reduce DOMS, besides the increase in ROM, foam rolling is likely the better treatment.…”

Effects of Tissue Flossing on the Healthy and Impaired Musculoskeletal System: A Scoping Review

“…A further frequently investigated warm-up modality, besides stretching, is foam rolling, in terms of possible benefits in the range of motion (Nakamura et al, 2021), strength (Reiner et al, 2021), or recovery (Nakamura et al, 2020). Cheatham et al (2020) compared a flossing treatment with a single session of foam rolling and also with instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization (a kind of massage).…”

Acute Comparative Effect of Foam Rolling and Static Stretching on Range of Motion in Rowers

“…The protocol for foam rolling was 3 sets of 2 s repetition duration for each exercise, with a total duration of 30 s per set [17]. One repetition of foam rolling intervention consists of one distal rolling plus one subsequent proximal rolling movement [10]. The intensity with foam rolling was determined by the subjects' body weight as they used the foam roller, sliding it from the origin to the insertion of the muscle [14].…”

“…Several studies have compared foam rolling and static stretching, as well as other myofascial release methods [9], finding that foam roller yields a greater increase in range of motion than static stretching and improves flexibility and recovery by reducing muscle pain [5]. Furthermore, foam rolling seems to improve muscle soreness and muscle function loss [10]. Similarly, this technique seems to increase anti-inflammatory proteins, reduce proteins that promote inflammation, favoring muscle recovery and better performance [11], and increases blood lactate clearance, and leads to regenerate psychological characteristics during short-term compacted tournaments [12].…”