Foam roller use effects on eccentric strength of the knee flexors for rugby sevens players.

Participants completed two testing sessions that lasted for approximately 30 minutes. There was a 1-week washout between testing sessions within the cross-over design. A researcher supervised all exercises and testing for correct application and compliance to the protocol. Participants used a grid foam roller (FR) cylinder (height:13inches,diameter:5.5inches; TriggerPoint, USA). On the FR day, after the initial eccentric knee flexor test, active straight leg raise test (ASLR), and active knee extension test (AKE) were completed, the athletes began the FR intervention. These exercises were performed for thirty seconds with ten-second rest intervals for three sets, bilaterally on the gastrocnemius and hamstring muscles. During the application, the metronome was set to 40 beats per minute. Thus, the participants were advised to apply an application rate of ten rolls per 30 seconds while targeting the area with maximum tolerable pressure. Gastrocnemius: The athlete sat on the exercise mat with the FR underneath their leg. They placed the FR in the mid-point between the knee and ankle joints. They used their hands to support themselves on the sides and lifted their hips. They slowly rolled the FR towards the center of the ankle and returned to the starting point. The breathing and tempo of the exercise were verbally instructed by the researcher. Hamstring: The athlete sat on an exercise mat with the FR immediately underneath the thigh. They placed the FR in the center of the hip and knee joint. They raised their hips from the ground using their hands on the sides. They slowly rolled the FR towards the top of the knee joint and returned to the starting point. The breathing and tempo of the exercise were verbally instructed by the researcher. One minute after the exercises were completed, the ASLR and AKE were performed on the dominant and non-dominant extremities and their values were recorded. After one minute of rest, the athletes performed the eccentric knee flexor test for one set of three maximum repetitions. The maximum and average torque values and imbalance values were recorded after the test.