Avoid Sports Related Injuries!
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Avoid sports related injuries by finding the right
balance of strength and flexibility!
Many of our young athletes have started or will
soon begin preseason training for their school sports team. To
avoid injury and play their best throughout the season, it is important that
they work on both strength and flexibility. A good balance of strength and flexibility will
dramatically reduce the risk of falls and other orthopedic injuries, especially
in sports where there are frequent changes in direction and speed, and lots of torque on the joints, such as
football, soccer and lacrosse.
If training is too heavy on weight with little or no
stretching, muscles and tendons become shorter and the range of motion becomes
limited. This can put us off balance and
increase the risk of injury if we move in ways that exceed our limited range of
motion, such as a quick change of direction to catch a football or avoid a
tackle. You can clearly see this
limitation in super muscle bound body builders.
Their muscles are so very large that they actually get in the way of
normal joint movement, such as knee and elbow flexion. On the other hand, if muscles and tendons are
very flexible, but weak, our skeleton-especially around the joints- lacks the
support of the surrounding muscles. Without
muscular support, a small misstep in a cross country race can result in season
ending injury.
A second component of balancing strength and
flexibility is to achieve similar levels of each on both "sides" of our bodies. Depending on the type of repetitive
activities we do, and whether we are right or left handed or footed, we tend to
be stronger and tighter on one side and weaker and more flexible on the other. Therefore, it is important to make a
conscious effort to strengthen our weak side and increase range of motion on
our strong side.
Performing a stretching routine after a weight
training session is a good way to achieve proper balance of strength and
flexibility. By stretching after doing
weights, you increase flexibility, enhance muscle growth and reduce levels of
post exercise soreness because stretching helps flush out lactic acid and other
byproducts of a weight training session. 
While finding the right balance of strength and
flexibility is important for our young athletes, it is equally important as we
get older. As we age we lose muscle mass
and need to maintain as much as possible for as long as possible by engaging in
weight bearing activity. We also tend to
lose flexibility as we get older in part because our bodies dehydrate to some
degree.
Two excellent activities for achieving a balance of
strength and flexibility are yoga and Pilates.
Both of these activities achieves strength by using our own body weight
as resistance, and they provide stretching for all major muscle groups. |
Darlene's Health Tip
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Always Warm Up...then exercise...then stretch
The best way to get the most
out of your workout and avoid injury:
Warm up 5 to 10 minutes before you start your routine. For example, if you are going for a run,
start at a jog-- or if you are weight training, ride a stationary bike for
5-10 minutes first. Stretch after
you complete your workout, making sure to stretch all the muscles that you used
during your workout.
Learn more about us on our new "Bio" pages .Check out our website: www.backtohealthpt.com, or email Kathleen
Casey, NSCA-CPT or Darlene Wooldridge, P.T. at
backtohealthpt@comcast.net
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