Although I sing the praises of spiky balls with almost every patient, sometimes the foam roller is better suited. Big muscles like the hamstrings are a prime example. This is the brand of the roller I use: it’s very firm and textured which is what I’m after for exercises like this. Like the spiky ball exercises, the aim here is essentially to massage the muscles.
- Sitting with your legs out in front of you, stick the roller under the area you want to massage.
- Lift yourself up on your hands, maintaining contact with the other leg and the floor.
- Rock back and forwards to work across the length of the muscle.
It’s definitely one of the more straight forward exercises! Hamstrings and calves are big and long enough to benefit from the foam roller, as are the quadriceps but finding a comfortable position is a bit trickier.
Muscles targeted: hamstrings, calf
