Rolling Back to 26.2

It was 3rd down and 15, less than 2 minutes to play and I was feeling good. As I jogged to the line, I visualized burning my defender deep and raking in my second touchdown of the day.

“GO!”

At the sound of the snap, I pushed off with my right leg and I heard it before I felt it. My calf tightened up and I attempted to limp/run the play through, hoping no one would notice. However, once I stopped and tried to return to the huddle, I realized something was wrong. I tried to play out the rest of the minute and 30 seconds, but realized the real game would begin once I stepped off the field.

At this point, I wish I could tell you I took off my helmet and sat down on the bench when the team’s trainer examined my torn calf muscle. However, the closest bench in Brighton’s McKinney Park was taken up by a 6 year old and his Dad, and the only trainer was a distant man teaching his dog to catch a Frisbee.

For a person who considers himself an athlete, it’s a bit humbling to explain to a co-worker in the elevator that you were limping down the hallway because you hurt yourself playing flag football with your team, Mustaches United. When you have drawn the stereotype “weird, health nut who’s always popping pills and drinking shakes,” with your office mates, the imagery of injuring oneself with two flags dangling from your waist doesn’t sit too well.

After the laughs and teasing died down, I realize the severity of the injury. Despite a religious regimen of ice, light stretching and rest, I couldn’t run away – literally. My aspirations of running a third marathon this May were fading with each painful step, so I laid off the pavement and hit the weights…and calories.

After five months of eating anything that wasn’t nailed down including a two week stretch of pizza, ice cream and brownies for dinner, I was hovering around 215 – a 50 pound weight gain from September. My calf and outer knee continued to bother me and finally I made an appointment with a sports medicine specialist / orthopedic surgeon.

“Torn calf muscle and iliotibial band syndrome.”

A visit to a local PT who specializes in sports therapy found me surrounded by pillars of foam that unleashed the miracle cure, self-myofascial release and deep tissue massage.

How does it work?

Self-myofascial release (SMR) on a foam roller is possible thanks to the principle known as autogenic inhibition. The Golgi Tendon Organ (GTO) is a mechanoreceptor found at the muscle-tendon junction; it’s highly sensitive to changes in tension in the muscle.

When tension increases to the point of high risk of injury (i.e. tendon rupture), the GTO stimulates muscle spindles to relax the muscle in question. This reflex relaxation is autogenic inhibition. The GTO isn’t only useful in protecting us from injuries, but it also plays a role in making proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) stretching techniques highly effective.

The muscle contraction that precedes the passive stretch stimulates the GTO, which in turn causes relaxation that facilitates this passive stretch and allows for greater range of motion. With foam rolling, you can simulate this muscle tension, thus causing the GTO to relax the muscle. Essentially, you get many of the benefits of stretching and then some.

It’s also fairly well accepted that muscles need to not only be strong, but pliable as well. Regardless of whether you’re a bodybuilder, strength athlete, or ordinary weekend warrior, it’s important to have strength and optimal function through a full range of motion. While stretching will improve the length of the muscle, SMR and massage work to adjust the tone of the muscle.

What’s SMR good for?

Traditional stretching techniques simply cause transient increases in muscle length (assuming that we don’t exceed the “point of no return” on the stress-strain curve, which will lead to unwanted deformities). SMR on the foam roller, on the other hand, offers these benefits and breakdown of soft tissue adhesions and scar tissue.

One mustn’t look any further than the overwhelmingly positive results numerous individuals have had with Active Release Techniques (ART) to recognize the value of eliminating adhesions and scar tissue. Unfortunately, from both a financial and convenience standpoint, we can’t all expect to get ART done on a frequent basis.

SMR on the foam roller offers an effective, inexpensive, and convenient way to both reduce adhesion and scar tissue accumulation and eliminate what’s already present on a daily basis. Just note that like stretching, foam rolling doesn’t yield marked improvements overnight; you’ll need to be diligent and stick with it (although you’ll definitely notice acute benefits).

So let’s get started!

Techniques

These techniques are actually very simple to learn. Basically, you just use your body weight to sandwich the roller between the soft tissue to be released and the floor. Roll at a slow pace and actually stop and bear down on the most tender spots (“hot spots”). Once the pain in these spots diminishes, roll the other areas.

In order to increase the pressure on the soft tissue, simply apply more of your body weight to the roller. The simplest way to do this is by either moving from working both legs at once to one leg, or by “stacking” one of your legs on top of the other to increase the tension.

As you get more comfortable with SMR, you’ll really want to be bearing down on the roller with most (if not all) of your body weight.

Demonstrations and Descriptions

Take a look at some of the exercises you can do for your hamstrings, quads, IT Bands and calves! The first exercise for the IT Bands will be the most painful, but for runners, the most beneficial.

Over the past two weeks, I’ve slowly started running again and hit four miles today…pain free! I have a long way to go to get back in racing shape, but the self-myofascial release with the foam roller has allowed me to take the crucial first steps to my next 26.2. 

You can buy a foam roller at Perform Better. Pick one up and give it a shot. Your body will thank you for years to come!

~ by tdparnell on March 25, 2008.