With the increased popularity of foam rolling (FR) as a recovery tool, it is important to establish the exact manner in which the practice is useful.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of FR on recovery from exercise-induced muscle damage.

METHODS: In a between-group design, 37 males performed 40x15m sprints, inducing muscle damage. Immediately following sprinting and in the four days following, perceived muscle soreness, hip ROM, vertical jump, and agility measures were recorded. 18 subjects (mean±sd; age 22.4±2.0 yrs; BMI 26.9±4.2 kg.m-2) foam rolled prior to testing each day (FR), while 19 (mean±sd; age 23.2±3.2 yrs; BMI 26.3±4.0 kg.m-2) served as a non-foam rolling control (CON). Measurements recorded during the five days of recovery from the repeated sprint protocol were compared to those obtained during three baseline days of familiarization the prior week. The area under the curve (AUC) was calculated by summing all five scores and these data were compared by condition using a two-tailed Mann-Whitney U test (alpha level = 0.05).

RESULTS: Perceived soreness, hip ROM, and vertical jump were not significantly different between groups (p>0.05). Agility, specifically the difference in time from baseline to complete the agility T test, was significantly lower in the foam rolling condition (p<0.05). AUC was higher in CON (2.88 s±2.45) than FR (0.33 s±2.16). Mean values for agility changes from baseline in CON were 0.52 s, 0.82 s, 0.78 s, 0.45 s, and 0.32 s on the day muscle damage was induced, and then the four days following, respectively. Mean values for agility changes from baseline in FR on those days were 0.11 s, 0.17 s, 0.06 s, 0.12 s, and -0.13 s.

CONCLUSIONS: FR expedites recovery of agility following exercise-induced muscle damage instigated by a repeated sprint protocol. FR may be useful for athletes requiring adequate agility who need to recover quickly from intensive bouts of exercise.