They look like something kids would use in a learn-to-swim class, similar to the long and spongy “noodles” at a YMCA or local pool, only a little larger in diameter.

Make no mistake, though. The items now viewed as standard equipment in nearly all professional sports teams’ dressing rooms aren’t designed for play.

Foam roller therapy helps get athletes loose before games and soothes aching muscles afterward.

“It’s used to treat soft tissue,” said John Wawrzyniak, strength and conditioning coach of the American Hockey League’s Hershey Bears. “These guys are constantly over-using their glutes, their quads, their hamstrings and their groins, so they’re getting micro trauma to those muscle groups.

“Think of the foam roller as a self-masseuse that they can roll on and start to massage those muscle groups out, use their body weight as opposed to someone actually do the massage to them, and do it on a daily basis.”

Resistance against body weight

After Sunday night’s 4-2 loss to the Manchester Monarchs at Giant Center, players went through their normal postgame routines after a third contest in as many nights. Before hitting the showers and hustling out for a meal with family or simply heading home, there was a little more work to be done.

After changing out of their hockey gear and into shorts, T-shirts and sneakers, some preventive maintenance was required on their bodies.

For some Bears, that included using foam rollers, which are placed on the carpeted-floor of the dressing room.

Different rollers have varying consistencies, some harder than others. They come in 12-inch and 36-inch lengths.

Players lie down or sit on top of the devices, the foam providing resistance against their body weight as they roll across it, back and forth.

“Some of us older guys really notice it if we don’t do it,” said 27-year-old forward Jacob Micflikier. “You get pretty sore sometimes, so it’s a matter of working out the fluid.

“I don’t know all the science behind it, but if I don’t use it, I tighten up. It helps me stretch the muscles.”

Taking care of soft tissue

Having a masseuse work on 20-some players every practice and postgame session isn’t practical, but Wawrzyniak said athletes get needed soothing pressure that the foam rollers provide.

“They’re always taking care of the soft tissue, guarding against the over-use of it and getting it ready for the next time,” Wawrzyniak said. “By foam rolling and then stretching, they’re able to get a better stretch and take care of all those tight trigger points in the muscles.”

Forward Christian Hanson said players usually use the foam rollers for 10 to 15 minutes. He started foam roller therapy during the 2004-05 season, when he played for the Tri-City Storm in the United States Hockey League.

“It depends on how you feel,” Hanson said. “You try to isolate each side of your leg: your hip flexors, your hamstrings, your groins and your glutes. Some guys have problem areas and they focus on that one specific thing.”

During the course of a season that can last as long as 10 months – from training camp through a deep playoff run into June – a hockey player’s legs take a pounding. How they bounce back from that pounding goes a long way in determining their level of on-ice success.

“It’s all about recovery,” said Dan “Beaker” Stuck, Hershey’s athletic trainer. “I came in the gym this morning – a Sunday morning after two games – and the guys are on the floor rolling out their muscles. It helps get the nooks and crannies out.”

Micflikier swears by the foam rollers. He even has one at home to use after workouts on his own, or if he’s feeling sore away from the rink.

“I use it on different muscles,” Micflikier said. “My quads, my IT bands (on the outside of the thighs), my groins, hamstrings and calves. You just use it based on how you feel.”

Combined with aqua therapy

Rookie forward Garrett Mitchell uses the rollers in concert with Hershey’s aqua therapy area across the hallway from Stuck’s training room.

“I’m a big believer in it, because it helps push the lactic acid out of the muscles,” Mitchell said. “It’s foam rolling plus the cold tub, which is basically an ice bath.

“I roll out my quads and glutes. I stretch out then jump in the cold tub, which really shrinks down the tissue. It really helps when you’re playing three games in three days like we just did.”

It’s all part of the continuing evolution inside pro dressing rooms, locker rooms and clubhouses across North America and the world.

“Just the other day, (Bears defenseman) Danny Richmond and I were talking about how different it is from just five years ago,” Stuck said. “Advances in technology and education make for better-conditioned athletes.

“And the players themselves are always reading up on what’s coming next. Today’s hockey player is so much more educated than even players from 2000 or 2008 were.”