Preventing Injuries...through common observation

There are many strategies for preventing injuries. Many training facilities will offer a "pre-hab" or specific injury prevention program. These programs are - hopefully - research based on the specific contributing factors of common injuries in the specific sport. These injury prevention programs are very good at getting parents and athletes very excited about the program.

But here is the kicker - Any good program, will be an "injury prevention" program. That is what a good training program is supposed to do!! What is the alternative? An injury causation program??The first goal of any and every program should be to prevent injury. If a training program results in you jumping 3" higher, but it changes your mechanics to a more injury prone movement pattern, then are those 3" really worth it??

So here are the basics of "designing" an "injury prevention" program.

1. Look at the sport being played and look at the fundamental movements. Remove any implement, such as a ball, bat or stick, and just look at how the body moves and then simply emphasize balance and train these movements for strength, balance and stability.
2. Look at factors related to injury in that sport. If injuries in the sport often occur during a "plant and cut" maneuver, then slow the motion down and train that motion for strength. For planting and cutting, a perfect exercise would be single leg squats, single leg lateral hopping, and lateral shuffle then sprint.
3. Assess the athlete. Some athletes are more prone to injury than others. This can be a result of biomechanical differences, previous injuries or simply poor technique. But understand that not every athlete will have the same needs. Actually, most athletes will not have the same needs. Instead each athlete will probably have a different priority during strength training.
   
4. Warm-up properly. Failure to adequately warm-up is a very common cause of injury. Why? The warm-up prepares the body and its systems for what is about to occur. Warm-up is the time to perform these "pre-hab" drills, which are really simply calisthenics such as pushups, squats, hopping, shuffling, etc. You can get a great warm-up program by sending me an email with Warm-Up Manual in the subject line. --> aaron@pairmarotta.com

Overall, injury prevention is simply good coaching, good training, and good preparation!!

Pair & Marotta Peak Performance will be having their Summer Speed, Strength and Power (SSP) Camp starting on June 7th!! Sign up before May 31st and get the Warm-Up Manual and a Peak Performance T-Shirt!!