The Foam Roller.. upgraded
My journey into trying EVERYTHING to sort out my back issues has brought me to the foam roller, a history of failure first. Such an innocuous looking device, but one wrong move or location and you can be screaming. Let me be frank, I threw mine away a few years ago - I hated the satan invented torture device. I used to have one of those nobbly ones - a close third place behind standing on lego with bare feet, which is of course only trumped by the definition of pain itself - the upturned plug.
I tried it a few times, it was too grim and painful to use frequently. The frequency dropped from sporadic to never. I don’t know why I got the nobbly type, but it was an error, the cursed object is now punishing inanimate objects crushed against it in landfill. Sorry.
I’m in my “month off” and whilst I’m still running and on the bike, I’m not doing much mileage and importantly putting lots of effort into rehab and my persistent back woes. A recent trip to Portugal gave me a chance to try the foam roller again by chance.
EasyJet might be a great low-cost airline, but it’s misery if you are 6ft 6in with about as much padding on your backside as a piece of clingfilm. The flight, followed by a contortionist manoeuvre to get into the hire car had my back “a little angry”, this wasn’t helped by the soft mattress in the apartment. I woke feeling pretty bad, of course my response and well trodden path is the “run it loose” and so off I went. My back eased after a few km and I was enjoying running in the warmer climes.
Returning from my run I saw a foam roller in the corner, I am not sure what possessed me to lie on the thing and roll about, but roll about I did - it felt ok, in fact it felt quite good. The roller was nobble-free, clearly purchased by someone far less masochistic than me. Holidays leave you with a bit more time to think than the normal week and my foam rolling experience took me online, before long I had found the Therabody Foamroller - it’s a foam roller that vibrates. A review said how the vibrations significantly reduced the painful sensations felt whilst rolling, I think grinding is more accurate, along the ITB’s - I was sold.
The package was waiting for me when I got home. So what’s it like? It’s really very good, firstly the App has a bit of guidance and timers - useful but not a game changer. The test, can I roll my ITB's with all my weight on the roller… let’s see… it bloody works. I’m regularly using the foam roller to warm up and cool down, it’s becoming a staple in my ever increasing routine and I have to say I’m very impressed. There’s a random bit of blue rubber, whilst that seems to want to wiggle it’s way out of the roller, that’s about the only thing I have found issue with - the device is solid and comes with a carry bag and charger. The vibrations can be tailored from a gentle to seismic, all in they have taken a device that largerly causes pain and discomfort and turned it into a useful tool to work on tired muscles.
It’s called a Wave Roller, I’ve not tried the other shaped ones they have, let’s see if I’m consistently using this one in 6 months time. If you hate foam rolling, but you know you should - this could be your gateway. I’ve just plain hate yourself, and I mean really hate yourself then get the cheapo nobbly one - but don’t say I didn’t warn you.
https://www.therabody.com/uk/en-gb/wave-roller.html?cgid=shop-performance#start=1
The Wave Roller
By Therabody.. the people that make everything wobble.