Long hours at the desk can cause our bodies to tighten and our posture to deteriorate, setting us up for injuries and a poor quality of life.
Lack of movement causes muscles to shorten and tighten, and the sliding surfaces between muscle and fascia to stick together making it more difficult for our bodies to move freely. These adhesions or muscle knots are referred to as ‘trigger points’. Pain can frequently radiate from these trigger points and they can often be felt as a nodule or tight band of muscle.
If you’ve ever had a good massage you know how great your body feels afterwards. It is believed that massage helps to rehydrate muscles and break away adhesions and ‘trigger points’ built up between the fascia and the muscle, allowing for increased mobility and freer movement.
Unless you’re a professional athlete, daily massages from a masseuse are not readily available. A simple and effective tool that allows everyone to be able to apply their own ‘trigger point’ therapy for body maintenance and recovery is the foam roller.
Through regular use the foam roller can help mobilise and release tight calves, iliotibial band (ITB), quads, adductors, glutes, spinal erectors, lats, shoulders and tricep muscles.
Roll through tight muscles, knots and kinks. The more you use the roller, the more supple your body will be, meaning it will move better, recover quicker and is at less risk of injury. The better your body moves the more athletic you can become.
