Smart Health: I Tried the Rolflex Pro Everyday Health MenuNewslettersSearch Fitness Smart Health I Tried the Rolflex Pro for Sore Muscles — and It Helped Ease Painful Spots If muscle aches and pains are hindering your workouts, this self-massage device might help you find relief. By Leoni JesnerFor Smart HealthMedically Reviewed by Lynn Grieger, RDN, CDCESReviewed: April 20, 2022Everyday Health BlogsMedically ReviewedThe Rolflex Pro may be a more portable alternative to traditional foam rollers.Courtesy of Rolflex ProName Leoni Jesner Age 31 Why I Tried It To relieve muscle soreness and tension after strenuous strength training sessions As a personal trainer and mat Pilates instructor, I make exercise a part of my daily routine. And most days include some strength training. Consistency does not leave me immune from the occasional sore spot or tight muscle a day or two after a tough workout. So, I do leave time after my workouts to cool down with the help of a stretching band or a foam roller. (Some research does indeed suggest that foam rolling can help with post-workout muscle soreness. A meta-analysis published in Frontiers in Physiology in April 2019 concluded foam rolling is as a warm-up activity can improve flexibility and as a recovery tool can help reduce pain after a workout.) The Rolflex Pro, a self-massage tool designed to be more portable and more easily target hard-to-reach muscles than a traditional foam roller, piqued my interest. Could this nifty tool really elevate my workout performance? What Is the Rolflex Pro The Rolflex Pro is a foam roller tool intended for self-massage. It’s designed to relieve muscle pain and promote muscle recovery. But unlike traditional foam rollers, which require you to use your body weight to apply pressure to painful areas, the Rolflex Pro has two arms you squeeze together to apply pressure to specific muscles (such as your quads) which also lets you target hard-to-reach areas (here’s looking at you, elbows). Adjustable contoured roller inserts are nontoxic, latex-free, made from EVA (ethylene vinyl acetate — a type of sturdy, yet flexible foam), and are available in medium (green), firm (yellow), or hard (orange), designed to mimic the varying pressure of a physical therapist’s hands. The Rolflex Pro website’s instructional library includes how-to videos with instruction on foam rolling techniques, as well as using the tool for mobility exercises. Here s What Happened When I Tried It There are no specific guidelines as to how long you should be using the Rolflex Pro on each muscle group for optimal effect — ultimately, it’s up you. I used the Rolflex Pro after my workouts, concentrating on the muscles I’d exerted during that day’s session. I especially loved self-massaging my elbows as I found it was easy to adjust and position the tool around this hard to reach joint. From there, the dual rollers would glide over the I think bony region to roll out my forearms. The high-density roller was better at working into larger muscle groups (particularly my quads and hamstrings), while the lower-density roller suited more sensitive regions around my neck and forearms. That said, switching between roller densities did require a rewind of the instructional video (and a few real-life attempts) before I could figure it out. I attempted to massage my quadratus lumborum (the deep abdominal muscle located each side of the spine in the lower back) as suggested in the instructional video. This required attaching the multi-strap and reaching behind my back. Unfortunately, I lack the shoulder flexibility for this and therefore found it uncomfortable. But that’s not to say everyone will experience the same issue. The tool requires regular use for continued results. For this reason, I decided it was best suited for specific areas of pain and tightness, given the process of resizing and resetting the tension to get to each muscle group added 10 to 15 minutes onto my workouts, which wasn’t ideal when I was crunched for time. 3 Things I Liked About the Rolflex Pro Here are three reasons I would recommend the Rolflex Pro to those who regularly work out: 1. It can be used to target a lot of different muscle groups. The Rolflex Pro is a one-stop shop for self-massaging many different muscles. Adjusting the tool’s arms and switching out the therapy rollers allow for many options for using it. 2. It lets you target typically hard-to-reach areas with ease. The therapy rollers maneuver easily over problematic areas (hello hamstrings!) to reach muscles that normally require an extra pair of hands to get at with a foam roller. I found it especially useful for my neck, elbows, and the back of my knees. 3. You can use it anywhere, at any time. While I enjoy a strenuous workout, I haven’t quite fine-tuned my post-practice stretch, and mainly that’s due to my limited attention span. However, the Rolflex Pro was a convenient solution for rolling my most-worked muscles whether I was at the gym or at home, without requiring me to source or carry around a foam roller. 3 Things I Disliked About the Rolflex Pro There were a few things I disliked about the product: 1. The plastic material feels a bit flimsy. Considering its price point, I expected a higher quality of material. Some of the fixtures felt shaky and insecure at the fittings, as if it could come apart without a firm grip. 2. It needs to be adjusted for every muscle group. If you’re like me, you may lack the patience to switch out the therapy rollers for each muscle. 3. The online instructional videos are uninspiring. Although helpful for explaining how to use the product, I felt the videos and how-to guide lack creativity and enthusiasm, and therefore I was lacking in motivation to watch them all the way through. The Bottom Line The Rolflex Pro helped me manage areas of muscle tightness post-workout. I found it a more practical solution for self-massaging specific muscle groups, rather than targeting multiple muscle groups in one go. Though it does take some time to adjust the tool, it became convenient for kneading sore muscles and areas of tension as and when the need arose. I find the foam roller to be more useful for targeting my back muscles, although not as easy to use on certain areas, such as the hamstrings. Therefore, I’ll likely use the two in combination or alternate them between workouts. 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