Effects of the Fascia Roller: What Are the Benefits of Fascia Training?

Releasing adhesions and balancing tension imbalances

Fascia is the most common type of connective tissue in our bodies. Fascia envelops not only muscles but virtually every structure in our bodies: bones, nerves, organs, blood vessels, tendons, skin, and every other part of the human body.

One of the main functions of fascia is to create a smooth surface so that the various structures can glide optimally over one another. Due to an unhealthy lifestyle, prolonged sitting, lack of exercise, injuries, or excessive stress, adhesions or trigger points can develop in our bodies.

Our movement, posture, and overall quality of life are restricted. The fascial tissue essentially sticks together, and the collagen and elastin lose some of their elasticity. This can lead to a feeling of stiffness and imbalances in tension.

This often results in pain in the back or neck, or discomfort in other parts of the body from head to toe. Targeted fascia training can help release these adhesions, loosen the fascia, and restore the integrity of the stiffened connective tissue.

Training with a fascia roller can result in reduced pain and an overall improved sense of bodily awareness.

Improved Metabolism and Recovery

Many competitive athletes hop on a foam roller after a competition or an intense training session. Why? To boost recovery. Foam rolling can improve the circulation of blood and lymph. Used fluid is removed more quickly, and the tissue can refill with fresh, nutrient-rich fluid. You can think of it like squeezing out a sponge so it can soak up clean water again. The improved blood circulation and stimulated lymph flow can thus positively influence recovery. Science also supports this assumption. In a systematic review by Hendricks et al. (2020), which included 49 articles, the authors concluded that foam rolling reduces muscle soreness and increases the pressure pain threshold (the minimum force required to trigger pain). The authors therefore conclude that foam rolling can be used to promote better recovery after increased physical activity.

Relief and Regulation of the Nervous System

For optimal physical and mental health, it is important that our sympathetic nervous system (the “fight-or-flight” system) and our parasympathetic nervous system (the “rest-and-digest” system) work together as effectively as possible. Unfortunately, in today’s high-performance society, where most people struggle with packed schedules, the sympathetic nervous system often dominates.

The result is chronic stress—the number one enemy of a healthy fascial system. Interestingly, this also works the other way around: when our fascia is under tension, we feel internally restless and stressed.

This is where fascia training comes into play: When we reduce tension in the fascia, our sense of psycho-emotional stress also decreases.

You’re surely familiar with that relaxed feeling right after a massage, aren’t you? With fascia rollers and other self-massage tools, we can also harness this effect for ourselves.

Improving Mobility Through Fascia Training

Most studies support the theory that foam rolling improves the short-term range of motion in our joints. Experts believe that this improved flexibility is due to a neurological change. It’s likely that embedded nerve receptors are being stimulated.

Our brain receives the signal to relax. This makes it an ideal warm-up tool, as flexibility can be improved without compromising performance. This assumption is supported by a meta-analysis by Wiewelhove et al. (2019).

The conclusion is that foam rolling as part of a warm-up is superior to static stretching in that the latter leads to impaired performance. Foam rolling during a warm-up is particularly useful when the subsequent sport requires increased mobility and, at the same time, high force production.

Whether long-term flexibility can also be improved through regular fascia training requires further investigation. In fact, it is more likely that fascia training must be combined with other training methods, such as targeted stretching, to achieve a lasting effect on our flexibility.

The reason for this is that mobility and stability must work closely together to achieve motor control over a movement. We must signal to our nervous system that the newly gained range of motion is useful.

Specifically, this means: If we achieve an increased range of motion through fascial training and myofascial self-massage, we must incorporate various activation and strengthening exercises to also gain motor control over that movement.

Another interesting observation regarding improved mobility has emerged in the form of cross-over effects. This means that an improvement in mobility was also observed on the opposite side of the body, which was not treated. And training with a foam roller even increases mobility in distant regions of the body.

For example, a case study by Monteiro et al. (2019) found that foam rolling the hamstrings improved passive shoulder mobility.