Effects of the foam roller on athletes’ jumping ability: a systematic review

Abstract

Introduction: It is proposed that the use of the foam roller (FR) in the sports field can be a good complement to optimize the acute improvement of range of motion and to cause an analgesic effect, however, its use in warm-up to improve neuromuscular variables such as vertical jump is controversial in athletes. Therefore, the objective of this systematic review was to analyze the effects of FR on jumping ability in athletes. Material and method: A comprehensive, exhaustive, and structured search was carried out following PRISMA recommendations in the following databases: Pubmed/MEDLINE, Cochrane, Scopus, Sciencedirect and Web of Science. The studies that met the inclusion criteria were assessed for their methodological quality using the PEDro scale. Results: A total of 262 records were found in the study identification phase. In the screening phase, duplicates were eliminated, and the studies were filtered by selecting the title, abstract and keywords, obtaining 47 references as a result. A total of 18 studies were analyzed in full text, 12 of which were excluded. Therefore, the total number of studies that met all the selection criteria was six. Conclusions: The selected studies show that the application of RF is a technique that contributes to increasing the performance of jumping capacity in athletes and its effect can last up to 10 minutes after its application. However, protocols and duration times should be standardized to maximize results.