A foam roller is an inexpensive tool that can help you manage your pain symptoms and improve your overall flexibility. Using a foam roller helps to release trigger points or knots in the muscle, create better hip extension, and improve fascial or connective tissue mobility which will help improve blood flow to the muscles, and improve your overall flexibility. Many people have tight quads and hips from sitting all day or sleeping on our side with our hips flexed which could benefit from foam rolling. However, it is important to know how to foam roll hip flexors and quads correctly to benefit from this exercise.
Who Benefits from Using a Foam Roller?
Anyone with muscle pains or discomfort or tight muscles can benefit from foam rolling. Foam rolling can also be helpful in breaking up scar tissue and scar adhesions.
How Do You Use a Foam Roller?
Position yourself on the roller over the muscle you want to effect and roll back and forth, using your body for leverage. Make sure you are:
- using slow deliberate movements.
- using good posture and good form – this can be tricky and takes practice to be a skilled roller.
Check out the video below from Stephanie with foam roller exercises for quads:
How to Foam Roll Your Quads?
One of the muscles people don’t realize they can foam roll is their quad. Here’s how to do it:
- Lay your foam roller down and put it under you.
- Use your elbows to give you some arm support. If you have a little bit of arm support of your elbows
- Roll back and forth over your quads
- You can also change your angle, lean to one side or do one leg at a time.
- A lot of people are tight on the outside of their quads. So then you can go down toward the end of the roller to reach the outside of your quad.
How to Foam Roll Hip Flexors?
Here’s how you can stretch one of your hip flexor muscles or your psoas with foam roller:
- Put the foam roller underneath you and rest it under your pelvis.
- Bring both knees up toward your chest first, so you protect your back. You don’t want your back to be arched with this exercise.
- Hold one knee in toward your chest and let the other leg fall out straight. If you’re tight in your psoas, your foot might not reach the ground – make sure you don’t overextend your back to try to get the foot down. Make sure you’re protecting your back by keeping your knee drawn toward you.
- If the outside of your leg is tight, you might see that your leg draws outward a little bit. Just try to keep that leg guided more toward the midline.
- When you come out of your stretch, bring both legs in toward your chest and let the foam roller come out from underneath you so that you don’t strain your back getting up.
How Long and Often Should I Foam Roll?
Generally, if you are having a lot of pain, you don’t want to irritate the tissues and you need to give the tissue time to heal. In this case, we would recommend taking a day or two in between rolling sessions to let your tissues calm down.
You also may not need to roll directly over the injured area. Instead, roll the supporting structures around it. For example, if you have IT band pain, instead of going directly over the IT band, start with the quadricep and hamstrings.
Typically, you want to roll each muscle group that you are targeting for 30 seconds to 1 minute – so it may only take you a few minutes total to target all your hip muscles, or you may do several regions of the body and it takes you 30 minutes.
You do want to avoid staying on the foam roller in one spot too long – this can cause irritation to the tissue, inflammation, and lack of blood flow. So, don’t stay on it in one spot for more than 2-3 minutes at time.
Should I See a Professional?
Foam rolling might feel awkward at first and be painful. Physical therapy supports foam rolling exercises to help you to release tight muscles in your hips. We highly recommend talking to your physical therapist or trainer to get the correct technique so you don’t cause other injuries.
Suffering from tight hips and interested in learning how to foam roll hip flexors and quads? To discuss your symptoms with one of our physical therapists, call us at 267-282-1301 or click here to schedule a complimentary phone consultation. If you’re not in the area but are seeking a recommendation, contact us and we can help you find a professional in your area.
