Foam rolling wasn’t really a thing in mainstream fitness until the early 2000s. Since then, it often feels like you have to go through a long set of foam‑rolling drills to “be safe” before any lift or even preparing a tuna salad. Do I have my clients foam roll? Yes. Is it essential? It depends. In this guest piece by Dr. Nicholas Licameli, he clarifies what foam rolling is and isn’t.
FOAM ROLLING: THIS IS HOW WE ROLL
In the fitness world, foam rolling has become as common as yoga pants, bright athletic tops with bold quotes, and transformation photos on Instagram. A foam roller can be a useful tool if you use it correctly.
You may have heard big claims about foam rolling—things like lengthening muscles, breaking down scar tissue, freeing adhesions, remodeling collagen, or even curing cancer. But current research does not support these as the true mechanism of how foam rolling works.
In reality, our bodies can’t generate the kind of force needed to remodel tissues. Tissues are tougher than that. It would take thousands of pounds of force, which is not something we ever exert in everyday life. Last I checked, people aren’t foam rolling with that kind of force.
But we do feel better and looser after foam rolling. Why is that?
The effect seems to be nervous-system–driven rather than tissue remodeling. In simple terms, foam rolling creates a sensory input (pressure) that can alter the brain’s messages to a muscle, reducing its overall tone and making it feel looser. This can lessen what feels like tightness or pain.
A note on the IT band
Understanding this nerve-based mechanism helps explain why you should never foam roll the IT band. The IT band is a long tendon connected to the hip muscles, the outer quads, and the outer hamstrings, but it is not a muscle. It doesn’t have its own tone. Tightness in the IT band comes from the tone of the muscles around it. Rolling directly over the IT band can cause pain and may raise overall muscle tone.
So how should you approach rolling? Don’t overdo it and don’t roll every muscle all at once.
The benefits of foam rolling tend to be short-lived. If you spend 10, 20, or 30 minutes rolling different muscles, you’ll often lose the early relief. Although researchers haven’t nailed an exact best practice, short bouts of 10–60 seconds work well. Rather than focusing on time, focus on how it feels and the release you sense.
How to roll effectively
– Start with a slow, steady roll over the target muscle, scanning for tender spots.
– When you find a tender spot, pause and hold until you feel a release and the tenderness eases.
– Then roll slowly again over the entire muscle, as you started. It may be a bit uncomfortable, but too much pain can raise muscle tone, which is the opposite of what you want.
– Rolling should have a clear purpose and target specific muscles related to a movement you want to improve. Don’t roll aimlessly.
– Always test and retest. Check a movement (like a squat) before and after soft tissue work to see if there’s a meaningful change.
Longer-term improvements come when you load the movement after rolling. In the window after rolling, work on the movement you want to improve, gradually increasing the load across warm‑up sets. For example, if you feel your hips loosen during a squat, keep testing and then train the movement with heavier loads. Over time, this can help improve tissue quality and movement.
Foam rolling can also help kick-start recovery by engaging the parasympathetic nervous system, but that’s a separate topic.
Bottom line: don’t chase every latest trend or guru promise. Understanding what foam rolling does, how it works, and how to use it in your training can help you decide if and how to include it in your routine.
Let’s roll.
