The manner in which you us the foam roller can really help in your workout process. Foam rolling is designed to help minimize the amount of adhesion in some parts of your connectivity joints, but a lot of people have developed injuries or even increased their pain by virtue of the manner in which they were foam rolling.
In order to prevent injuries when using a foam roller during an exercise, you are advised to drop whatever you are doing and pay particular attention to the common mistakes people make and how to avoid them.
1. Don’t roll directly where you are feeling pain
This is a common mistake we all make, we tend to be naturally drawn to roll directly in the places where we are feeling the pain, but health experts have advised that this can be a damaging mistake. They have explained that where you are feeling the pain is simply a victim of where the pain actually is, which may not necessarily be where you are feeling it. It is best advised to start indirectly instead of starting direct.
2. Don’t roll too fast
The feeling can be pleasurable when you get to go pretty fast, to and fro, but this is not really the most effective method of doing foam rolling. It is recommended that you take it as slow and as gentle as can be. Make it slow so that the shallow layers and muscles can adapt very well to the compression emitted from the roller.
3. Maintain a good posture
While foam rolling, you should try as much as possible to maintain a very good posture. Don’t get distracted with relieving your pain so much so that you forget about your posture which will eventually cause another pain. If it is possible and affordable, get an instructor who will guide you through the various techniques.
4. Avoid rolling on your lower back
This can be very tempting to avoid, especially when you may have seriously strained your back. Doing this will cause your spine to ‘freak out and all the spinal muscles will contract to protect the spine.’ So be extremely careful with the roller and your back.
In conclusion, foam rolling have been recommended by health experts to solve low back pain, upper back pain, heel pain, shoulder pain (back side and front side), shin pain, Achilles tendon pain, knee pain and many more, but the crucial point is to be able to use the foam roller as efficient and as proper as possible.
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