If you use a foam roller for tight shoulders, what size?

[BamaTanya]

Mary has a 24" on sale but I'm not sure if that's what I need.

[marki64]

According to a PT that came to speak at our work, you should have longer vs. shorter, in that it works more effectively than the shorter one. So the 24" would be the way to go.

[Sissy B]

I have a 36" foam roller.

[AsSweetAsSugar]

I'd say get a long one, I've 36" and 18". I got the 18" to save money, but then I got Cardio Dance Flow and other Pilates Foam roller wos, and I wanted to do those workouts, so I ended buying the longer one later. The longer is more versatile imo. There are some shoulder stretches in CDF where you lie on it from head to tailbone and do some circular shoulder motions and it really feels great, great massage for that area, and all the other shoulder stretches you could do with a shorter one, can be done with the longer one.

[warriorprincess]

IMHO, balls work a lot better than rollers for shoulders. My go-to for shoulders is Jill Miller's Alpha ball. She also has a pair of smaller balls in a mesh bag that are great for straddling the middle of the spine. Sometimes I prop those up on a yoga block so I can roll my neck with them too.

What also works well if you have a padded body bar it to put blocks under each end of it so it's an inch or two off the floor. You can roll your neck and shoulders really good with that too.

[eyefit]

I actually got this trigger point ball set to get in between the shoulder blades, which is where alot of my neck pain originates. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I use both the single and double balls depending on what I want to achieve. With the double set, I go to a wall and position the balls so that one is on each side of the spine and roll against the wall. If you cross your arms over your chest you can get in there a little better, too. If you don't like the idea of a double ball just use the single trigger point ball, which is a really nice one with small bumps to really get those muscles good. You can adjust the intensity by pressing against the wall harder or softer. Either way, it is really good for getting into those muscles, better than a foam roller. I still use a foam roller for lower body, but for the back and shoulders I use these.

[Pratima]

I did physical therapy for shoulder and elbow tendinitis. The PT had me use a lacrosse ball to roll out my shoulder and shoulder blades. It's a good size and firm enough to really get in there and you can find them relatively cheap on Amazon or at a local sporting goods store.