The Only Foam Roller I Trust to Relieve Tension in My Always-Tight Upper Back and Shoulders

I’m a giant fan of froth rolling to launch muscle stress, however I discover it’s normally more practical for my decrease physique than my chronically tight higher again and shoulders. That’s primarily as a result of the sore muscle groups in these areas, particularly across the shoulder blades, might be exhausting to hit in simply the precise spots. Flat foam rollers don’t all the time attain these upper-body nooks and crannies, whereas the raised factors on grid rollers might be too intense or put stress on the improper locations (ouch!).

However as a health author, I do know there’s a wealth of analysis displaying utilizing a foam curler can enhance muscle soreness, flexibility, and efficiency. For example, 20 minutes of froth rolling on a high-density curler instantly and 24, 48, and 72 hours post-exercise was discovered to reinforce restoration and cut back muscle tenderness as a result of delayed onset muscle soreness, in line with a 2015 examine¹ within the Journal of Athletic Coaching.

My quest to search out an efficient solution to foam roll my higher physique took a brand new flip after I tried the GoFit Revolve Curler, a curler with adaptive therapeutic massage rings you’ll be able to change as much as create a singular number of ridges and patterns designed to focus on even hard-to-reach muscle groups. Might this newest innovation be an answer for my ongoing higher physique tightness?

Learn on to search out out extra concerning the significance of froth rolling to your higher physique, why it may be difficult, and my expertise attempting the GoFit Revolve Curler.

The advantages of froth rolling your higher physique

Foam rolling is an effective way to launch muscle stress, promote higher mobility, and improve blood circulate that helps muscle restoration, says Ramon Felix, CPT, founding father of Stretchergy.com, a mobility and suppleness on-line platform. Relating to your higher again, foam rolling additionally has a protecting impact.

“By relieving tightness within the higher again, foam rolling protects the shoulder joints, as overly tight muscle groups can pull the shoulder blades upward probably inflicting ache, discomfort, and even shoulder impingement,” says Felix.

However focusing on your rhomboid muscle groups (positioned between your shoulder blades) and your rear deltoids (working from the again your the shoulders to your higher arms) might be difficult with a normal curler due to the muscle groups’ smaller measurement and deeper placement, explains Felix.

Neck stress can even contribute to a decent higher again and shoulders. “The trapezius and levator scapulae muscle groups, which connect to the neck, could cause discomfort when they’re shortened,” Felix says. “Foam rolling the higher again and shoulders may help launch these muscle groups, lowering neck ache.”

Tight biceps (entrance of your higher arm) and lats (slightly below your shoulder blades) can even spherical your shoulders and elevate your shoulder blades, negatively affecting your neck and posture, explains Felix. “Tending to those areas with a foam curler can not directly relieve neck tightness,” he says.

Find out how to use a foam curler in your higher physique

For hard-to-reach higher again and shoulder muscle groups, Felix suggests utilizing a higher-density or grid foam curler—the GoFit Revolve Curler is principally an adaptable mixture of the 2. “As a substitute of rolling backwards and forwards, lie on the curler till you find a young spot, then maintain stress for about 30 seconds to launch stress and enhance blood circulate,” he advises.

As a result of extreme foam rolling can irritate muscle groups and worsen ache, Felix recommends foam rolling three to 5 instances per week, spending a median of 1 to 2 minutes on every muscle group. Athletes or these with bodily demanding jobs may profit from foam rolling 5 to 6 days per week, he provides.

To make use of the Revolve Curler (or any foam curler) in your higher again or shoulders, Felix provides these three suggestions:

1. Don’t overlook to breathe. Correct respiration is crucial. Holding your breath can improve muscle stress, elevate blood stress, and cut back the effectiveness of froth rolling.
2. Don’t roll your neck or decrease again. These areas are delicate and rolling them could make current points worse.
3. Sluggish your roll. Foam rolling just isn’t meant to be achieved rapidly. Maintain stress on tender areas for a minimum of 30 seconds to permit your muscle groups to launch successfully.

My expertise utilizing the GoFit Revolve Curler

The GoFit Revolve curler has two principal parts: a 13-inch hole curler and adaptive therapeutic massage rings that match over the curler and might be taken on and off to create totally different configurations. The therapeutic massage rings have dimples and raised factors and are available in three diameters—pink low profile (the least diameter), gray mid profile, and inexperienced excessive profile.

The curler was created to be a transportable, reasonably priced choice you’ll be able to change up relying in your wants, explains Mark Ish, president of GoFit. “Every configuration is like having a brand new curler, so that you don’t want to purchase 5 rollers to get outcomes,” he says.

I attempted the 423 mannequin curler, the deluxe model that comes with 4 inexperienced, two gray, and three pink therapeutic massage rings. (Two lower-level fashions include both pink or pink and gray rings; you can too purchase further rings individually.) With Felix’s recommendations in thoughts, I began utilizing the curler about 4 instances every week for a month, normally later within the day when my higher again and shoulders had been tight from sitting at a desk for hours.

With so many attainable mixtures, it was exhausting to know the place to begin, however fortunately, an instruction booklet with configuration recommendations was included. After attempting a number of of them, my favourite was “the cradle”— three pink rings within the center, then one gray and two inexperienced rings on every finish.

Putting my backbone on the center pink therapeutic massage rings and rolling up and down from the bottom of my neck to my mid backbone allowed the upper profile gray and inexperienced rings to hit all the precise spots. Because the identify suggests, it was like mendacity in a self-massaging cradle. After I hit a very spicy set off level, per Felix’s suggestion, I’d maintain there for about 30 seconds on the curler’s raised factors.

I used the identical method, together with slowly rolling aspect to aspect, on my biceps and lats. One among my favourite elements of utilizing the curler was transferring my physique place let me fluctuate the session primarily based on how I used to be feeling that day. For instance, when utilizing “the cradle” on my lats or biceps, if I wanted extra depth, I’d merely transfer a few inches to the denser inexperienced rings. If issues received too spicy, I’d simply slide over to the pink or gray rings.

Due to the dimples and factors, the Revolve curler is certainly steadier than flat rollers—you gained’t go rolling off of it onto the ground. The cons had been minor—reconfiguring the rings took a couple of minutes and I struggled to get the tip screw-in caps that lock the rings in place on and off. These had been solely small drawbacks in comparison with my general expertise, although.

My outcomes and remaining ideas

After simply a few classes with the Revolve Curler, I felt particular enchancment within the tightness and stress in my higher again and shoulders. If I skipped greater than a pair days, I might inform—I’d really feel these drawback areas progressively tensing up because the day went on and know I wanted one other session. Inside a few weeks, my shoulder and higher again tightness was noticeably improved and continued to be, so long as I constantly used the curler.

The adaptive therapeutic massage rings actually made all of the distinction, permitting me to focus on hard-to-reach muscle groups (particularly round my shoulder blades) far past what I’ve been capable of obtain with a flat curler. Whereas grid rollers have raised factors just like the Revolve, you’ll be able to’t modify them. I’ve tried numerous foam rollers and by no means discovered one which supplied this degree of adaptability. I significantly can’t wait to attempt it out on my decrease physique.

As a aspect observe, learners would most likely profit from watching educational movies or a private coaching session to ensure they’re utilizing the curler correctly. Even in the event you’re an outdated professional like me, the curler does require some trial and error till you discover configurations that work greatest for you. However if you do, in the event you’re like me, the outcomes might be value it.