"autogenic inhibition" refers to a natural process in our bodies where muscles relax in order to protect themselves from getting injured or excessively strained. It happens when our muscles sense that they are being stretched or contracted too much, causing them to automatically ease off or stop working, preventing potential harm.
Full definition
It is thought that applying direct sustained pressure to a tight area can inhibit the tension in a muscle by stimulating the GTO to bring
about autogenic inhibition.
The thought is that the more the muscle can be relaxed
through autogenic inhibition and reciprocal inhibition, the more the muscle can be lengthened, and the greater the flexibility gains (Haff 2006).
The proposed mechanisms of PNF stretching involve two neurophysiological phenomena referred to
as autogenic inhibition and reciprocal inhibition (Sharman, Cresswell & Riek 2006).
Autogenic Inhibition: The process by which neural impulses that sense tension are greater than the impulses that cause muscles to contract, providing an inhibitory effect to the muscle spindles.
You may or may not have ever heard of
autogenic inhibition but this is the underlying principle at work here with foam rolling.
Autogenic inhibition, (aka «reverse myotatic reflex») refers to a reduction (or inhibition) in excitability of a contracting muscle.