Foam rolling because...

[chrisd]

Foam rolling because... hitting yourself with a meat tenderiser isn't painful enough.

[Murelli]

Necroing because of Mike Tuschscherer: What?s the Recovery Value of a Massage? ReactiveTrainingSystems|

[perman]

Necroing because of Mike Tuschscherer: What?s the Recovery Value of a Massage? ReactiveTrainingSystems|

Quantifying the effects massage had on his recovery... Tuscherer is the man.

[Skander]

Necroing because of Mike Tuschscherer: What?s the Recovery Value of a Massage? ReactiveTrainingSystems|

Though if you like the feeling after, the risk reward is better with foam rolling because it's not $60.

Personally I used to do it after every session, got busy, did just some stretching if anything after sessions. I got a couple of muscle tweaks in my back in addition to feeling kind of shitty which I eventually realized was due to hip tightness. I was watching some video from a PT on how to deal with hip tightness on your own and I realized it was basically applying pressure to legs, etc, and I could do that with foam rolling. As soon as I did, my hips felt way better- when I foam roll it seems to loosen that area up. So for me, I think it was playing a preventative role I wasn't respecting (still don't really cause still busy), and when I stopped doing it, it stopped preventing that problem.

Also I can only get a really nice back crack if I roll everything else first. Which kind of sucks, though I think it's more about the relaxation than the foam rolling.

[perman]

After I had some chiropractics a few years ago that worked on my shoulders and upper back, I've been able to "crack" the thoracic spine by foam rolling on it. This provides some temporary relief, but I have to do it often, so it never helps long term for anything.