Today we're going to go over some exercises that you can do with the foam roller to help
reduce tightness and restrictions through the legs. Let's get started! For this exercise,
we're going to be rolling through the thigh muscle, or the quad. We're going to be doing three
different segments. So you're going to place the foam roller right in front of your knees and then
you're going to place your body weight onto it coming down to your elbows. Now in this position,
you want to make sure that you hold a good plank position so you're not arching through that low
back, so keep your core tight. Now you're going to army crawl forward to right above the knees,
and then army crawl back to right below the hips. This is the area you're going to be scanning for
areas that may be a little tender. When you find an area that's tender, you're then going to hold
on that area until that tenderness lessens, and it may not go away completely, but once it lessens,
then search for another location that might be tender. Now, this is the first portion that
you'll roll on the thigh. The second one is going to be rolling your legs outward and your toes are
pointing away from one another. Again, scanning the same area above the knees and below the hips
looking for those tender spots. The third position is going to be bringing your legs in and toes are
in, so it's going to feel like you're more on the outside portion of your thigh. Now as you're
doing this, you're looking for those tender areas and making sure to keep your core tight in this
position. You can complete this two minutes per segment and you can do this up to twice per day.
For this exercise, you're going to be rolling through the adductor muscles,
or the muscles located on the inside portion of your thigh. So you're going to lay right
beside the foam roller placing your leg up and over and then come over onto your stomach. Now
I'm going to allow the leg that is on the left-hand side to lay down on the ground,
and then my foot can come on the ground to lessen the amount of pressure into this muscle. This is
going to be pretty tender, so if you need to lessen more then just make sure you're
keeping contact with that foot on the ground. Now you're going to be working from the upper
thigh all the way to right above the knee, and you're just shifting your weight left and right
moving on the foam roller. When you find an area that might be uncomfortable, then hold on
that spot or you can do small little movements to work that area out. Once that discomfort lessens,
then you're going to go ahead and search for another location that might be tender. You can
complete this for two minutes searching the area for discomfort up to two times per day. For this
exercise, you're gonna be rolling through the IT band, or on the outside portion of your thigh. So
you're gonna sit on your side onto the foam roller coming down onto your elbow. You'll straighten out
the lower leg and then making sure you lock out your shoulder, so that way you have good support.
Now in this position, you can also use your other hand just to help you with balance.
We're going to be working from below the hip bone to right above the knee. Now, we want to make
sure we're not stacking our hips because rolling right on the IT band won't make a lot of change,
it's just going to be really uncomfortable. So instead, you're going to roll your hips forward
slightly, so you're getting the front portion of the IT band onto that quad muscle. So, we're
going to roll up right above that knee and then we're going to come down to right below the hip
bone. Now when you're working this area, you're looking for those areas of tenderness
and using this other foot to help guide you and lessen that amount of pressure that's being placed
in the area. When you find an area that's tender, hold on that spot, or do small little oscillations
to work it out until it lessens, and then search for another location. So now the second
portion we're going to do is rolling our hips back. So we're going to get more into the back
side of the IT band onto the hamstring, and again staying below the hip going to right above the
knee. Now as you do this, you can spend about two minutes on the IT band rolling the front portion
and then the back portion because it's a large area. You can do this up to two times per day.
For this last exercise, you're going to be rolling through the calf muscle, or the muscles located on
the backside of the lower leg. So with the foam roller you're going to sit right in front of it,
place your legs up onto the foam roller, and we're going to be working from above the ankle joint to
below the knee joint-- making sure you're not going behind the knee joint. In this position,
you're then going to use your arms to raise up and roll up and down the backside of the lower leg.
Now, this is going to take a lot of upper body strength and can get really tiring,
so if you'd rather, you can cross your leg to create more pressure in that calf, and
then you can just move slightly up and down when you're trying to find other areas of tenderness.
When you locate an area of tenderness, you can pump your foot up and down, or you can
move your leg left to right, or do small little oscillations to try to work those areas out.
Once the tenderness lessens, then you can look for another location that might be tender. Now, if you
find that it's too much for your upper body, you can also move to the very edge of the foam roller,
and have the other foot here for support. So now, you can raise up and use that other foot and arms
to help you lift up to locate areas of tenderness, holding on those spots, and again pumping the foot
to work those out. You can do this for two minutes up to two times per day. We hope these exercises
were helpful! If you, or anyone else you know, is suffering from leg pain, click here to schedule
an appointment with Airrosti! We have in-office and telehealth options available. Don't forget,
click here to look at some of our other videos and subscribe to our channel. See you next time!