Mike D. Ryan - Foam Rolling For Dummies

Foam Rolling For Dummies

Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com

Copyright 2021 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2020949681

ISBN 978-1-119-75732-0 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-75733-7 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-75734-4 (ebk)

1. Chapter 5
2. Chapter 10

1. Chapter 1
2. Chapter 2
3. Chapter 3
4. Chapter 4
5. Chapter 5
6. Chapter 6
7. Chapter 7
8. Chapter 8
9. Chapter 9
10. Chapter 10
11. Chapter 11
12. Chapter 12
13. Chapter 13
14. Chapter 14
15. Chapter 15
16. Chapter 16
17. Chapter 17
18. Chapter 18
19. Chapter 19
20. Chapter 20
21. Chapter 21
22. Chapter 26

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step is a famous Chinese proverb attributed to Lao Tzu. As a sports medicine specialist, physical therapist, former National Football League Head Athletic Trainer and six-time Ironman triathlete, I playfully remind my patients, A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single roll.

I want to congratulate you on taking your first step to gaining control of your body by seeking the skills to master the use of rollers. I see way too many people with chronically tight muscles and painful joints seeking complex and expensive means to restore their muscle and joint mobility. Too often, they overlook simpler and inexpensive solutions, like rollers and roller balls, as a trusted tool to reduce their muscle pain without medicine.

Humbled by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, most of us, myself included, have come to the realization that our most treasured human possession is our health. My passion as a sports medicine specialist is to help people just like you to manage your pain using safe and effective techniques without medicine. That is why Ive focused a large part of my physical therapy treatments to include rollers, half rollers, roller balls, and vibrating rollers.

This book is for you. Ill share with you sports medicine tips normally reserved for elite, professional athletes. This book will help you master roller treatments, workouts, and stretches to reduce your muscle pain and increase your joint mobility.

Rollers will change your life. Youll learn to scout your body for painful muscle restrictions, quickly unlock tight muscles, perform targeted strengthening exercises, and finish with tailored functional drills to keep you pain-free.

Well start with everything you need to know about the rollers themselves the round ones, the ball ones, the half ones, and even the vibrating ones. Next, youll look at all the muscles and stuff under the skin that youll be treating with those rollers. Becoming familiar with tight muscles, bound-down fascia, trigger points, and scar tissue will make you an expert at fixing your nagging aches and pains quickly just like world-class athletes do.

The next five chapters is the fun part, says the physical therapist. Youll learn 56 muscle-unlocking treatments, neatly arranged into five treatment zones:

• Upper leg
• Lower leg and foot
• Lower back and hips
• Chest, upper back, lats, and neck
• Shoulders and arms

After your muscles are unlocked, loose, and limber, theyre perfectly primed for the challenging roller workouts found in . Your key muscles will be targeted for both strengthening and lengthening with your new versatile training partner: your roller.

We all have aches and pains that try to slow us down. They wont succeed if you implement the pain-eliminating game plans found in the injury management chapter, . Ill share with you my easy-to-follow sports medicine checklist developed to safely return injured professional athletes back on the field.

Lastly, this book provides another level of support for your health and wellness by helping you to stay injury-free by customizing your injury prevention game plan. All you need to do is plug in your sport, and youll be given customized treatments, strengthening drills, and preventative exercises to keep you injury-free.

I didnt write this book solely for professional football players or Ironman triathletes, who Ive treated for a majority of my professional career. As I wrote this book, I made some assumptions about you, the reader.

I assume youre a hard-working, non-professional athlete, who wants to stay very active and healthy as you juggle a full-time job, a significant other, children, a moderately active social life, and, a few nagging injuries that just dont seem to go away.