Research
Mixed
Cylindrical foam rollers are more effective than roller massagers (bars/sticks) for recovering strength performance post-exercise, though device type does not significantly impact pre-rolling performance gains.
If you are choosing between a foam roller and a roller massager (bar/stick) for post-workout strength recovery, a cylindrical foam roller may be slightly more effective. For pre-workout warm-ups, the type of device matters less.
ModerateQualifiesLOW confidence
A tendency was found for foam rollers to offer larger effects on the recovery of strength performance (+5.6%, g = 0.27 vs. −0.1%, g = −0.01) than roller massagers. The differences in the effects between foam rolling devices in terms of pre-rolling did not seem to be of practical relevance
Why this rating
Described as a 'tendency' rather than a definitive statistical difference; limited number of studies comparing devices directly.
Source
A Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Foam Rolling on Performance and Recovery
Thimo Wiewelhove et al. · Frontiers in Physiology · 2019
DOI 10.3389/fphys.2019.00376
Meta-analysis · 21 studiesCited 282×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Pre-rolling with foam rollers provides a small but statistically significant improvement in sprint performance (+0.7%) and flexibility (+4.0%), while having negligible effects on jump and strength performance.Good
- Post-rolling (post-exercise foam rolling) slightly attenuates exercise-induced decreases in sprint and strength performance and reduces perceived muscle pain, but has trivial effects on jump performance recovery.Good
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