The Best Foam Rollers of 2024

Whether you’re a professional athlete, someone who's just starting to work out, or a person acting on the advice of a physical therapist, there are a lot of benefits to foam rolling. For example, self-massage using a roller or ball is a great way access trigger points, achieve myofascial release, speed up muscle recovery, increase blood flow, and relieve the muscle tension that builds up from working out or sitting at your desk all day. But how much foam rolling you need depends on how active you are, and the type of roller you need depends on how you feel.

What You Should Know About Foam Rollers

“The harder you train in terms of volume and frequency of training, and the higher intensity you train, the more likely you are to have micro tears or strains in your muscle,” says Pete Viteritti, a sports chiropractor with more than 25 years of experience treating everyone from Olympic athletes to everyday runners like myself. Viteritti is also my former chiropractor, who I saw to treat a running injury a few years ago. These micro-tears happen when the load you’re putting on your muscles exceeds what your muscles can handle. And that’s where foam rolling comes in.

Foam rolling can reduce the cumulative tension in your muscles, which in turn reduces the risk of injury from tight muscles and can restore your regular range of motion if you're experiencing discomfort after a workout. But keep in mind that it’s just a preventative tool and doesn’t fix problems you’re already experiencing. So if you do get injured, please see a doctor, who may advise you to take up physical therapy or seeing a massage therapist.

How do you know which Foam Roller to choose?

“It’s really a personal preference,” says Viteritti. “It’s like vanilla or chocolate ice cream. Some people like chocolate, some people like vanilla. There’s no right or wrong, it's just what you like.”

So when it came to testing, I took his advice. I thought about whether I liked aggressive, deep tissue massages or lighter ones (somewhere in the middle) and if I had a high or low pain tolerance (again, somewhere in the middle). There’s really one key factor when it comes to effectiveness, says Viteritti: “What’s the best foam roller? The one you’re going to use.”

So pick your foam roller based on its overall specs, not what the Olympic-level bodybuilder on YouTube is selling. Get the one you’re going to use on a daily basis.

What Are The Different Kinds Of Foam Rollers?

While you’re thinking about which foam roller would work best for you, it’s good to consider lengths and materials. In general, most rollers I researched and tested were around 36-inches long. This makes them stable when rolling out your muscles and allows you to do any stretch you can find online but can be tough to store in an apartment.

There are a few different materials you’ll find as well, which range from relatively soft to fairly hard. Much like length, it goes back to what is comfortable for your body. The softest is Polyethylene (PE)—the Yes4All roller we tested is made of this material. It’s great for beginners, though not the best quality.

Ethylene Vinyl Acetate (EVA) is a step above PE. It has the spongy feel of the PE foam but enough firmness to get a bit more of a massage. Our favorite compact roller is made of a hard plastic inner tube covered in different densities of EVA foam.

The next step up is the Expanded Polypropylene (EPP), which offers a denser, firmer roller. For context, the AmazonBasics' roller is EPP, and our winner the LuxFit considers itself a Molded Polypropylene. There are also a few more specialty rollers out there. For instance, the Rumble Roller is a proprietary mix of EVA and other, harder materials. This is great for intense athletes, but overkill for most folks. From my experience, EPP works great, while PE is a bit too soft for my muscles.

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