Effectiveness of a Foam Roller Warm-Up in Professional Basketball Players: A Randomized Controlled Trial

The foam roller is considered a versatile tool. Along with an active warm-up, it appears to positively affect range of motion, stability, muscle stiffness, and perceived exertion with no reductions in performance.

The main purpose of the study was to observe the effects of the utilization of a foam roller during the warm-up on ankle mobility and lower limb stability, and secondarily, to assess if any induced effects were sustained over time.

Randomized controlled trial.

Twenty-two healthy male subjects were randomly assigned to two groups: the control group, which only carried out a general warm-up over a period of four months, and the foam roller group, which followed a specific warm-up routine using a foam roller for a period of three months plus one month of follow-up in which no foam rolling was performed. Two outcome measurements were taken pre- and post- intervention to assess ankle mobility: the Dorsi-Flexion Lunge test and the Y-Balance test (YBT) for the lower quarter. Outcomes were measured at three time points: before the protocol was initiated, at the end of the protocol (at 12 weeks), and after a one-month follow-up period (at 16 weeks).

A significant increase was observed in the dorsiflexion of the right (p < 0.001) and left (p < 0.001) ankles in the experimental group. Significant increases were also noticed in the anterior (p < 0.003), posteromedial (p < 0.050), and posterolateral (p < 0.050) reach distances of the right leg and in the anterior (p < 0.002), posteromedial (p < 0.010), and posterolateral (p < 0.030) reach distances of the left leg during the YBT in the experimental group. The control group also showed significant differences in the right (p < 0.007) and left (p < 0.010) anterior reach distances on the YBT. At the one-month follow-up period, the improvements that had been obtained in both groups were lost, except for the dorsiflexion of the right ankle (p < 0.050) and right (p < 0.010) and left (p < 0.030) anterior reach distance on the YBT in the experimental group.

The foam roller can be used as a part of a pre-training warm-up routine to enhance the dorsiflexion range of motion and performance on the YBT.

3. Registered as a clinical trial at ClinicalTrials.gov with registration number: NCT05971316.