Foam rollers first appeared in the 1980s. They started out life as tools used by practitioners of the Feldenkrais method to support the body in certain positions and for balance work until PT and Feldenkrais student Sean Gallagher began using them for self-massage techniques. From there, the idea spread, and it’s widely accepted that it was the physical therapist Mike Clark who first introduced them to the weight-lifting community in the 1990s. They’ve been promoted as a form of “self-myofascial release” – a way for active people to have their own soft tissue treatment without the expense of a sports masseur or therapist.

Since that time, they’ve gone from being an occasional fad to a staple of many athletes’ training programs. There are now heaps of web pages and YouTube videos showing people various ways of using the foam roller. But what do they actually do? If you spend much time on the internet, you’ll run into claims that a few minutes a day on a foam roller can do everything from breaking down scar tissue, to stretching and elongating fascia, improving mobility and circulation, and even getting rid of cellulite!
Inevitably, foam rolling has also attracted attention from skeptics, and various debunking articles have been posted, suggesting that common ideas about foam rolling are just plain wrong (sometimes in far less polite language).

As is often the case with these questions, whether or not something “works” or is “a waste of time” depends largely on what you’re trying to achieve with it in the first place. Green tea, for example, “works” just fine as a refreshing beverage (at least, that’s my opinion – your mileage may vary); as a cure for cancer, though, not so much. And it’s certainly the case that there are plenty of misleading claims for foam rolling. Let’s have a look at some of those now.
Things foam rolling is unlikely to help you with

• Foam rolling won’t stretch your fascia

Fascia is incredibly tough connective tissue – meat-eaters, think of the gristle in your steak. You’ve as much chance of softening steel cable with your foam roller as you do of elongating your iliotibial band by any clinically significant amount.

• Foam rolling won’t break down scar tissue or adhesions

The idea that certain treatments “break down scar tissue” is a common one. Unfortunately, as with fascia, scar tissue is tough stuff - a quick look at the physiology of scar tissue is enough to realize that it won’t be “broken down” by rubbing. Scar tissue can be “remodeled,” though – in fact, this is a normal part of scar tissue formation; with normal movement and exercise, the collagen fibers in the scar tissue become aligned along the lines of stress. This process can take up to a year or more. Does foam rolling help with this process? We don’t know – there appears to be no evidence to suggest that it does, or doesn’t.

• Foam rolling probably won’t improve your cellulite.

You guessed that one already, right?

Things foam rolling may help with

• Improved range of movement in the short term

A 2015 systematic review concluded that foam rolling could indeed help to improve range of motion, at least in the short term. However, it should be noted that a lot of the studies were small, the methods varied considerably, and the outcomes were somewhat mixed. 

• Reduced muscle soreness

The same systematic review also concluded that foam rolling could reduce the intensity of delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) 24 hours after exercise, and “

• Improved circulation.

This one is intriguing – some recent studies have found that foam rolling may improve circulation and reduce arterial stiffness – at least in the short term (the effect lasted at least 30 minutes after the foam rolling). It’s known that flexibility is associated with arterial distensibility, so it’s possible that this may be the mechanism behind some of the observed effects. The possible implications here are quite significant, although we don’t know yet the extent of these benefits.

Can foam rolling give longer-term improvements in flexibility?

The jury is still out on this one, as the research results have been mixed. It may depend on which muscle groups you’re foam rolling, as well as how much and how often you’re doing it – unfortunately, we’re not yet able to give an evidence based protocol that will guarantee optimal results, or even that it’s having the desired effect at all. One common suggestion is that foam rolling and stretching together work better for improving flexibility than either one by itself. This is plausible and may turn out to be the case, but the evidence is far from convincing.

Does foam rolling improve performance?

Studies have found that foam rolling doesn’t appear to interfere with muscle performance. That might not sound like a brilliant endorsement, but consider that the usual alternative for increasing range of motion prior to exercise is stretching – and researchers have concluded that at least some forms of stretching do negatively impact performance. So, if foam rolling can have similar benefits without the costs, then that could make it a valuable tool.

The verdict? False – foam rolling is not “a waste of time,” but whether it’s right for you depends on what you’re trying to achieve with it.

There’s evidence to suggest that foam rolling can help to improve mobility and reduce pain. It may turn out to have other benefits too. We don’t know how long its effects will last; whether it’s mostly a short-term fix, or whether it can give long-term gains - but fortunately, it’s quick, easy and cheap to do. How it works is still poorly understood though; there are plenty of speculations around, some more plausible than others, but not much that is based on solid science at this stage. Foam rolling is still a relatively new phenomenon, and there’s sure to be plenty more discussion and research to come. Watch this space!