Can one safely foam roll their lower back?

Interesting. Why shouldn't we be rolling directly on the spine? I have been foam rolling for recovery for about 6 months now, hitting ITB and the erector spinae, but I also deliberately spend time rolling over my upper back, as a dynamic stretch as much as for soft tissue release, to assist with correction for my hyper-kyphotic curve - not a good thing in an otherwise healthy 25 year old - as prescribed by my chiro. Am interested in your opinion on this. Thanks for the great tip using roller for VMO too.

Will and Jon - If it's worth anything I can maybe chime in a little. First off I'm a big fan of the site and a huge advocate of self-myofascial release (foam rolling)! It's helped me and my clients tremendously. The literature that I've seen states that foam rolling in the low back (aka lumbar spine area) is contraindicative. This is due to the natural curvature of the lumbar spine which is described as a lordosis. Your cervical spine, or neck region also has a lordotic curve. You can feel how in both these areas, the bones naturally go into the body, as opposed to the thoracic region or mid-back (which has a kyphotic curve). As you've stated, the foam roller is great at hitting large muscles groups, like the quads, hamstrings, adductors, etc. But that type of force that is introduced into the spine is not specific enough to target the erector spinae and transversospinalis muslce groups without putting excessive force into the lumbar spine and all the surrounding ligamentous and nervous tissue. Basically you're pushing something that's already going forward even further. You can even do damage if you have a pre-existing condition like a disc protrusion or an anterior spondylolithesis (anterior vertebral body slippage) in the lumbar spine. Instead of foam rolling, you could get something smaller like a baseball or tennis ball and perform the procedure standing up against a wall. This would be more specific to the smaller muscle groups and friendlier to the spine. Foam rolling in the mid-back or thoracic spine is not contraindicative due to it's natural curve as mentioned above. I'm not a licensed doctor so as always, consult yours before performing any soft tissue regimen.

Dan
CPT-NASM
2nd year student for Doctor of Chiropractic

Thanks for the videos!

Dan made some good points regarding the use of rollers in the lumbar spine. As far as using small balls for self-massage of the spine is concerned I have had good success with taping tennis balls or racquetballs together with just enough space between them so that each ball pushes into the thickest portion of the spinal erector musculature.

Baseballs are hard enough and large enough to make wall work more realistic, but the smaller and softer tennis and racquetballs make floor work accessible for just about anybody.