Foam rolling effects on soft tissue tone, elasticity and stiffness in the time course of recovery after weight training

Abstract

Summary Foam rolling is widely used as a regeneration tool. Tissue tone alterations appear to be reasonable as underlying mechanism and could be detected using myotonometry. Twenty healthy volunteers participated in a study design with repeated measurements. Using myotonometry, tissue tone properties were assessed for both limbs directly before and after a fatiguing bilateral knee extension exercise session, and during the following three days of recovery. The right thigh received an additional foam roll treatment directly before all post-exercise measurements, while the left limb remained untreated and served as a control function. There was no significant interaction demonstrating a probable foam roll effect on any soft tissue property parameter (p > 0.05). We conclude that commonly used foam roll protocol conditions are not affecting tissue tone properties. Further research would be needed to investigate varying dose response conditions.