Foam Roller Techniques – Roll Away the Pain on Your Own

Take charge of your health! 

If you’ve had enough of visits to the chiropractor or expensive appointments with masseuses, all to take the pain away, then the Foam Roller Techniques app by Solid Jade Inc. is exactly what you need. For a small one-time fee, you can take charge of your health by learning about your body, where the sources of pain start, and how to roll them away with a foam roller.

This is not a site posting random information from any contributor. Dr. Ryan Emmons is a chiropractor and co-owner of his own chiropractic clinic and a sports therapy clinic in Calgary, Alberta. He has compiled over 100 instructional videos targeting key points in the body most often worked on by chiropractors and massage therapists.

When you first download the app, you see a diagram depicting the human anatomy from the back. It shows all the muscles, joints, and interconnections. At the very top, there is an Info button, which is a must read to ensure you use the app and its videos correctly. It instructs users to watch and perform rolling techniques in a certain order to prevent further injury. Under Guide, it suggests watching the Placement video first, for any of the rolling techniques. This will teach you how to place and use the roller for that particular technique. After that, it is strongly advised that you use the easier videos first, and then progress to the more difficult.

Tap on Activity, and choose from 45 different sports, activities, and exercises that you engage it, that might be causing you injuries or soreness. From there, the app takes you to a page that shows anatomical areas affected by the activity, so you can hone in on videos to use the foam roller in exactly the right place and the right way to ease your pain. 

Each video explains the muscle group affected, how they run in reference to your body and also gives warnings at the bottom, so rolling and stretching are performed correctly. The video itself is top quality and runs long enough for you to watch and follow. They are not too long, so as to lose your interest, either.

Another category provides videos to help ease pain from injuries. These videos are organized in similar fashion, are quick and easy, with brief explanations of muscles involved and how the roller paired with your motion can help untie knots buried deep in tissues.

I found each category to be very useful and all-inclusive. I could not think of another area that needed to be added. I also found the videos to be well-designed and filmed. However, I bit of narration would have helped bridge any gaps between the action portrayed in the video clip and the written instructions. I found myself going back and forth, reading and watching a few times to make sure I fully understood what areas the roller should touch before actually trying a release technique.

Overall, however, this app is a must for those who have found solace and comfort in chiropractic or massage therapy, but wish for the convenience of at-home exercises and release techniques. Foam Roller Techniques allows you to work out kinks on a daily basis, rather than having to wait for your next appointment. By working things out proactively, you may even prevent the onset of even deeper issues through careful and calculated rolling.