Acute Effects of Foam Rolling on Flexibility, Isokinetic and Isometric Strength

The purpose of this study was to investigate the acute effects of foam rolling on quadriceps isokinetic and isometric force production as well as knee joint range of motion. Twelve healthy, light to moderately physically active college students volunteered for this study. They had different treatments on three separate days. Participants' non-dominant knee joint range of motion (ROM), quadriceps isokinetic and isometric peak torque were measured under both the foam rolled (FR) and non-foam rolled (no-FR) conditions. The intervention was two minutes of foam rolling on their non-dominant thighs. Results showed that foam rolling significantly increased knee joint ROM (p = .0051, F (1, 11) = 12.173) by approximately eight degrees. No significant difference was found for isokinetic 0.005) between the FR and no-FR conditions. In conclusion, a brief duration of foam rolling can effectively increase joint flexibility and maintain the level of muscle peak force production.