ArmdandFabulous’s BodyBlog

If you are experiencing this, you need a foam roller!  

A while back I mentioned that I thought maybe squats were hurting my knees…after leg days, my knees would feel tight and creaky, which I had never experienced before so I figured it must be from the combo of lifting weights and doing cardio more often…I tried to stretch a little better before any lifting or cardio, but still it got pretty bad and I ended up almost pulling a hamstring…It started to get worse when I got a pain behind my knee while running one day…never had knee problems before, didn’t know what this was, and I thought it would be ok if I just finished the run because it was just annoying, not really painful…by the end of it, I got this twinge of pain behind the knee, that also pulled on the front of my knee…I thought I pulled my hamstring, and the knee was actually swollen when I went home and looked at it…it ended up being a pulled ilitibial band which is very common for any kind of athlete to experience at some point during training… 

CRAP!…after that happened I had to ice the knee, rest it,  and definitely couldn’t do any cardio…I took about 3wks or more off of cardio because I couldn’t put any pressure on the knee other than walking–and I had to stop doing squats, lunges, any leg weightlifting for a while …but eventually my knee got well enough for me to do cardio again, running was still a little challenging…I used to run at level 6.0, before the injury, but had to start back at 5.3…after about 10 mins of running I would get "warning" pains in the back of the knee and had to stop and stretch before attempting to run anymore..this went on for looong time…I worked up to being able to run 4 miles again, without too much pain, but couldn’t really increase speed…and the day after a run or heavy leg day, the creakiness was back…it was so annoying and I wondered if my knees would ever be back to normal..one day I mentioned the issue to a trainer at the gym and he educated me on foam rollers…he showed me how to use one and it has changed my training life…the next day after using it I felt NO knee pain at all while doing cardio, and that was a first ever since the initial injury…about 4-5 months ago!!!!

The trainer explained that the muscle was knotting up in my leg and pulling on the knee, which brought on the pain..and he said you can’t get to most of the knots with regular stretching…so with the foam roller I cold "roll" out the knots like rolling pie dough with a rolling pin basically…apparently having knotted up muscle in the legs is almost unavoidable at times so if you do any kind of athletic training, you NEED a foam roller…I bought one (only $15.00 at Wal-Mart) and I can feel the knots in the legs after I do squats or lunges, or after an intense cardio session…I just roll them out and the pain is gone!…I’ve had my foam roller for only 3 weeks and I have increased my running speed and distance, and the knots are getting fewer and fewer…(I use it before and after I workout–only takes a few minutes)

Hope this helps you if you are having knee issues–I just wish I had found out about it sooner!

Here are a couple links about what it is and how to use it:

http://www.fitlink.com/what-is-a-foam-roller

http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/self-myofascial-release.html

P.S.  You’re welcome!!

This entry was posted on Monday, November 9th, 2009 at 12:35 pm and is filed under Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.