Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Product Review: Roll Recovery


After years of running and triathlon-ing, and experiencing the injuries that go along with that, I've acquired a pretty good toolkit for working out soft-tissue soreness, trigger points, and adhesions. I thought my toolkit was complete, but it wasn't. This week I added a new one that I'm pretty excited about - Roll Recovery.  I saw this at Runabout Sports and it's essentially two rows of four wheels (like inline skate wheels), held together under spring tension, that are rolled along a limb. It addresses some of the shortcomings of rollers, sticks and balls - pressure and precision.


Rollers are good for a generalized "wringing of the towel" effect but they are not very precise and for some areas it's hard to get enough downward force from bodyweight alone. For instance, rollers don't do anything for my calves. The Rumble Roller (top) is good in some situations but often I find it's just a bit too torturous. The massage stick is a good small portable option, but it takes some effort to generate pressure and some areas can be hard to reach effectively. The tennis-balls-in-a-sock and hard rubber balls are useful for small areas and localized trigger points, but if your whole leg needs attention, that's a bit like fighting a forest fire with a garden hose.

Roll Recovery provides precision, pressure, and complete coverage along the eight rollers allowing for a deeper massage action. You just slide your leg between the rows of rollers and move it along the muscle, changing the direction and angle as desired. With Roll Recovery I know exactly where I am sore.

I keep it by my desk and use it a few times throughout the day. It's easy enough to use yet the spring-tension is pretty powerful. It adjusts to apply the right tension to the top of my hamstrings as well as my calves. And I even tried it on my forearms just to see, and yes, that works too.

I suspect quite a lot of thought, testing, and refinement went into this product as it's quite well made and functions well. At $118 it's not inexpensive, but it's an investment to consider for leg health and enhanced recovery.

Thank you Solar Connexion for the investment in my leg health and enhanced recovery. This is much appreciated!