However, for recreational athletes, a change in sprint performance of as little as ~0.3% may be barely noticeable due to greater likely variability in the athlete. In this case, the minimally rewarding improvement in sprint performance would be greater than the pre-rolling-induced change in sprint performance. Therefore, the impact of pre-rolling on sprint performance seems to be more relevant for elite athletes, while it is possible that recreational athletes may not benefit significantly from pre-rolling. In addition, the low average overall effect force for sprint performance is based on only four studies and is mainly due to studies conducted by Mikesky et al. (2002) and Peacock et al. (2014), which show effect sizes of 0.66 and 0.70 respectively. Therefore, it can be assumed that sprint performance per se does not benefit more from pre-rolling than other performance components and that the slightly larger effect sizes found for sprints are more likely to be due to methodological aspects and/or aberrations in the data. Therefore, sprint performance results should be interpreted with caution, as the number of studies available was limited and only two of them showed a significant positive effect. More simply, if the body`s pressure against the foam roller is maintained at the trigger point, the GTO will “deactivate” the activity of the muscle spindle so that the muscle fibers can stretch, de-strain and realign (5). The results of this meta-analysis show that the effects of RI on performance and recovery are rather small and partly negligible, but may be relevant in some cases (e.g., to increase flexibility or reduce muscle pain). However, any meta-analysis is limited by the available data, and there are several limitations to this analysis. First, most of the included studies contain small sample sizes, resulting in less statistical significance.

Second, none of the included studies were able to blind their patients to treatment due to the nature of the FR technique. Therefore, the placebo effect cannot be eliminated. Third, the methodology varied considerably from study to study. For example, the majority of published studies have not normalized and/or measured the applied rolling motion pressure, while only a few studies have used some sort of die-roller device to maintain a constant rolling intensity. Therefore, there can be large areas in the pressure exerted by FR. In addition, fr procedures differed in terms of application time, FR device used, and targeted muscles. Fourth, the studies recruited both high-performance athletes and recreational or untrained people in terms of the subjects` educational status. Overall, these differences may explain some of the inconsistent results in the current literature, and future research should explain this inconsistency by at least direct measurement, reporting, and normalization of the FR-induced pressure level. After all, statistical analysis is based only on articles published before January 2018. However, the vast majority of articles published since January 2018 confirm the cumulative effects of FR calculated in this meta-analysis. For example, Cheatham and Stull (2018), de Souza et al.

(2019), Hall and Chadwick Smith (2018), Killen et al. (2018), Macgregor et al. (2018), Madoni et al. (2018), Monteiro et al. (2018, 2019a, b) and Smith et al. (2018, 2019) were able to confirm that fr can improve flexibility, perceived perception of muscle pain and/or restoration of strength performance, while Madoni et al. (2018) found that FR had no effect on jumping performance. The word “myo” refers to the Latin term for muscle. The term “fascia” has already been described as “the soft tissue component of the connective tissue system” that permeates the human body and forms a continuous, three-dimensional matrix of structural support for the entire body. It penetrates and surrounds all organs, muscles, bones and nerve fibers, creating a unique environment for the functioning of the body`s systems. (5) Although there is disagreement on the definition of fascia tissue, this explanation provides sufficient understanding and remains relatively well formulated.

The term “myofasica” therefore refers to the complex interaction between these two soft tissues. Kelly, S., and Beardsley, C. (2016). Specific and crossed effects of foam bearing on the range of motion of dorsal ankle flexion. Int. J. Sports Phys. Ther. 11, 544–551. Foam rolling is an auto-myofascial release (SMR) technique, a type of therapy used to remove general fascia restrictions. It is often used as a warm-up exercise for mobility and/or as a refreshment for recovery, although it should not completely replace stretching. Research studies show that when foam rolling precedes static stretching, individuals can get deeper stretches because the muscles are warmer and more flexible.

This technique focuses on reducing pain or discomfort emanating from myofascial tissue – the hard but thin membranes that cover and surround your muscles. This type of pain comes specifically from “trigger points” in the deep areas of tissue. Foam rollers come in many shapes, sizes, and strengths, so be sure to use one that meets your needs. Although Pearcey et al. (2015) did not directly investigate the physiological mechanisms of FA, but hypothesized that post-roll could improve the recovery of dynamic performance measures after exercise through systemic biomechanical effects. These include: increased levels of circulating neutrophils; minor increases in creatine kinase in plasma after exercise; activated mechanosensory sensors that signal the transcription of COX7B and ND1 and indicate that new mitochondria are being formed, which would accelerate muscle healing; and fewer active heat shock proteins and immunocytokines, reflecting less cellular stress and inflammation. In addition, a decrease in pain perception can have a positive impact on the short-term recovery process of muscle function (Zorko et al., 2016), and better perception of muscle pain may be crucial to restoring physical performance, as muscle function is impaired in muscle pain (Graven-Nielsen et al., 2002). These mechanisms are described in more detail below. Myofascial release is a form of manual therapy designed to directly affect the myofascial complex by reducing localized tightness. In simpler terms, the foam roller is a form of self-manual therapy that aims to reduce myofascial sealing. The current belief is that this localized tightness leads to limitations in joint range of motion (ROM) and local blood flow (6), and that manual manipulation of this tension allows tissues to become softer and more flexible (7).

In addition to muscle tissue, research has proven that fascia also contains mechanoreceptors. However, the effects of postrolling on performance should again be interpreted with caution as the overall effects on sprint (p = 0.12) and power performance (p = 0.28) were not significant and the number of studies available was limited. Only one study found a clear advantage of post-roll for sprint performance (D`Amico and Gillis, 2017), while only two studies showed that post-rollover had a markedly positive effect on power performance (Zorko et al., 2016; Fleckenstein et al., 2017). In addition, the effects of roll on jumping ability were negligible (Figure 7), although research showed a clear relationship between sprinting, jumping and strength performance in athletes (Comfort et al., 2014). Therefore, it is questionable whether the mean improvements induced by post-rolling in performance recovery were really due to a true physiological effect of fr, or whether the placebo effect or methodological aspects contaminated these results. Aside from the positive effects of foam rolling on DOMS, little is known about how rolling foam can affect the speed of recovery from physical activity.