What Is The Best Foam Roller on the Market? How Do I Use It for Postural Correction?
…still doing great on the program…Just want to ask you about what you think about foam rollers. There's a product called Foam Roller Plus and I was thinking about getting it to help me with my thoracic spine mobility because I want to get rid of my forward neck posture. I found some foam roller exercises on StrongLifts that I want to try out.
Foam Roller Exercise for Postural Improvement #2: Spinal Mobilization
Mobilization of the spine with the spine roller essentially entails lying across the spine roller's width instead of length. To begin a spinal mobilization, lie on the spine roller so that it is across your upper back, just below the neck area. Slowly move your body upwards in the direction of your head so that the spine roller rolls underneath you and across each vertebrae.
As you roll the roller underneath you, allow the head to fall to the floor, move the arms over your head, and allow them to hang relaxed. When your roller gets to chest level, allow the natural stretch to open your rib cage and force your thoracic spine into gentle extension. If you feel a particularly tight place, you may need to roll in and out of position several times before your body will actually allow you to move through that point and on to the next vertabrae. As you roll, you may experience a click or a pop in the spine – this is just a normalization in the spine occurring as a result of the pressure of the spine roller. Stop or discontinue if you have abnormal amounts of pain or discomfort.
Contraindications for Foam Rolling
I do not recommend using a foam roller for soft tissue rolling or therapy. The surface is too hard for that purpose, and it has the ability to damage the nerves. A better choice for soft tissue rolling is a small swiss ball or thera-ball, which provides much greater give, and allows trigger point work on soft tissue without being damaging.
