Purpose
Foam rolling has been developed to a popular intervention and has been established in training and rehabilitation.
Despite the growing application of foam rolling,
there is a lack of studies that observed its effects on cellular and physiological level.
Thus the aim of the present study was to assess the impact of foam rolling on arterial blood flow of the lateral thigh.
Methods and Materials
In total,
21 healthy participants (age 25 ± (2) years,
height 177 ± (9) cm,
body weight 74 ± (9) kg) were recruited from the medical and sports faculty.
Arterial tissue perfusion was determined by terms of spectral Doppler and power Doppler ultrasound,
represented as Peak Flow (Vmax),
Time Average Velocity Maximum (TAMx),
Time Average Velocity Mean (TAMn) and Resistance Index (RI),
as well as with a semiquantitative grading which has been assessed by four blind-folded investigators.
Measurement values were assessed under resting conditions (baseline)...
Results
Our results indicate that arterial blood flow of the lateral thigh increases significantly following foam rolling exercises in comparison to baseline conditions (p<0.05).
We could detect a relative raise for Vmax of 73.6% (0 min) and 52.7 % (30 min) (p<0.001),
for TAMx of 53.2% (p<0.001) and 38.3 % (p=0.002) and for TAMn of 84.4% (p<0.001) and 68.2 % (p<0.001).
In addition semiquantitative Power Doppler scores at all portions revealed an increased average grading of 1.96 directly after intervention and 2.04 after 30 min compared...
Conclusion
An increase of arterial blood flow suggests a role for the acute phase after foam rolling.
Our data may contribute to the understanding of local physiological reactions of self-myofascial release.
The advantages of enhanced blood flow might be important for warm-up and recovery and our data support the implementation of foam rolling in sports if tissue circulation is required.
References
Bushell JE,
Dawson SM,
and Webster MM.
Clinical Relevance of Foam Rolling on Hip Extension Angle in a Functional Lunge Position.
Journal of strength and conditioning research / National Strength & Conditioning Association 29: 2397-2403,
2015.
Mohr AR,
Long BC,
and Goad CL.
Effect of foam rolling and static stretching on passive hip-flexion range of motion.
Journal of sport rehabilitation 23: 296-299,
2014.
Okamoto T,
Masuhara M,
and Ikuta K.
Acute effects of self-myofascial release using a foam roller on arterial function.
Journal of strength...
Personal Information
Dr.
med.
Thilo Hotfiel and Prof.
Dr.
med.
Bernd Swoboda,
Division of Orthopedic Rheumatology,
Department of Orthopedic Surgery,
Friedrich-Alexander- University of Erlangen-Nuremberg,
Germany
Dr.
med.
Rafael Heiß and Prof.
Dr.
med.
Michael Uder,
Department of Radiology,
University Hospital Erlangen,
Germany