New perk! Get after it with local recommendations just for you. Discover nearby events, routes out your door, and hidden gems when you sign up for the Local Running Drop.
RM Extreme Contoured Roller Massager
Price: $35
Best Features: Contoured shape allows for dynamic rolling, knobs help to break up surface tissue.
Room for Improvement: Occasionally catches hair or materials.
From Pro-Tec Athletics, the makers of the Orb massage ball, comes the Extreme Contoured Roller. Looking somewhat like a weapon from the middle ages, it has high-quality handles on either side and a continuous, contoured, knobby roller for self massage, differentiating it from The Stick or Tiger Tail rollers.
The roller is made of a dense, but forgiving, foam with a smooth finish. Its contoured shape fits the leg well and the knobby, bulbous sections can be used for more precise massage work, like the piriformis, tibialis anterior (along the shins) and even the balls of the feet.
The shape also lends itself to helping with back massage: put the Contoured Roller on the ground and lay on it, lining up your erector spinae (muscles that run the length of the spine on either side) and gently roll back and forth.
Even though the roller looks somewhat aggressive, it’s not painful. The knobs are a firm foam and succeed at providing resistance as well as give.
Recommended, however, is to have a layer of protection between it and your skin because it tends to pull on the rolling surface. This is particularly painful for those of us with hairier legs.
—Coby Hoch is the editorial intern at Trail Runner magazine.