Foam Rollers, is it suppose to hurt so bad

You aren't doing anything wrong.  It hurts because your muscles are tight.  The more you roll, the less pain you will feel because your muscles will be getting loose.  Don't give up.  The foam roller can be your friend.

They hurt so good!

It can be very painful, yes. Those knots (spasms that didn't release) are your trouble spots. Slowly work those areas. You can adjust how much body weight you're using to fit your pain threshold.

A trainer showed it to me back in the fall. It hurt a bit for me at first, especially right above the knees, on the outer side. Maybe the lower end of the IT band? Anyway after a couple months, no pain at all, and I can put just about all my weight on it when rolling as well, with no pain.I think the pain reduction is good, and is basically the scar tissue breaking up getting cleaned out.I would point out though that my only recent issue has been a calf pull, no IT band or knee issues. Also 45 yo male, with many years of on and off running over short distances (3 miles). But in the last year the tri bug got me, so the volume is way up.

yeah, the foam roll hurts.  usually a lot!  I quit using mine because I developed knee problems about a year ago (I have no cartiledge) and using the roller makes my knees feel worse.  I don't know if it moves things out of allignment but there is definately something about the roller that irrates my knees and makes running almost impossible for me.  Works well for my wife and her IT band.  Just make sure you are getting a benefit from the roller if you are going to use one.

Yes.

My wife always asks me why I would do that to myself. I tell her that it will make my legs feel better. She then asks me why I am crying if it is supposed to help.

Stick with it. It will take some time to work the kinks out. After that, it will just be a matter of up keep for you body and wont hurt as bad.

Took about a month before it stopped hurting as bad. I also noticed a felt a LOT looser overall after that month of pain. I do 15 mins of stretching before I hit the foam roller.

HTFU!

As everyone has noted - yes it hurts. In my experience though the more it hurts (make sure it's just tenderness, if it's sharp pain something else is going on) the more you need it. I regularly use the roller on my ITBs/Quads/Thighs/Calves and it really doesn't bother me anymore. Haven't had an issue with any of those in a long time.

Except for the post from my brother  thanks for the input.

I'm glad that I'm doing it right and with a little time maybe the pain will go away and my muscles will get looser and well conditioned.

Thanks again. 

I'm glad I'm not the only one. Some days are worse than others but it is such a good pain. It took me about 2 weeks of 3-4 times a week to get past the initial pain to the point that I like it. Also, I couldn't put my entire weight on it for a while.

My PT used to say, “The more it hurts, the more it means that you need it.”
It does get better though. Or you get acclimated to it. Either way, it hurts less after a while.

I've been using a rolling pin, but would love to try a foam roller.  Can someone point me to a web site to buy one?

I bought this one: http://www.amazon.com/Altus-Athletic-6-Inch-24-Inch-Roller/dp/B001FB5ZEY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1298998673&sr=8-2

That's what Brothers are for...

I posted this same question about 4 months ago when I purchased mine.  This was one of my favorite reply's.  It gets better and for me personally I was working on my hip and it seemed to resolve my issue after a couple of month.  I used it in bed at first so that the bed could absorb some of the weight.  Eventually I worked up to using it on the floor.

Pfft. The white ones are for girly-men. HTFU and get a real foam roller. This one hurts like Medieval torture.

http://www.performbetter.com/detail.aspx_Q_ID_E_4918_A_CategoryID_E...

Seriously, the black ones, since they’re made from molded foam, instead of closed-cell foam, are a lot harder, so they hurt more, but they also last forever, unlike the white ones that get mashed out of shape after a few months of regular use.

I have been using "The Stick" lately and it seems to work pretty well.

It is a little bit easy to control the pain level with the stick and I can con my wife into doing the rolling for me on occassion.

Keep this in mind as you roll:

"Pain is weakness leaving the body"

Using the Stick is also a great suggestion/alternative.

LOL, that reminds me of what my Yoga instructor said when I asked "...are my arms supposed to be shaking so badly?" He said "you're letting the weakness out"

Good one! 

so I have used a foam roller for my ITBS and hip when I was doing PT a year or two ago but once that was resolved have not had one or needed to use one since. I am thinking of getting one but am curious about how you use it properly on your calves as that sounds...awkward to me. Anyone have a link to how you roll your calves I can check out later (work has restricted access for lots of sites, just luckily not BT   )

I think this one is the best out there:

http://store.tptherapy.com/The_Grid_Revolutionary_Foam_Roller_p/tpt-grd.htm

Just looking at it brings tears to my eyes. 

Edited by nerdjock 2011-03-01 2:23 PM

X2. just picked up the black one you mention the other day after completely destroying the 'intro' version. It's reduced me to tears in less than a minute. working up to tolerating this one too.

Yes, as everyone said, it hurts a lot.

If you are having issues and can get a deep tissue massage from someone who knows what he or she is doing, I highly recommend doing so.  I just started it recently and it is helping.  And it will introduce you to even greater heights of pain.  I had one the other day and felt like I might be the bad guy in an episode of '24'.  24 hours later I felt great.