Using a foam roller can provide relief for pain and tightness, but it isn’t a fix-all solution.FreshSplash/Getty Images
Visit the cool-down area of any gym and you might notice people rolling their muscles over foam cylinders or rubber balls, or pounding them with a battery-powered massage gun. Most of them share the same goal: Easing the feeling of tension in their muscles and fascia – the connective tissue that surrounds and supports your muscles, tendons, joints and organs – to improve workout performance and minimize postexercise aches and stiffness.
This massage technique, called self-myofascial release, and the tools associated with it, has become a big part of the recovery market with the industry bringing in US$300-million in 2024 alone. Variations on fascia therapy-related terms are tagged more than a million times on Instagram.
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Jared Maynard, a Waterloo, Ont.-based physiotherapist, understands the curiosity and drive to fix the increasingly common problem of aching muscles and chronic pain. “We want answers to ‘Why am I hurting,’ and ‘How can I feel better?’” he says.
But when it comes to overall health and recovery, and when most of us are already short on time to devote to physical well-being, how much time do we really need to spend thinking about our fascia?
What is fascia?
Nearly three decades ago when she was working as a physical therapist, athletes would arrive in Kyra De Coninck’s office with pain they couldn’t pinpoint or explain. Then she learned about the fascia. “I had no idea that this tissue that connected joints, muscles, organs and skin was part of this web we really didn’t know much about,” she says.
Today De Coninck is the secretary of the Fascia Research Society and a senior lecturer in sports rehabilitation in the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences at the University of Kent, where she is also the founder of a lab focusing on fascia imaging research.
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Researchers such as De Coninck are continuing to learn more about the fascial system, which is made up of continuous connective tissue found below the skin from your head to your feet, with nerve endings that can sense pain, movement and pressure. It helps with mobility, force transmission (the process by which force generated by muscle fibers is transferred to bones to create movement), proprioception (your body’s sense of its position and movement in space) and shock absorption, among other crucial roles.
Healthy fascia that can glide easily can help you walk, run, jump, reach and perform most other daily activities smoothly. But unhealthy, inflamed or damaged fascia can lead to pain and some loss of mobility. Being sedentary for long periods can cause the fascia to shorten and stiffen, but certain repetitive movements, such as running or swinging a tennis racquet, can also cause some fascial inflammation.
Can you improve the health of your fascia?
Most concerns with the fascia aren’t irreparable, and for most of us, repetitive movements from sport or a sedentary lifestyle won’t lead to true structural changes in the fascia, explains Maynard.
“Fascia is really tough,” he says.
If you feel tight or stiff after a long bout of sitting, it’s more likely that your body has adapted to the demands of being sedentary. “And to change that,” says Maynard, “we want to meet the body where it’s at, encourage it to move more.”
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Overall fascia health is improved by a combination of strength, flexibility and stability, explains Tina Wang, a doctor who specializes in physical medicine and rehabilitation, and works with De Coninck as the vice president of the Fascia Research Society.
“You can’t just foam roll,” says Wang. “You cannot just massage and release.”
To make an impact, you have to challenge the muscles to move in a controlled, coordinated and efficient way, she explains. Everyday movement can keep your fascia healthy, as can activities like dynamic stretching, yoga, resistance training, walking, balance and stability exercises, and moving your body to move in multiple directions (lateral movements, twisting).
Can foam rolling help?
For relief of pain and tightness, using a foam roller, and other gear that can help with myofascial release (such as a Theragun), can be beneficial, in large part because it feels good and relaxing. The perception of less sore muscles, pain and fatigue can make it feel easier to get up and return to the gym for your next workout and that’s important for anyone trying to stick to an exercise regimen.
Maynard recommends spending just five minutes or so on foam rolling before a workout as part of a dynamic warmup. The changes in tightness tend to be short-lived but offer some improvements in flexibility during that window. To prepare for a set of squats, for example, you can foam roll your quad, do a few bodyweight squats and then transition to a light weight.
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For long-term fascia health, doing a variety of activities and moving more frequently is going to make a greater impact.
“If foam rolling feels good and helps you stay active, that’s great stuff,” says De Coninck. But, she adds, “we may not be stretching our fascia as much as we think we are.”
Maynard agrees. “It’s a tool,” he says, “but it’s not a fix-all.”
Alyssa Ages is a journalist and the author of Secrets of Giants: A Journey to Uncover the True Meaning of Strength. She is also a strongman competitor and endurance athlete, as well as a former personal trainer and group fitness instructor.