Addaday Ultra Roller soothes shin splints, muscle tension

The Addaday Leg Roller is a useful accessory for runners that deal with soreness and tension. (Addaday Photo)

Many athletes, and almost all competing at the collegiate and professional level use some form of roller to help loosen tight muscles and speed up recovery.

The Addaday Ultra Roller is a bit of a step up compared to other rollers with its ability to pinpoint tight muscle areas more efficiently and effectively. This product would be great for any runners looking for a way to loosen tight muscles either before or after workouts without having to deal with the bulk of the typical foam roller.

For those that are not familiar with the science behind foam rollers and regular rollers, the concept is essentially to massage, relax and loosen the muscles. Running, and other strenuous workouts lead to tense muscles and the build up of lactic acid. It is important to warm the body up carefully by loosening the tight spots in muscles in order to prevent muscle tears and other injury. Rolling out the body?s muscles allows for faster muscle recovery, less pain and most importantly, injury prevention.

With this in mind, I knew that the Addaday Ultra Roller would be a beneficial product for athletes even before I tested it out. After using it, however, I was able to see how this roller is a bit more beneficial than the other comparable options out on the market.

Local athletes can find the latest running gear at Santa Barbara Running Company’s two locations.

First, the ridges on the round gears can be felt more clearly pressing into specific muscle areas. This I noticed especially on my anterior tibialis muscle which lies just on the outside of the shin bone to the right. Other rollers I have used in the past have never been able to target this muscle adequately. The round balls with edges make it possible. This could be very helpful to athletes dealing with shin splints and was definitely my reason for liking it over other rollers.

Although I focused primarily on my legs while using the Ultra Roller, I noticed that it is able to be used for back muscles and even arm muscles as well. I didn?t find it as useful in these areas because of my inability to dig into the muscles with as much force as say my thighs, hamstrings and calves.

It is the bigger leg muscles that this product is really meant to focus on, and it does so very well with its ridges really digging into the small knots. Deeper longer strokes work well to target deep tissue, while small shorter strokes back and forth work well on knots in specific locations.

All the loosening up the Ultra Roller does is really beneficial to the body allowing it to get warm and ready for races or workouts, and recover properly after races or workouts. By using this roller consistently great relief can be felt in terms of post workout pain and comfort, even days after strenuous workouts. It essentially gives you the ability to massage your own body.

Specifically, the Addaday Ultra Roller works better than other rollers because it is smaller than a foam roller, has round gears with ridges that allow more precise massaging effects, and it does not yank body hair out like other rollers have a tendency to do.

For anyone who can relate to a consistent build up of muscle soreness – or knots in the quadriceps, shins, calves, IT band, inner thighs or hamstring – they should take a look at this product. The Addaday Ultra Roller will be able to dig deep into these areas of issue and prepare your body for proper workouts and workout recovery.