Determinants of acute effects of stretching vs. foam rolling: Morphological, sensory and fluid responses

A single bout of foam rolling (FR) or static stretching is effective to increase the range of motion (ROM) without impairments in performance. Recently, non-rolling methods with FR have been investigated, but the effects of these methods are still unclear.

This study aimed to compare and examine the effects of different FR interventions and SS on the plantar flexor (PF) muscles.

Dominant PF of 24 participants was investigated under four conditions: Control (CC), FR, FR with dynamic movement (FR-DM), and SS. Each condition was performed unilaterally for 4 sets of 30 s. Outcome variables were ankle dorsiflexion ROM, pain pressure thresholds (PPT), tissue hardness, localized bioimpedance analysis (L-BIA), and unilateral drop jump (DJ). Measures were assessed before (T0), immediately after (T1), and 10-min after (T2).

ROM improved for SS, FR and FR-DM from T0 to T1 while remaining elevated in T2 only for SS and FR-DM. A significant increase in PPT was observed for SS and FR (T1). L-BIA showed a significant change of the vector position in the resistance-reactance graph only for FR (T1 and T2). DJ and tissue hardness did not change for any group at any time-point.

PF-ROM can be acutely improved by either FR, FR-DM, or SS by a modification of local pain perception without any variation in tissue morphology and performance. FR was the only intervention to acutely change fluids distribution.