Does a foam roller really speed up recovery?

Small gains, in particular places. Before training there was a small improvement in flexibility and in sprinting, and almost none in strength or jumping. After training there was slightly less delayed muscle soreness and a small preservation of performance. The authors concluded the effects are mostly small and sometimes a trivial effect, though they may be useful where even a small change matters.

The separation this review makes is what saves it from a useless answer. Rolling before training and rolling after it are two different questions with different aims, so they were pooled apart: fourteen studies on before, and seven on after.

Before activity there was a small improvement in flexibility and in sprinting, and almost no change in strength and jumping. That fits an explanation on which the effect is mainly on range of movement and on a sense of readiness, rather than on force production, which is what jumping and pushing measure.

After activity the picture inverts in an interesting way: the sensation of soreness fell more than the performance measures did. Sensation and function are not the same thing, and an improvement in sensation has value in itself, without claiming the muscle repaired faster.

And two things are worth knowing before buying. No clear, consistent advantage emerged for any particular kind of roller, so price and firmness promise nothing. The studies were also small and used different devices, treatment durations and muscles. So the right summary is that the effects are mostly small and sometimes trivial, and may be useful precisely where a small change matters.