Stretching vs foam rolling: which should you do?

What is the best way to increase flexibility?

Stretching

Conventional stretching is probably the “benchmark” procedure for increasing flexibility. It gives a significant and prolonged increase in the length of muscles, allowing for and increased range of joint movements (1,2)

Foam rolling

The trials also show that foam rolling will initially increase flexibility, but this increase only lasts less than 10 minutes (3–5)⁠⁠. It seems pointless spending 10-15 minutes foam rolling only to have the increase in flexibility disappear by the time you compete.

Our recommendations

General flexibility

For generally increasing flexibility (eg. a gymnast or martial artist) conventional stretches would be the best choice.

Stretching as a “warm up”

If using conventional stretching before competition or a workout there is a risk of overstretching.

1. Allowing joints to move beyond their normal range increases their risk of injury.
2. Excessive stretching will reduce the performance of your muscles.

If you do stretching before competetion or a workout only do "light" stretching not exceding normal movements, However, according to the clinical trials the best ways to increase flexibility during a warm-up are a dynamic warmup (6)⁠ vibration massage (not a massage gun) (7).

What is best as a “warm up” before competition or a workout?

The goals of stretching or foam rolling before a workout or completion are to increase performance and help prevent injury.

Injury prevention

The theory behind injury prevention is that if tight muscles are forced to lengthen they may tear. Likewise a restricted joint may be injured if forced too far. Lengthening muscles to their normal operational length and ensuring all joints are able to move fully is said to reduce this risk.

Increasing performance

Advocates claim performance can be improved by things such as increasing blood flow and raising the temperature of muscles.

Stretching

Clinical trials have not shown that stretching decreases the rate of injuries (8,9)⁠. Scientists speculate that any benefits are counteracted by the risk of overstretching as discussed above Clinical trials also show that conventional stretching will actually decrease performance rather than increase it (1,9)⁠.

Foam rollers

To our knowledge there have been no trials where foam roller have been used to decrease injuries, and as discussed above any increase in flexibility is very short lived. Also, most clinical trials show that foam rolling either gives no increase in performance, or a very small reduction (3,10–14)

What is best for post exercise recovery

After strenuous exercise you will likely feel feel a bit stiff and sore, and your muscles will not be capable of their normal performance. This happens because strenuous exercise will do microscopic damage to the muscle’s fibres.

Stretching

Clinical trials show that stretching has only a miniscule affect on post exercise soreness (19)

Foam rollers

Despite being heavily marketed a recent review of 21 studies concluded the effects of foam rolling are minor or negligable (20)⁠. Other studies express concern about the damage they can cause (21)⁠.

Our recommendations for post exercise recovery

You need a complete strategy

Rather than just do a bit of foam rolling or stretching we recommend that you use the simple but effective more complete strategy as discussed in our guide The practical, science based guide to post exercise recovery . Here we discuss the basics such as rest, sleep, hydration and nutrition, plus the pros and cons of the various therapies said to help.

Next we will give a brief run down on the two most helpful therapies to include in this strategy.

The best therapies for recovery

Vibration massage

Of these additional therapies vibration massage- (not massage guns) has produced by far the most benefit in clinical trials. We found nine studies where vibration massage was used after exercising. They consistently showed that this:

• reduces post exercise soreness (DOMS) (22–30)⁠⁠
• reduces the loss of function and speed recovery (31,32)⁠, and
• blood chemical analysis shows that unwanted chemical are removed much faster (25,26,28,30)⁠.

Conventional Massage

If you are a member or a sports club that provides massage after your game or workout clinical trials have produced the following results.

• in over half showed no benefit at all (33–41)⁠⁠ ,
• a small percentage showed massage to reduce post exercise soreness (42–44)⁠⁠,
• a small percentage the massage reduced the post exercise stiffness and loss of function (45–47)⁠⁠.

The better alternative therapies we mentioned

Above we mentioned two alternative therapies that can be a far better option than using foam rollers or conventional massage: a dynamic warmup and genuine vibration massage.

Dynamic warm-up

Dynamic warm-up means doing movement or activities that take the muscles and joints though their normal movements. The idea is to “warm them up” but not cause fatigue. Examples include walking or exercising. This has been shown to increase flexibility and strength (6)⁠⁠. The most beneficial dynamic warm-ups involve activities and movements that mirror the requirements of your sport rather general movements (18)⁠⁠.

Vibration massage

This is where a vibrations are used to penetrate and have their therapeutic effects. It is very similar to the way ultrasound works. For more information please see our article The sports and exercise guide to vibration massage .

References

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