Foam Rolling 101

Tight muscles? Feel like you need to stretch all the time? Foam rolling may be the missing piece of your puzzle! 

What is foam rolling? Foam rolling is a form of myofascial release, a technique used on skeletal muscles to decrease tightness and improve blood flow. It applies pressure to the fascia on your muscles using body weight and a foam cylinder. Foam rolling helps promote muscle recovery and improve mobility. And better mobility means improved posture, core strength, and breathing!

Foam rolling is an awesome way to start your warm-up routine. Decreasing muscle tightness before a workout can help us better access specific muscle groups that might have previously been restricted.

Some general guidelines for foam rolling are:

• Apply as much pressure as you feel you can tolerate WITHOUT tensing up. 

• Roll on an area for approximately 10-30 seconds.

• Avoid rolling directly on joints and bones.

• Avoid foam rolling if you are taking medications that could cause excessive bruising, such as blood thinners. (If you are taking any medications and are unsure, just ask your medical providers!)

• If something is injured and you are unsure if there could be a tear or inflammation, do not roll the area.

• This can be demanding on your core. If you notice any doming in your abs, avoid that position until you can manage it without seeing the doming. (What is "doming?" Check out my blog post on diastasis recti!)

• Don’t hold your breath!

You can foam roll so many muscles! Below I outline some of my favorite areas to work on... but keep in mind, the possibilities are endless! 

Piriformis

Sit in a figure-4 position on the foam roller. Turn your hips slightly towards the side of the crossed leg. Roll on your back pocket area (not right on your tailbone).

Hamstrings

Place the foam roller just below your glute. Roll from the top all the way to the back of your knee.

Calves

Roll on the back of your calf muscles. I like to turn my ankles in and out to get the different parts of my calf.

TFL (Tensor Fasciae Latae)

This pesky hip flexor muscle is often very tight! Lower yourself face down onto your foam roller and come slightly on the outside of your thigh. We can do this one leg at a time. You’ll want to roll on the front pocket area of your thigh. (This is not directly in the middle of your quads, but also not on the IT band. It is somewhere in the middle. This takes some maneuvering of your body!

Mid-Back (Thoracic Spine)

I LOVE this for improving mid-back mobility. Start by placing the foam roller on your back, just below the bra line area. Keep your knees bent and feet flat. Support your head and neck by lacing your fingers together and placing them behind your head. Inhale and slowly arch back over the foam roller and stop before your ribs start to flare outward. Exhale as you come back up. Perform this moving in small increments up your spine toward the top of your shoulder blades. Don’t forget to breathe!

Interested in learning more about improving posture, breathing, and core strength? Check out my Core Essentials at-home program and try the first week for FREE! Click the button below to learn more.

Resources:

“Foam Roller Exercises.” Core Exercise Solutions, 26 July 2019, https://www.coreexercisesolutions.com/how-to-use-a-foam-roller/. 

What is Diastasis Recti?

Diastasis Recti is the thinning of the linea alba, which is the connective tissue that runs down the middle of your rectus abdominis muscle (more commonly known as the “6-pack abs.”) This often occurs as a result of pregnancy, but can also occur in women and men due to inefficient breathing, posture, and muscle firing.

This tissue is similar to plastic food wrap. Thinning of the linea alba can occur above the belly button, below the belly, button, around the belly button, or along the entire length from the ribs to the pubic bone.

Diastasis recti is a normal result of pregnancy. A 2015 study showed that 100% of women have a diastasis at their due date, and 39% of them still have one 6 months postpartum. Many women continue to have a diastasis several years later because they were never taught the proper strategies to help heal it! 

Before we dive any further, let's perform a screening to see if you have a diastasis. Check out this video by one of my mentors, Dr. Sarah Duvall, on how to check on your own abdomen. If you think you have a diastasis, don't worry! This is something that can be greatly improved by working on posture, breathing, and core strength. 

A diastasis often causes what we call "doming" or "coning" in your abs. The right side of this image is an example of what that looks like.

The bulging appearance is a result of pressure in your system coming from the inside out. Picture a balloon. As air fills the balloon, the rubber expands 360 degrees to allow even pressure in all directions. As the balloon deflates, there is a natural recoil inward. Because of this even distribution of internal pressure, the balloon can inflate and deflate without issue

Alternatively, if we were to take the balloon and restrict the back half from expanding, all the pressure will go into the front. The pressure will always travel to the path of least resistance. Over time, that rubber in the front is going to become much thinner, weaker, and likely unable to handle the same amount of air.

In this situation, the pressure would be going into the thinned out tissue of the linea alba. If we are constantly allowing that pressure to travel into the front and cause doming, the diastasis will have a very difficult time healing.

This can often become more pronounced with exercises that cause increased pressure in your system, such as crunches or front planks.

So, what can we do? First, I recommend seeking out a local pelvic health physical therapist to get an official assessment. Pelvic PT can help SO much!

Next, we are going to focus on managing pressure in your abs. If we continue to have too much pressure on the linea alba, symptoms will likely continue and prevent the tissue from healing. We will focus on breathing, deep core exercises, posture, and mid-back mobility. Here is one of my favorite breathing exercises you can try!

Additionally, I recommend avoiding exercises that cause doming or coning. Common exercises that cause doming with diastasis recti are crunches, sit-ups, front planks, and push-ups. If these exercises do not cause you to have doming, great! If they do cause doming, you will want to hold off on them until you can better manage your pressure.

If you are ready to get started on the journey to a stronger core, check out my online 4-week program Core Essentials. In just 15 minutes x 3 days a week you will see improvements! Email me at rachel@mamabefit.com if you have any questions.

For further information on diastasis recti, please check out this awesome article by Dr. Anna Hammond, DPT, OCS, CSCS.

Sources: 

Fernandes da Mota, Patrícia Gonçalves et al. “Prevalence and risk factors of diastasis recti abdominis from late pregnancy to 6 months postpartum, and relationship with lumbo-pelvic pain.” Manual therapy vol. 20,1 (2015): 200-5. doi:10.1016/j.math.2014.09.002

Hammond, Dr. Anna. “How to Check for Diastasis Recti.” Core Exercise Solutions, 22 Aug. 2022, https://www.coreexercisesolutions.com/how-to-check-for-diastasis-recti/.

The One Thing You Can Do For Your Core RIGHT NOW!

Did you know that diaphragmatic breathing can be one of the most powerful exercises to improve your core?

This type of breath work is a fundamental exercise in almost all the programs that I give to my clients . Before diving in to the actual exercise, let’s begin with talking about what the “core” is.

What actually is your “core?”

Although many people use the term “core” synonymously with “abs,” your “core” is actually the entire trunk of your body. Specifically, the muscles that we are talking about are the:

Transverse Abdominals

medicalstocks/shutterstock.com

Diaphragm

Pelvic Floor Muscles

Alila Medical Media/shutterstock.commedicalstocksmedicalstocks

• Multifidus: These are the muscles on your back, superficial to your spine. (Not pictured above)

• Transverse abdominals: These are your deep ab muscles that act as a corset around your torso. (Pictured on the left)

• Diaphragm: This is your breathing muscle, below your lungs. (Pictured in the middle)

• Pelvic Floor: This is the hammock of muscles supporting your pelvic organs. (Pictured on the right)

So… why is breathing important to their function?

Picture a balloon. As air fills the balloon, the rubber expands 360 degrees to allow even pressure in all directions. As the balloon deflates, there is a natural recoil inward. Because of this even distribution of internal pressure, the balloon can inflate and deflate without issue

Alternatively, if we were to take the balloon and restrict the back half from expanding, all the pressure will go into the front. That rubber is going to become much thinner, weaker, and likely unable to handle the same amount of air.

Now, apply this to your body!

Think of your core like a canister (although it’s not as stretchy as a balloon!) If you have rigid walls to your canister, the internal pressure is going to build up and have adverse effects on the supporting structure. The inability to manage internal pressure can contribute to pelvic floor dysfunction, diastasis recti, back pain, and other repercussions down the kinetic chain.

Because of the physical changes your body goes through during pregnancy, it can initially be difficult to coordinate the expansion and recoil of your core with your breath. The overall goal is for this expansion and recoil to eventually happen naturally, without much thought.

To help re-train a proper deep breathing pattern, let’s try the 360 connection breath.

1. Start by sitting or lying down on the floor.

2. Slowly inhale through your nose. As you do this, imagine your pelvic floor relaxing and lengthening down.

3. Focus on allowing your ribcage to expand during the inhale. You’ll want to feel this expansion travel around your sides and into your back, and slightly in your belly.

4. Now exhale slowly through your mouth. Notice a natural recoil as the pelvic floor gently lifts and returns to its starting position. You’ll feel your abdominals gently come back in, as well as your ribs.

5. Repeat 5-8 breaths slowly. You can try this daily during pregnancy and your postpartum recovery to help reconnect to your core and breath

A couple of tips:

• Try not to breathe with a lot of upper body movement. If you notice your shoulders rising and falling with your breath, reset yourself and try to relax your upper back and neck. This would indicate a shallow breathing pattern rather than a deep breathing pattern.

• If you are having a hard time breathing into your back, try laying on your side with your knees bent. Put a pillow under your head and under your side ribs. Bring your knees up slightly higher than 90 degrees so your back is in a soft curve. Now try breathing into your back. Do you feel more movement?

• Picture your pelvic floor like an elevator. As you inhale, your pelvic floor travels down from the first floor to the basement ( lengthening and relaxing). As you exhale, your pelvic floor gently lifts back to the first floor. Avoid bearing down.
  

Interested in learning more about building core strength? Schedule a free 20-minute consultation so we can chat!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Rachel Pelletier - Prenatal & Postpartum Personal Trainer (@mamabear.fitness)