Foam Rollers Yay or Nay?

I don't buy the inflammation thought. Foam rollers work on your myofascia (the "skin" or layer holding your muscles in).. It also works on trigger points, which are caused by many, many things: stress, inbalances, etc. I have a whole line of trigger points in my IT band when I am "out of whack" and it hurts like H*ll on the foam roller or that knobby roller. But if I keep it up, it helps take the pain away in my IT band and in my back (even though I don't specially work my lower back with the foam roller)
I'd find another MT. Trigger point therapy is a very real (and often painful, but worth it) therapy

do you get trigger points on your IT band? mine are just tight- I don't usually get triggers on that- just muscle mass itself- but yeah- I mostly roll to break down that tension- which fugs up EVERYTHING north and south of it. So while I roll everything- my goal is to loosen up THAT since it's the fly in the cream if you will.

More than anything, it depends on how often you need it and how much muscle mass you have. I'm over 200 pounds lean and use it at least a couple times a week. I simply have more muscle and connective tissue mass to get through than most. The knobbles also allow it to be useful for small areas like back knots, neck, shoulders, etc. I had a very hard time using the flat roller for anything but my legs.

I felt a fair amount of relief using a plain, middle density foam roller, but this one simply does not *kitten* around. It gets deep, deep in there until I am on the verge of tears but then the pain is absolutely GONE.

So yeah, it's definitely more than the typical roller but simply by being so much better at it's job, and being able to use it on my whole body I would say it's totally worth it.

if you roll ^^this much than a denser high quality one is definitely worth it. I mean- a massage is what 60 bucks on average? so it's STILL less than a massage and gets you the same bennies- only at home- whenever you want.

I cant' use it- I have two because one was TO dense for me- i can use it now- 1. it's broken down a little and 2. I've been rolling long enough. But I still prefer my target one- it has little baby nobbies- allows for some give into the outer layer- I carry a lot a great deal of fat on my legs- and for some reason they are hyper sensitive to that skin pressure- so the nobbies allow for deep pressure but give on the skin- it's weird- but it works.

I say nay because they're too expensive. I feel like I get the same effect from stretching normally. Just my 2 cents.

so stretching is the same as a deep tissue massage?

because that's all foam rolling is- self myo-fascial release. which is what deep tissue massage is- without the "self" part.

which is not what stretching is.