What Does Science Say About Foam Rolling?

Foam rolling is one of the most controversial topics within the fitness space. Many trainers and massage therapists hold religiously passionate stances for or against foam rolling. No matter what I say, I’m going to trigger a lot of people.

Oh well, my loss is your gain because I’m about to implore on you everything science says about foam rolling.

The Two Camps

There are often two camps of people when it comes to foam rolling.

In the first camp, you’ll have fitness professionals who believe the foam roller and other self-massage tools are the answer to everything. These are the dorks who roll, massage, and smash their bodies until their skin is bruised purple. They’ll pretty much find any excuse to touch themselves for hours with massage tools.

On the other hand, you’ll have another camp of professionals who demonize foam rolling as some useless practice. These are the same losers who feel validated when they post about being too cool for foam rolling despite not having the mobility to reach their toes.

As you can see, the two extremes are probably not ideal, so let’s breakdown what science says about foam rolling, shall we?

How Foam Rolling Really Works

Foam rolling is also often called soft tissue therapy or self-myofascial release which are all interchangeable terms. Foam rolling is pretty much just a self-massage. There’s nothing magical about specifically using foam. You can get similar effects with other materials or from the hands of that hot massage therapist in your fantasies.

Foam rolling has many proposed theories on how it works. This is where most of it’s controversy stems from.

Science has put a man on the moon, but unfortunately, can’t definitively explain the exact mechanisms of foam rolling. Pretty lame if you ask me.

From the research papers we do have, here are all the potential mechanisms of how foam rolling could work (1,2).

Mechanical Mechanisms

Some people believe Mechanical mechanisms are involved meaning physical alterations occur through foam rolling. Common mechanical related theories include:

  • Reducing adhesions: breaking up sticking tissues or scar tissue
  • Altered tissue stiffness: physically making a muscle softer through physical force. (This is probably where the alternative name “soft tissue work” came from)
  • Thixotropic responses: making tissues more fluid like or melting tissue for lack of better word
  • Rehydration: physical force altering water content of tissue
  • Trigger points: breaking up fibrous muscle knots

Neurological and Physiological Mechanisms

Many people believe foam rolling is purely neurological meaning your nervous system is behind everything with not much physical alterations occurring.

The line of thought is that your brain modulates all the effects when you foam roll by neurologically pulling the brakes off a muscle and allowing it to move smoother. This reduces the sensation of pain and allows your muscles to tolerate greater ranges of motion because your brain no longer sees them as a threat.

Depending who you talk to, some people also think the nervous system releases muscle knots or trigger points while others don’t even believe muscle knots are real.

Other physiological mechanisms are closely tied to neurological mechanisms as well. They refer to the following:

  • Increased parasympathetic activity: basically, your nervous system is learning to calm the heck down.
  • Inflammatory responses: reducing inflammation and potentially releasing muscle knots.
  • Increased blood flow: this is self-explanatory

Psychological Mechanisms

There are also people who believe foam rolling is all in your head. This position explains foam rolling mechanisms through simply perceiving improvements and/or placebo.

What's The Truth?

The mechanism behind foam rolling is hotly debated daily between professionals. Arguably we know more about how to get people on the moon than foam rolling’s exact mechanisms.

However, I side with the perspective that it is mostly neurological mechanisms, not mechanical (24).

Besides potentially releasing muscle knots, deforming muscle tissue in other ways requires too much force for any human or piece of foam to accomplish (24,33). I mean, just imagine how uselessly fragile human muscles would be if we could manually manipulate them? Sitting all day would flatten all your perky booty gains, but this obviously doesn’t happen.

Foam Rolling and Acute Performance

Many people think pre-workout foam rolling boosts performance because it makes them feel good before training while others think it hurts performance because it makes muscles produce less force.

The research shows neither is true. Foam rolling generally doesn’t help or hurt performance when done before strength training which is when most people do it for performance benefits (1,3,4,5,10).

Some research shows it may slightly improve sprinting, jumping, or agility performance when done prior (1,9,25).

However, other research shows decreased jumping and athletic performance (34,36).

Furthermore, foam rolling does reduce resistance training performance when done between sets regardless if you’re rolling the targeted or opposite muscle (6,7,8).

Overall, It seems like you’re fine to foam roll before training as part of your warm up, but not between sets (37).

Foam Rolling and Range of Motion

Foam rolling does increase joint range of motion and muscle flexibility without hindering performance (1,3,4,5,10,26).

It also seems that longer foam rolling tends to produce greater flexibility improvements, but it doesn’t need to be extremely painful (11,3). So don’t rush the roller, but no need to press your muscles into submission.

Another added bonus is that foam rolling one body part has been shown to improve range of motion in another body part (8). Pretty neat and supports the neurological model of foam rolling. Your nervous system is basically tolerating more range in your limbs.

The big knock against foam rolling is that the flexibility improvements tend to be short term improvements, especially when you compare it to other means like eccentric training which can provide long term improvements (12,13).

Still, there is evidence showing foam rolling can make long term flexibility changes if done more frequently or combined with dynamic exercise (14,15). This is because your body gets used to moving through the new ranges of motion that you’ve unlocked.

You can also enhance the range of motion effects of foam rolling by combining it with stretching (19,20). Research shows, this is best done by foam rolling first, then following up with stretching.

For maximal long term flexibility improvements, the key sequence seems to be foam roll, then stretch (static or dynamic), then strength training (ideally eccentric training).

Foam Rolling’s Effect on Soreness and Recovery

Foam rolling can also be used as a post workout strategy to reduce soreness (1,16,17,18,25). In one study, a foam rolled limb was about 2.5x less sore than a non-treated limb (27).

However, here’s the interesting thing about foam rolling studies. Despite some considerable effects on feeling less sore and perceiving less fatigue, actual performance recovery is not enchanced (27,28,29).

Only a few studies show slight benefit to recovery of performance makers.

One meta-analysis on this topic using 7 studies showed improved recovery by about 3% in sprints and 4% in strength training (1).

A meta-analysis for massage and recovery showed pretty similar findings except it did show a moderate effect after high intensity mixed training (30).

Shin et al 2015 found a 15 minute massage after exercise induced muscle damage improved strength and proprioception in the lower leg compared to control (31).

Drinkwater et al 2019 found after eccentric leg extensions, foam rolling significantly improved jump performance while other markers were the same between groups (32).

However, the most recent and biggest (29 studies) meta-analysis found sports massage improved sorness and flexibility, but did not improve any measure of performance (34). Massage is often a premium foam roller, so this likely reveals foam rolling essentially makes us feels good, but our recovery is largely unaffected.

To be clear, I’m not saying foam rolling is useless. It still has other benefits and clearly makes you feel good, but the data shows athletic recovery benefits are weak at best and muscle recovery relevant to strength training is non-existent.

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Foam Rolling and Pain Points

Look, sliding on a piece of foam isn’t going to heal all your pain, at least not by itself. Research shows it can help and probably isn’t a bad thing to incorporate along with other therapeutic methods.

Myofascial release has been shown to help with headaches, tennis elbow, and back pain (21,22,23).

One study in particular showed when myofascial release is combined with back specific exercises, back pain was reduced more than just doing the back specific exercises alone (23).

So while it’s not the holy grail of solutions, it’s a great addition to include on top of rehab and strength training.

Facts About Foam Rolling

How foam rolling works is still not definitive, but most of the evidence points towards neurological mechanisms.

But who actually even cares about how it works right? Anyone who’s tried it knows it feels pretty good and fortunately, research shows it has some tangible benefits like improved range of motion.

Foam rolling or self-massage can:

  • Be done as part of warm up without hindering performance.
  • Improve range of motion, ideally done before or after workouts, but not between sets.
  • Decrease soreness after your workout and make you feel better, but doesn’t actually speed up recovery too significantly if any at all.
  • Aid in general pain that feels like tightness/knots. (whether muscle knots are a real thing deserves a separate article)
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  1. Wiewelhove, et al. “A Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Foam Rolling on Performance and Recovery.” Frontiers, Frontiers, 18 Mar. 2019, www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphys.2019.00376/full.
  2. Cole, Gibwa. “The Evidence Behind Foam Rolling: A Review.” ResearchGate, 2018, 
  3. “Higher Quadriceps Roller Massage Forces Do Not Amplify… : The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research.” LWW
  4. Behara, Brandon, and Bert H Jacobson. “Acute Effects of Deep Tissue Foam Rolling and Dynamic Stretching on Muscular Strength, Power, and Flexibility in Division I Linemen.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Apr. 2017, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26121431.
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  6. “Acute Effects of Different Foam Rolling Volumes in the Interset Rest Period on Maximum Repetition Performance.” Hong Kong Physiotherapy Journal, No Longer Published by Elsevier, 7 May 2017, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1013702516300707.
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  8. Monteiro, Estêvão R, et al. “Posterior Thigh Foam Rolling Increases Knee Extension Fatigue and Passive Shoulder Range-of-Motion.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Apr. 2019, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30741873.
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  14. Bushell, Jennifer E, et al. “Clinical Relevance of Foam Rolling on Hip Extension Angle in a Functional Lunge Position.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Sept. 2015, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25734777.
  15. Junker, Daniel H, and Thomas L Stöggl. “The Foam Roll as a Tool to Improve Hamstring Flexibility.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Dec. 2015, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25992660.
  16. Fleckenstein, Johannes, et al. “Preventive and Regenerative Foam Rolling Are Equally Effective in Reducing Fatigue-Related Impairments of Muscle Function Following Exercise.” Journal of Sports Science and Medicine, 1 Dec. 2017, www.jssm.org/hf.php?id=jssm-16-474.xml.
  17. Dupuy, et al. “An Evidence-Based Approach for Choosing Post-Exercise Recovery Techniques to Reduce Markers of Muscle Damage, Soreness, Fatigue, and Inflammation: A Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis.” Frontiers, Frontiers, 4 Apr. 2018, www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphys.2018.00403/full.
  18. D’Amico, A P, and J Gillis. “The Influence of Foam Rolling on Recovery from Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research., U.S. National Library of Medicine, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=28902111.
  19. Mohr, Andrew R, et al. “Effect of Foam Rolling and Static Stretching on Passive Hip-Flexion Range of Motion.” Journal of Sport Rehabilitation, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Nov. 2014, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24458506.
  20. Škarabot, Jakob, et al. “Comparing the Effects of Self-Myofascial Release with Static Stretching on Ankle Range-of-Motion in Adolescent Athletes.” International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy, Sports Physical Therapy Section, Apr. 2015, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4387728/.
  21. Ajimsha, M S. “Effectiveness of Direct vs Indirect Technique Myofascial Release in the Management of Tension-Type Headache.” Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Oct. 2011, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21943616.
  22. Ajimsha, M S, et al. “Effectiveness of Myofascial Release in the Management of Lateral Epicondylitis in Computer Professionals.” Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Apr. 2012, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22236639.
  23. Ajimsha, M S, et al. “Effectiveness of Myofascial Release in the Management of Chronic Low Back Pain in Nursing Professionals.” Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Apr. 2014, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24725797.
  24. Behm, David G, and Jan Wilke. “Do Self-Myofascial Release Devices Release Myofascia? Rolling Mechanisms: A Narrative Review.” Sports Medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), U.S. National Library of Medicine, Aug. 2019, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31256353.
  25. “Effects of Foam Rolling as a Recovery Tool in Professional Soccer… : The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research.” LWW
  26. Wilke, Jan, et al. “Acute Effects of Foam Rolling on Range of Motion in Healthy Adults: A Systematic Review with Multilevel Meta-Analysis.” Sports Medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), U.S. National Library of Medicine, 18 Oct. 2019, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31628662.
  27. Laffaye, Guillaume, et al. “Self-Myofascial Release Effect With Foam Rolling on Recovery After High-Intensity Interval Training.” Frontiers in Physiology, Frontiers Media S.A., 16 Oct. 2019, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6805773/.
  28. Cheatham, Scott W, et al. “THE EFFECTS OF SELF-MYOFASCIAL RELEASE USING A FOAM ROLL OR ROLLER MASSAGER ON JOINT RANGE OF MOTION, MUSCLE RECOVERY, AND PERFORMANCE: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW.” International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy, Sports Physical Therapy Section, Nov. 2015, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4637917/.
  29. Schroeder, Allison N, and Thomas M Best. “Is Self Myofascial Release an Effective Preexercise and Recovery Strategy? A Literature Review.” Current Sports Medicine Reports, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2015, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25968853.
  30. Poppendieck, W, et al. “Massage and Performance Recovery: A Meta-Analytical Review.” Sports Medicine (Auckland, N.Z.)., U.S. National Library of Medicine, Feb. 2016, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=26744335.
  31. Shin, Mal-Soon, and Yun-Hee Sung. “Effects of Massage on Muscular Strength and Proprioception After Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Aug. 2015, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25226328.
  32. Drinkwater, Eric J, et al. “Foam Rolling as a Recovery Tool Following Eccentric Exercise: Potential Mechanisms Underpinning Changes in Jump Performance.” Frontiers in Physiology, Frontiers Media S.A., 26 June 2019, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6607216/.
  33. Chaudhry H;Schleip R;Ji Z;Bukiet B;Maney M;Findley T; “Three-Dimensional Mathematical Model for Deformation of Human Fasciae in Manual Therapy.” The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association, U.S. National Library of Medicine, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18723456/.

  34. Davis, Holly Louisa, et al. “Effect of Sports Massage on Performance and Recovery: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine, BMJ Specialist Journals, 1 May 2020, bmjopensem.bmj.com/content/6/1/e000614.

  35. Fama, Brian. “The Acute Effect Of Self-Myofascial Release On Lower Extremity Plyometric Performance.” ResearchGate, 2011, www.researchgate.net/publication/254643705_The_Acute_Effect_Of_Self-Myofascial_Release_On_Lower_Extremity_Plyometric_Performance.

  36. sagiroglu, Isa. “Residual Effects of Static Stretching and Self-Myofascial-Release Exercises on Flexibility and Lower Body Explosive Strength in Well-Trained Combat Athletes.” ResearchGate, 2017,

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