Roll, roll, roll along gently down the shines …

Let’s find the foam roller again

My clients love the foam roller. However, when ever I put it out or they ask “Can we use the foam roller today?”, it is immediately followed up by “But please we shouldn’t do THIS exercise!”

So what is it about “THIS exercise” – one of the most feared ones by clients? I mean it is the child pose position (or rest position), how bad can it possibly be.

However, you roll on your shines. And since you roll directly on a bone without much padding, I guess it is fair to say that it can be sensitive. But I never guessed how intensely sensitive people felt this was. To me it is a very pleasant rolling along and my focus is completely somewhere else, i.e. on the thoraco-lumbar fascia.

What is the exercise about?

• Lengthening of your thoraco-lumbar fascia and all the way up into the fascia of your arms in a dynamic way.
• It is also about releasing tension in the lower leg.
• There is also some toe stretching and strengthening going on in a mild way.
• You activate your arm & pec muscles because you are pulling and pushing with your arms.

What do I like about it?

• I like the rest position/child pose as a position because it gives me the opportunity to direct my breath into the back and lower parts of my lungs.
• It is dynamic lengthening of the whole thoraco-lumbar fascia, meaning you go into the rest position and out of it.
• You connect the arms to the torso because of the connection into the thoraco-lumbar fascia.
• You alternate between using different arm/shoulder muscles during the pull and push.
• Your toes get a little bit of a stretch as you sit back into the rest position.
• Your toes get some muscle activation because you push off with them a little bit.
• And now to the shines: Rolling along them can release tension in the lower leg, so you might find that your squat improves or just your posture.
• I also think that since your roll over the attachment point of the patella tendon you might find it can release a bit of tension in your quads.
• I think it is a fun little exercise because you roll back and forth.

What prop do you need?

A foam roller.

Where to place the prop

Starting position is on the tibia tuberosity.

Which course/workshop is the exercise from?

• English title: “Achieving efficient movement – how to combine pilates with myofascial release”
• Danish title “Pilates and Fascia – sådan kombinerer du pilatesøvelser med fascia release”

And here is the video …

Video length: 2:00 minutes