Review of Axis foam roller by OPTP

I have been doing rehab with Josh. Though I didn’t have a house fall on me as Josh did I was in pretty bad shape. About June I started getting a pain in my foot. It’s called plantar fasciitis and it is painful. It is inflammation in the connective tissue where your arch meets your heel. The major cause of pf is overuse and muscular imbalance. I went to the orthopedic surgeon and he confirmed my diagnosis and gave me a few exercises to do.

None of the treatments really helped and the pain got worse. So, for a few months I did very little because my foot hurt badly. In case you didn’t know doing nothing causes your health to deteriorate. When Josh came to stay with us he needed to rehab his back and to get back in some semblance of physical health. Josh didn’t want to go a old fashioned physical therapist so we found a great trainer who specialized in injury rehabilitation. Nathanael works at Southwest Sports Institute and he is torture artist in the best way possible. He has really helped Josh rehab his back and I am in much better shape because of his workouts.

Nathanael is a great guy who is very knowledgeable about all things training. He reintroduced me to a product I had used a while back at the YMCA. My good buddy John, who works at the Y, showed me a foam roller about a year ago. I used it a little but didn’t really understand how to use it. When I showed up at SWSI I was given a full education about foam rolling. It was great! Actually it is painful. It works the same way a triggerpoint massage works. It breaks up adhesions in your muscles with pressure. Like many massages the pain means it working… 🙂

Now, before every workout we have to roll out our whole body. The roller we use at SWSI and, now, at home is an Axis made by OPTP. There are several kinds of foam rollers but this one is superior. First, it is made out of very high density foam unlike the other kinds I saw. I am a big guy at 260 lbs. and a flimsy roller won’t hold up under my weight. Second, it is durable. Now be reasonable, it is made out of foam, so it is only as durable as foam can be. Third, and most importantly, it works. This roller gets 5 stars.

It is one thing to simply workout. Active recovery is an oft overlooked part of health. When muscles are working and straining they need help recovering. Our over processed diet makes this cycle worse. All of those factors mean that our bodies need recovery.

I have benefited from using the roller and I continue to benefit from it as I use it at home even more. The roller is not very expensive and a great tool to help your body recover from your workouts. If you haven’t tried it, you should. It is an easy to speed up recovery and help you get on the track to better health.