Preventive effect of foam rolling on muscle soreness after exercise: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objective: This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the effect of foam rolling (FR) on exercise-induced muscle soreness.

Methods: PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, ProQuest, Cochrane Library and China National Knowledge databases were searched to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of the effect of FR intervening muscle soreness after exercise, from their inception to August 2022. The outcome indicators were visual analogue scale (VAS) and pressure-pain threshold (PPT).

Results: A total of 16 studies were included, involving 515 subjects. Meta-analysis results show that FR has a certain effect of elimination of muscle soreness after exercise. The standard mean deviation (SMD) and 95% confidence interval (95%CI) of VAS and PPT immediately after intervention, 24, 48 and 72 h: [SMD = -0.38, 95%CI (-0.61, -0.15), P = 0.001], [SMD = -0.53, 95%CI (-0.82, -0.25), P = 0.0003], [SMD = -0.77, 95%CI (-1.12, -0.42), P < 0.00001], [SMD = -0.67, 95%CI (-1.09, -0.24), P = 0.002], [SMD = 0.23, 95%CI (0.62, 0.16), P = 0.25], [SMD = 0.48, 95%CI (0.11, 1.07), P = 0.11], [SMD = 0.39, 95%CI (-0.24, 1.02), P = 0.22], [SMD = 0.37, 95%CI (0.01, 0.74), P = 0.04].

Conclusion: Using foam rolling after exercise has a certain preventive effect on muscle soreness. Our study found that the effect of intervention of FR immediately is tiny after exercise, while the effective of intervening is relative obvious above 24 h.

Registration: PROSPERO (registration number: CRD42021250174).