Foam rolling after a hard eccentric leg session eased soreness and blunted the later rise in blood creatine kinase in both young (20-30) and middle-aged (40-55) active men, but how much the muscle softened on ultrasound did not track how much the pain eased, in a randomised crossover of 32 men; markers and soreness ratings only, no strength or performance recovery, and no magnitudes in the abstract

Wen and colleagues asked how muscle damage and its recovery differ between young and middle-aged men after maximal eccentric exercise, and whether a standardised bout of foam rolling changes the course.

Thirty-two physically active men, split into a 20-30-year and a 40-55-year group, did a high-volume maximal eccentric knee protocol (20 sets, 236 repetitions at varying velocities) and then either rested passively or foam rolled, with the rolling pressure standardised on a force plate, in a randomised, counterbalanced crossover.

Muscle stiffness by shear-wave elastography, blood CK and LDH, and perceived soreness were measured before and at 0, 24, 48 and 72 h. Without rolling, CK rose late in both groups and peaked at 72 h.

The middle-aged men did more total work and reached higher peak torque, yet the young men had much larger later CK and LDH rises; the middle-aged men instead showed raised CK straight after the bout and their muscle resisted the softening that rolling produced.

With rolling, the later CK rise was smaller, the age difference in LDH disappeared and soreness eased in both groups, and the restoration of muscle stiffness did not correlate with the reduction in pain. The authors read this as older tissue shielding against large delayed damage, and foam rolling as a neuromodulator that eases soreness independently of softening the tissue.