Or maybe put better, How to get big wins with your foam roller.
When we’re talking foam rolling, we’re usually thinking about two different ideas; recovery, and corrective work.
Recovery is important, but when you want to think about long term health of your body and joints, you should always be integrating some corrective work. It’s going to help your body become more efficient, more mobile, and more injury-proof.
Whether you're short on time, or want to set a strong for foundation for your body, We’ll show you the places to start.
First, a quick metaphor. Your spine is like the frame of your car. If it has any twist in it, you’re tires will wear on one side more than the other, the suspension will be crooked and need to be replaced more often…..And you definitely don’t want to add more power to a crooked frame.
The body works is the exact same way. Little twists in your spine mean your hips and knees aren’t level, you can get achy joints……And putting more muscle on your frame might even compound the problem. You don’t want to put a Ferrari engine in a Toyota Corrolla.
That’s why we always encourage working on YOUR foundation…..Your spine.
Automatically, every other joint in your body will have a more mobile foundation, which takes stress off of all the other joints in the line.
Here’s our top three places to start your lifelong adventure. Grab your RAD Roller and get started.
Thoracic Spine
The thoracic spine, or T-Spine for short, is the middle part of the spine that all of your ribs attach to. Above it is the neck, and below it is the lower back. The T-spine is incredibly important because it typically lacks a lot of mobility from from our modern way of living; too much sitting. Why is this an issue? Breathing for one. Your T-spine expands and contracts with every breath, and if it’s not moving properly, you overload all the little muscles of the neck that help help to raise the chest up for a full breath.
The Upper Neck
The upper neck is a huge bang-for-your-buck area because it houses your ‘mission control center’, aka your brain. It also holds your eyes and ears, which help to keep your body level in space. If you’ve got tension on one side of your neck, it’s very common to see the whole body compensate to keep your body level with the horizon. Your low back contorts, your hips shift….All because of a little neck tension. Spending just a few minutes on your neck can help de-stress the whole body below it.
The Hips
A lot of people ask us about low back pain, and the easiest place to start de-stressing the low back is in the hips. In a perfect world, the hips can move unrestricted in any direction, allowing the low back to stay aligned in a nice column, supporting the rest of the back. In most cases, the hips can’t move very much, forcing the low back to bend, twist, and generally overwork itself doing even the most simple of tasks. Big low back pain episodes are often just people getting out of bed or bending over to tie their shoes, and then bang! Huge pain. Years of hip tension are the straw that broke the camels back. Don’t be that guy. Spend a little time on your hips.
Happy rolling!
