Self-Myofascial Release (Foam Rolling)

Fascia as sensory organ: 250 million nerve endings connect everything from foot to face

Fascia connects everything in the body from foot to face, cell to skin. It is invested with 250 million nerve endings, making fascial tissues a major sensory organ, not just structural connective tissue.

"Fascia connects everything in your body from foot to face, cell to skin, and everything in between."

Foam rolling enhances proprioception which dampens pain perception

A key reason to do self-myofascial release or foam rolling is to enhance proprioception. This proprioceptive enhancement has an inverse relationship to pain perception, meaning better body awareness leads to reduced pain.

"personal favorite reasons to do selfmyofascial release or to do foam rolling is to enhance one's propriception, to enhance one's ability to know where they are in their own body"

Foam rolling opens a therapeutic window

Foam rolling doesn't break up scar tissue or adhesions by itself. What it actually does is open a "therapeutic window" that makes all subsequent mobility work, strength training, and physical therapy more effective.

"That's it. It's open. It opens up what's called a therapeutic window. What that therapeutic window does will make anything that you do after that even more effective. So foam rolling is a great place to begin your mobility routine. It's a great place to begin your strength training routine. It's a great place to begin your physical therapy. It"

Foam rolling is where the work begins, not ends

The foam roller or lacrosse ball is the starting point of a training session, not the finish line. After opening the therapeutic window, you should follow with targeted mobility and strengthening work in the same area.

"That lacrosse ball, that foam roller is where your work begins. It's where your work begins because it's opening up a therapeutic window that's going to make all subsequent movements even more effective."

The gap between passive and active range of motion is where injuries happen

A large discrepancy between what range of motion someone can passively achieve versus what they can actively control is where injuries are most likely to occur. This is why building active strength through the full range matters more than passive stretching.

"passive range of motion and active range of motion, that discrepancy is where we are most likely to get injured because we don't control that area of space between active and passive range of motion. So just some food for thought as far as that's concerned."

Passive modalities must be paired with active modalities

If you can only choose one, active modalities like strength training are always the better bet. But ideally, passive modalities like foam rolling are used to gain access, then active modalities lock in the gains through personal strength and motor control.

"So there is a place for that and we can totally make that argument. But if we actually want our bodies to feel better and move better, then there does need to be a large emphasis on active modalities as a part of those passive modalities. So we can use those passive modalities as a way to gain further access into our active modalities. So we need both."

Foam rolling is a performance tool, not just recovery

Colleen explains that foam rolling's best use is preparing the body for movement, not just recovering from it. She compares it to brushing your teeth—it should be a daily practice that bridges the gap between sedentary time and exercise.

"So many people use foam rolling as recovery, a recovery tool. And while that is good, it's not the best use for it. And so in society today, we sit too much, we don't move enough, and then we get going, right? So we go from sedentary to movement, and we don't have anything in between. Foam rolling for me is what prepares the body for movement."

Target areas runners should focus on for foam rolling

Colleen recommends three areas below the belt (calves, quads, hips) and three above (pecs, lats, T-spine) for runners. She emphasizes that hamstrings are usually a victim of problems elsewhere and that upper body rolling is important for breathing and posture.

"I always start with the calf complex. I usually move on to the quads and I explain to people, everybody wants to go to their hamstrings. Everybody, when we say start foam rolling, they put it on the back of their leg, they sit on it, and they roll their hamstrings. And the hamstrings are just a victim of other things that are going wrong in the body."

The victim cries out, but the criminal never does

Colleen's memorable coaching cue explains that where you feel pain is often not where the problem originates. You should always look above and below the affected joint to find the real source of dysfunction.

"The victim cries out, but the criminal never does. So we tend to roll where we feel the pain the most, right? But oftentimes that's not where we need to be rolling. There's something else going on."

Rolling before exercise beats rolling after

If you can only pick one time to foam roll, do it before exercise rather than after. Pre-exercise rolling decreases injury risk, increases range of motion, hydrates the body, and improves performance. Most people use it solely as recovery, missing its potential as a performance tool.

"And stretching is not enough to do that. And in fact, if I've got to pick rolling or stretching, I'm always going to pick rolling beforehand. It decreases risk of injury, it increases range of motion, it hydrates the body, and it really gets you out there and you can perform much better."

What fascia is and how foam rolling works

Explains fascia as the sheath that holds muscles together, like a sausage casing, and how self-myofascial release treats sore spots by applying gentle steady pressure with body weight on a foam roller.

"Fascia is a sheath that goes over the muscle and holds the muscle in together. So imagine a sausage stuffed with meat and then you had that sausage sheath on the outside which holds it all together. That's the fascia and that's basically what we're hitting here with this foam roller."

How to use the foam roller on painful spots

Describes the core technique of self-myofascial release: applying body weight on a foam roller, pausing on painful spots until the pain subsides by 20-30%, then moving on. Recommends 15 minutes after every ride.

"Self-facial release treats sore spots by using a foam roller to apply gentle, steady pressure when you're putting your body weight on it to move slowly over the section of soft tissue and you pause when you hit a painful spot."