Out of all the current exercise equipment and workouts currently available, the idea of something that you lay on top of and roll under yourself might seem a little bit odd. This may be true initially, but foam rollers actually posses numerous benefits, and are something almost everyone who is serious about their health and exercise routines should have. Read on to learn about all of the things you're missing out on if you don't use one.

Foam rollers are a simple piece of equipment that are incredibly effective in helping you to recover from workouts, while also promoting healing and blood flow. They come in many different forms, such as trigger point rollers, and accupressure rollers. The rollers will have different textures and levels of hardness depending on their use.

Foam rollers use your own body weight to work. A common example would be to lie down with the roller positioned under your upper back. Using your body, you can move up and down along the floor to get the roller to roll under you.

Foam rollers are essentially massagers, but in more ways than one. The dimples and texture on the roller work to massage your muscles, which can do anything from smoothing out knots in your body, to massaging sore muscles. This is helpful in numerous scenarios, such as pre and post workout, or even after a long day in an office chair.

Simply put, foam rollers provide an easy and effective way to increase blood flow and massage tissue and muscles in crucial areas.

Let's get a little more in depth about all of the benefits.

The main benefit of foam rollers comes from their ability to increase the mobility of what’s known as the fascia.

For those that have no idea what that is, allow me to explain. The fascia is a layer of tissue that connects and surrounds all of the muscles in your body. For those that limit their own mobility for whatever reason, this can lead to the fibers becoming criscrossed with themselves and binding up muscles and nerves, which results in causing pain while also suppressing your overall mobility. A good example of this would be soreness in your legs after a long run when you haven't run in a long time.

Foam rolling works to keep these tissues spread and stimulated, which not only prevents pain, it increases your mobility.

There is actually a term called "myofascial release," which is a fancy name for what massage therapists provide with certain messages. This term refers to the actual action of "releasing" the tissue via the massage, which frees up the muscles and nerves to have greater mobility. Foam rollers can provide the same kind of release, which in this case is known as "self-myofascial release." Make sense now? Good, so let's move on.

Foam rolling helps to stimulate your fascia, which contains such areas as trigger points and scar tissue. Scar tissue can turn into a pesky issue if left unchecked, but foam rolling work to combat this by keeping both trigger points and scar tissue broken up. Using just your body weight and the roller, you can gently work on e these problem areas to ensure that they don't become an issue. This results in normal range of motion and function, as well as better tissue flexibility.

After certain injuries, as your fascia creates new layers, scar tissue can result. If you don't work proactively to align and break up this scar tissue, you will surely experience pain down the road, along with some other issues. Your body will often work to overcompensate from the lack of mobility by depending more on other areas in your body. Before you know it, you have pain in places that had nothing to do with your injury. Foam rolling on your own helps you to recover from prior injuries, even ones from years ago.

Massaging your scar tissue and other problematic areas on your own can have dramatic effects in just a few uses. Anyone that is recovering from any kind of injury involving muscles, tendons, and tissue will benefit from using a foam roller during and after recovery.

Here's the thing. Stretching, yoga, and other exercises are indeed great for improving your overall flexibility, but self-myofascial release with foam rolling is another proven and highly effective method for increasing your flexibility in a variety of ways. The more your muscles and tissue are massaged, the greater the flexibility. When combined with other methods, the results are increased even more. If you already do things like yoga and regular stretching, foam rolling ill push your flexibility over the top. This not only means more flexibility, it means less soreness, and a lower chance of injury.

Pressure in any form that is applied to specific spots can help to push blood flow in that area. This also increases lactic deposits that help blood flow, as well as stimulating your lymph system, which helps to expel toxins from your body. Increased blood flow also works to provide more oxygen to those areas, which goes a long way in rejuvenating muscles and tendons. Why am I telling you this? Because foam rolling can play a key role in improving your circulation in the areas that it is used. Whether it's your back, legs, or even arms, a foam roller is a great way to provide a significant measure of increased blood flow, along with all of the other benefits.

This almost goes without saying at this point. Muscle tightness can come from a lot of things, whether it's engaging in physical activity beyond your current limits, or even sitting in an office chair all day.

Whatever your reason for muscle tightness is, the effects are the same: pain and a severely diminished amount of flexibility. Foam rolling address all of these things. Think of it as something similar to a ball of dough and a rolling pin. You're the dough, and the foam roller is the rolling pin. Once you push down on that ball of dough and roll it with the pin, it flattens out, and goes from a compact ball to a smooth and flexible flat of dough. While a foam roller is thankfully not going to flatten you, it will smooth your muscles and tissue out, which does a lot to relieve muscle tightness.

Ever had a knot in your back? Of course you have. Going to a masseuse every now and then will help with this, but why not just handle it yourself, or at least provide some better relief in between visits? You can experience quick relief from knots in just 10 minutes when using a foam roller. This is especially effective in the back area. As soon as you feel a knot, simply lie down and use the roller, and the knot will be massaged away before you know it – all without having to schedule an appointment.

Foam rollers are primarily made of, well, foam. Not only are they relatively small in size, they are very light, and easily carried around. This can be a big benefit if you are wanting to bring it with you to work. Why would you do that? Because doing things like sitting or standing in place for hours and hours and hours can take a toll on not only your posture, but your muscles and tendons as well. This can lead to back pain and neck pain that might seem annoying at first, but can eventually become bigger issues down the road.

Bringing your foam roller to work is an easy way to fight back against all of the issues that work can cause for your body. All you need is 10-15 minutes during the day, and you are well on your way to enjoying the effects of self-myofascial relief at work. People might look at you funny, but you'll be the one feeling better at the end of the day. Who knows, maybe your whole office will join in eventually.