Best Running Foam Rollers Reviewed

This think and durable roller comes with teaching videos you can access online. This is a great benefit, as most of us do not intuitively know what to do with a roller. The foam and outer shell used in making the roller are tough, and will not break down. This roller will keep its shape and give you the firmness that will ease your nagging body aches.

Many physical therapists and other sport medicine professionals use the Grid with clients and patients. You can get that extra flexibility, while easing soreness, all by yourself at home. And with those videos, the quality of your self-massage can approach what you would get in a doctor's office.

This is Triggerpoint's flagship product. The design has not changed much over the years. The Grid is 13 inches long, 5.5 inches in circumference, and has a generous weight limit of 500 pounds. You do get a one year warranty when you buy the roller new.

One really neat feature is that you can soothe several trigger points simultaneously. That is because the roller's center contains five pressure strips including a hard ring at the very center. You also get four compression zones. These are similar to wearing compression sleeves on areas of your body that give you the most trouble, so you target the benefits.

The roller is 18 inches long, giving it a good five inches on our number one Triggerpoint Grid roller. The outer is eco-friendly ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA), the same polymer used in some baby teething devices. It gets even better when you find out that the core of the roller in reinforced with a hard PVC pipe. It's a tough, durable center that lets the outside part hold its shape over time.

At 18 inches long, the Eclipse is also good and thick at 6.5 inches. It comes in a black color with a yellow accent to highlight the zones and strips. The roller is solid enough to stand up to frequent use, but also lightweight enough to be portable, even suitable for outdoor use.

In addition to two more product lines, the Beastie and the Gator (it's green), you can get a bundle with a training video showing you how to use the roller for self-massage. However, the DVD is only available for the less robustly featured Gator. There are some related free videos on a page of the Rumble Roller website, though.

The Rumble Roller comes in several colors, and you can even order custom sizes and firmness levels. The size goes all the way up to 31 inches. These rollers will build your mobility as well as making you more flexible because loose, relaxed muscles and tendons make it easier to move.

If there is a secret to Rumble Roller's awesomeness, it's the bumps. They are flexible without compromising on hardness. The texture and placement of the bumps will encourage your tissues to spread and relax in different positions. You get increased blood circulation, more oxygen to your muscles, and, with consistent careful use, a greater sense of health and well being.

Although its thin shape means it isn't suited to putting under your back while you lie on your yoga mat, the Stick will still reach plenty of areas and provide useful benefits. The foam is flexible, with a series of incongruent wide rings in the long center part. Two red handles, one on each end, allow you to curve or twist the stick into any shape you find helpful and to hold your knees, elbows, calves and other overused areas tight and snug.

The main use for the Stick is on your legs. It will tighten your muscles with compression, then allowing them to expand. The blood flow and oxygenation benefits can actually expel lactic acid after a run, speeding up healing time. Using the Stick before a run or event can augment your performance and will definitely work to prevent cramps or shin splints.

Since the ring protrusions are segmented, you can target individual muscles or small muscle groups individually with ease. The all plastic Stick comes with a one year warranty, a 90 day guarantee, and appears to need little attention in terms of maintaining and cleaning the tool.

The roller is made from EVA, like many of the others we found. The massage bumps include asymmetric squares and rectangles, each able to exert a helpful amount of pressure to just the right spots. The bumps are meant to emulate human hands and fingers, so you get a masseuse in a box when you go with the 321.

Another cool feature is that the roller is suited to both beginners and those who have been rolling out after their runs for years. New runners can learn how to recover and protect against injury, while seasoned athletes can indulge themselves with a deep tissue massage. The softness is such that you can use this roller even if you have plantar fasciitis, low back pain, or other common runners' maladies.

Judging by Amazon's customer reviews, sales ranking, and answered questions, everyone loves this roller. Runners, yoga and pilates practitioners, physical therapists, and all-around fitness buffs will get great benefits out of the 321 Strong. The technology is patented, so you will not find another foam rolling tool quite like this one.

For starters, the roller somehow comes with a three-year warranty from Luxfit. We are quite taken with the maker's confidence in its product. The price represents a great value, considering you could spend twice this much on a more advanced roller and any streaming videos that may come with it. No streaming videos or ebooks here, though the roller is generic enough that you can search YouTube for directions on self-massage.

The roller is three feet long, so perhaps not as portable as others especially with the circumference. However, the Lux roller is still lightweight and easy to maneuver into positions that will provide comfort. You can even rig this into a yoga block, despite it not having the brick shape that yoga blocks typically sport. The roller is small enough to help you with balance, too, and we discovered evidence of super fit, super balanced women who can actually sit on this kind of roller.

This roller is made not of EVA but of polypropylene, a polymer that is easy to mold into firm shapes that won't get lumpy or saggy over time. The roller repels stains and moisture, in case you spill your fruit smoothie on it when you are multitasking. We do have one word of caution: Lux Roller markets this product as letting you do a myofascial release on yourself. While MFR won't cause injury if you listen to your body, there is very little scientific evidence that MFR has the benefits that fitness websites often claim it does.

This is one of the most expensive rollers on our list. Brazyn is aware of this and quick to point out that the roller is built by hand and exported from Europe. The roller can actually fold completely flat, which is no easy feat, and there is no PVC or other solid core like in some rollers. Actually, the folded mat will take up less space in a travel bag than your lucky sneakers do.

The bumps covering this roller are of uniform size and shape. They are packed close together and meant to replicate the feel of human hands and thumbs. There are some glowing endorsements of the roller on Brazyn's site, including Kevin Ng, who trains a member of the US rugby team. When you unfold and deploy the roller, it measures 14.5 inches long and 5.5 inches in diameter--the industry standard for foam rollers.

The Brazyn Morph roller comes with a 30-day money back guarantee, as well as a warranty for two years. Brazyn is transparent, on its site, about what will void the warranty and how to get your refund should you need to.

You can also purchase a nearly identical roller in an 18-inch length. This adds a bit of portability and may help you hone in on small muscle groups that are prone to achiness.

We were unable to determine the exact makeup of the foam. After visiting several retailer websites, including Golds Gym itself, all we found was that the foam is therapeutic and high density. We aren't saying the Golds Gym roller is toxic, but the fact that it is not specified as EVA or a similar polymer may put off those of us concerned about environmental impact.

There is no solid core to this roller. Since it is smooth foam, there are no protrusions of any kind. One thing Golds Gym does well is sharing how to use its products. This roller comes with a chart that will walk you through the best soothing techniques to start you with self-massage.

Length and circumference meet industry standards. The hollow core is supported with PVC pipe for durability and firm touch. The outer shell is EVA foam, durable, stain resistance, and eco-friendly.

You get narrow bumps along with wider ones, arranged in sections all over the roller. You can easily vary and mix the area and reach of your massage experience. Not everybody needs the same amount of pressure, and often the same person will need more or less pressure in different body areas. Planet Fitness has made this customization easy for you.

This is something you can take to the gym, to an outdoor walk or hike, or to a public 5K run for loosening up prior to activity. When you complete your event, use the generous bumps to calm down your legs, core, chest, back and any other large muscle group that needs TLC.

The foam used in construction is high density to take a lot of use without losing shape or integrity. The surface is smooth, with speckles that aid in grip both for your hands and the rest of your body. The roller comes in seven colors, and seven sizes from 12 to 36 inches.

The roller is called Basic, but it offers deep tissue healing according to Amazon. It is suited to intermediate and advanced athletes. Neophytes will get a lot out of it, too, but may find a lower end starter model is better suited to them.

This roller uses polypropylene, another foam/plastic hybrid that makes for a tough, durable product that will retain its shape and won't flake apart. This is a remarkably cost-effective way to bring foam rollers into your life, with some decent options if you want more than the base model.