The Rock N Roller Controller is Awesome!

Foam rolling has been around since the 1980’s. It is used to increase flexibility and mobility, increase circulation, inhibit pain, improve body function, increase scar mobility, and improve posture and balance. This allows one to improve upon their outcomes of rehabilitation, athletic performance, recreational sports, injury prevention, and activities of daily living. With all of the benefits of foam rolling, it is a wonder why everyone doesn’t foam roll.  They don’t because the traditional way of foam rolling just plain hurts and is hard.     

The Rock N’ Roller Controller (RRC) is a novel and proprietary foam rolling system which was purposely engineered to facilitate passive and active assistive manipulation of soft tissue, inert, and contractile tissue while using the handles. The innovative handles allow the person or the health care provider (physical therapist or athletic trainer) to provide  passive range of motion, actively assisted range of motion, or active range of motion for the tissue with the issue. The RRC provides accurate sustained spine distraction and decompression, joint mobilization, and soft tissue mobility techniques that help with one’s posture and functional mobility in a comfortable, safe, and pain-free range. The inventor’s intention is that by using the attached arms, it allows for better posture, less compensation of other body parts, and easy access  to the tissue so one can sustain treatment comfortably. The arms act as an assistive device to get in and out of positions so that the person relies less on balancing and maneuvering to obtain the best posture for the technique of foam rolling.

To engage the body in the healthful movements and therapeutic pain relieving benefits of traditional rollers, the user must have many aspects of health and fitness in line. The core must be engaged throughout and strong, hips must be flexible, shoulders must be stable and injury-free, wrists must have full range of motion. Movement over old style rollers is created primarily by the legs and puts stress on the wrists and shoulders of the user. 

In contrast to the traditional way of foam rolling, which is a very difficult and taxing activity, that creates a pattern of poor compliance, the RRC is driven by arm movement on the affixed handles.  These handles (Controller Arms) provide an easier way to distract and mobilize the spine and better manipulate soft tissue at the limbs with accuracy and sustainability.  This allows the body to remain relaxed without stressing other body parts, thus producing a comfortable and pleasant experience. The benefits are obvious and sought after by therapists and Medical doctors. This foam rolling technique now is much more accessible to a broader base of people. 

The essential mission for this RRC is to provide an easier and more simplified way to obtain “ that foam rolling pose” for a more accurate, sustained and more effective therapeutic modality. Doing this will facilitate better movement , pain relief, injury reduction, human performance, health & wellness for all… no matter the age, limitations  and movement dysfunctions. This therapeutic  mobility modality device gives life and a wake up call, because “stillness causes illness.” So let’s Rock and Roll!
Dr. Vincent Burke, PT, DPT,  MPT, BS, NASM

Medical Description and Endorsement of the RRC 
from Dr. Vincent Burke, PT, DPT,  MPT, BS, NASM
In the words of a medical professional:
The origin of the roller began as a cylinder of various diameters and materials, such as foam and even plastic, that functioned to restore muscle flexibility, mobility, and broadly make people realize better performance and relieve pain. In 1995, I created an instructional video with my daughter, who was only four years old at the time.  The video went over what was then the full gamut of therapies pertaining to a foam rolling system. A great deal of my art and science with this specialty has been focused on the device's utility to increase circulation, mobility, and the user’s resulting functionality. At that time we were limited to passive rollers. Even looking back at the video now, one can see that foam rolling in the traditional way is a lot of work.  I was visibly perspiring in the video.  This is why I feel the Rock N Roller Controller, LLC is a game changer.
I have been practicing for over 35 years as a physical therapist and performance trainer.  It is alarming how often patients, athletes, trainers, and therapists describe how it is painful to just assume a position which puts pressure on other areas. Painful pressure on their wrists or shoulders as they are stretching their calf, or their hip, or their groin, or their spine causes them a discomfort which makes them stop the therapeutic exercise before they get any physiological effect of the passive roller.  Meeting John and understanding immediately that the RRC is something special, I could see how this was the perfect solution to the limits of traditional passive rollers and how it avoids the discomfort many experience from the old traditional devices.
Movement, mobility, and stability is paramount in life. We try to keep people moving in life.  Thus, as they age, people often transition from using a cane to a walker, then to wheelchair. I find the RRC is a great modality to slow down the aging process. This therapeutic modality allows the person to maintain, restore and improve mobility, flexibility, and stable functionality, while taking a lot of pressure off the upper body. It allows people to get the benefit from foam rolling when they once never could, due to weakness, pain, and inability to get into the proper positioning. This means upper body strength and hurting wrists and shoulders are not part of the process of this therapy. Any user can roll over the body part such as the lower back without exerting a counter pressure.  Lastly, the utilization for accuracy could be lying down, sitting, or standing, both statically and dynamically. This makes the RRC open for everyone to use, unlike the traditional foam roller.
Another attribute I love is how it helps with treating the spine.  I believe this is what caused John to develop this appliance. He had a back pain, uncomfortable and painful and he just wanted relief and was introduced to foam rolling. Unsatisfied with a simple foam roller, he added two handles which allowed his body to easily flow over the spine without exerting effort. His body was relaxed and relief and healing could truly occur. I understood the curative nature of his innovation immediately after sending me a video. I looked at it and said “you know, this is unique, let me try it.” John then sent me a prototype. The rest is history. I began to formulate multiple applications, which could never be part of any traditional armless roller therapies, from land to water, to rehabilitation and performance/strength training, posture correction, balance activities and more. 
Here's the big thing with the roller arms…I call them ‘sticks’ because Johnny is a well known drummer. They enable a foam roller to distract the joint, which then opens up the disc area to allow blood flow and pain relief. If you were to go to the medical professional for treatment of the spine, you may have to spend hundreds, or even thousands of dollars and multiple visits to maybe feel better. Remember, not everyone has insurance, or the avenue to a medical provider, but this allows you to distract a joint and provide joint mobilization on yourself without substantial cost or valuable time lost making visits to the caregiver: that's the neat thing about it!
Another thing is that, when you talk about a vertebrae, it has several different joints.  You have the spinous process, in the front and the transverse processes on the sides which form the facet joints. So when you use a roller with arms, you can rotate a little bit, rotate a little bit more, and you can get distraction of the facet joints in the low back, as well as the thoracic spine. This is where most of us have movement limitations and there are vital connections to the ribs. People develop a lot of rib issues when performing activities such as when they pull the lawnmower starter and their back goes, or they're lifting weights, doing seated rows, or back rows, but these issues really arise from poor body mechanics, stiffness, and weakness in the entire spine. This apparatus allows me or any clinician to provide a therapy which a patient can continue to use independently as part of their home exercise program. 
Because of the low impact and ease of use, the RRC is a patient-friendly useful tool for joint mobilization, distraction and soft tissue mobilization. It is a known fact that patients respond best to modalities which are cost-effective, easy to use, accessible, and especially are not difficult or painful to use during treatment.
Additionally, when you have neck pain, the RRC takes all that pressure off your neck to hold yourself up. So that's a huge advantage in that you can block each segment of the vertebrae, which also makes it possible to provide cervical therapy. Many people have migraines, headaches, and pain from faulty posture, especially from being at the computer or texting on their phone. This device allows people to do occipital release at the cervical spine because they can lay on it and  could actually pull with the arms and distract the neck. That is my personal experience and I have coached and witnessed others who demonstrated the same positive results.
As far as the lower body, it's tremendous for the iliotibial band, which is on the outside of the hip. The piriformis muscle and the sciatic nerve is the number one cause of pain with all back injuries across the board. So many people have herniated discs, and from that, they get sciatic nerve pain. Using the RRC may going to correct the herniated disc, but what it does nicely is address the piriform muscle to relieve the tension at the sciatic nerve. It makes it comfortable, while holding onto the “drumsticks,” to easily move across your piriformis without moving the whole body across the roller (unlike an old style foam roller). It is a unique therapy which patients enjoy.
My last example hit home. My son is six foot, four inches tall; and he's a big guy. He was able to manipulate this with ease and comfort. So, obviously, It is also a system that can be easily adapted to larger persons, football players and so on. So these easily achieved benefits are accessible to all! That is something I see as the mission profile of the inventor and the people that are trying to make this available to us all. It is, after all, just about healing and helping everyone live well.  I look forward to continuing my research and development of future applications and uses of the Rock and Roller Controller and its accessories.