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Like I said last week, I want to talk about a really neat type of stretching called self-myofascial release (SMFR).  Self-myofascial release is a great way to decrease tightness in your muscles because it essentially breaks up the knots in your muscles, allowing for your muscles to lengthen properly.

Picture a piece of yarn with a knot in it.  What SMFR does is it breaks that knot up; once the knot is broken up, the yarn can stretch out even farther.  The same concept applies to your muscles.  In order to properly perform SMFR, you need to use a special foam roller that’s stiff enough to provide pressure against the knots in your muscles.  You can find these foam rollers at stores such as Wal-mart, Target, and Dick’s Sporting Goods.

For an example of how to perform self-myofascial release, I’m going to describe how to use SMFR to roll out the IT band (a tendinous band that travels from the hip to the knee).  If you ever go out for a run and have pain in the outside of your knee or hip, chances are it’s a tight IT band. 

SMFR for the IT band.

To roll out the IT band, start at the point farthest away from the heart.  In this example, we’ll start down by the knee.  You want to lie on top of the foam roller as the picture shows.  The more you allow your body weight to rest on the roller, the more sensitive you’ll be to the knots.  Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, this process will be painful at first, just as a deep tissue massage is painful.  As you repeatedly perform SMFR, the knots will break up and the pain will reduce.  Just be aware that pain is normal when first performing SMFR.  Just be patient, and after a few weeks, the pain won’t be nearly as bad.

Starting down at the knee, start to roll your body down the roller until you get to a sore spot (a knot).  Once on that spot, rest on it for approximately 30 seconds.  This allows the knot to slowly start to break up.  The most important thing to remember is to stay on the knot for 30 seconds.  If you continue rolling before the 30 seconds is up, the knot will just get tighter (definitely a bad thing). 

After holding on the knot for 30 seconds, the pain should decrease by 50-70%.  Once the 30 seconds are up, continue rolling up the side of your leg until you reach the next sore spot.  Hold again.  Repeat this process until you roll all the way up to your hip. 

At first, it may take a long time to finish rolling out your leg.  It really depends on how many knots you have.  I’ve performed this on some clients where it took 10 minutes just to do one leg.  After a while though, we’d zip right up the leg in a minute or two.  Just be patient; the knots will slowly start to go away.

Once you roll the leg out, you can repeat the process if you want, but it’s not necessary.  After the leg is rolled out, the knots should be broken up a little bit.  Since they’re broken up, this is a good time to perform static stretching with 30 second holds.  The idea is that since the knots have been worked out a little, the muscle or tissue can now be stretched out a little farther; this leads to greater flexibility gains.

There’re all kinds of different SMFR exercises you can perform on the different muscles and tissues of your body.  The roller that you buy should come with a booklet or CD full of these different exercises. 

You’ll be amazed at what foam rolling can do for tight muscles.  I’ve seen everything from knee pains to low back pains disappear as a result of foam rolling.  So grab a stick to bite on, a box of tissues to cry with, or someone to yell at, and give self-myofascial release a chance.  If you can be patient with the pain, you’ll be amazed by the gain.  Okay that was corny, but seriously though, just like a deep tissue massage, it can really help.  Oh yeah, remember to breathe!

Dan Falkenberg is the co-founder and co-owner of Your Live Trainers. He can be reached at DanFalkenberg.com.

Tags: flexibility, foam rolling, self-myofascial release