The world is an ever changing place with new information and technology constantly evolving and the world of sport is no different. We are seeing new rules, new gear and new technology change the way sport is played across all levels from grassroots to professional. However, there is a part of the sporting world that hasn’t changed.
It’s the humble weekend warrior’s warm up routine.
Before we get into it, we should ask: why do we warm up? To prevent injury and improve performance. Now, how do we warm up? For as long as I can remember in every sport I’ve played the warm up has consisted of jogging laps of the oval/pitch/court, a few stretches on the ground then into basic skills. In our constantly changing world, surely the way we warm up needs freshening up and the first thing to change is getting rid of static stretching.
“But won’t we strain a muscle if we don’t stretch?!” I hear you ask. Well, that’s a great question and an interesting point of discussion. Just recently, a number of studies have concluded that not only does stretching NOT reduce the chance of muscle strains but in fact can INCREASE your chances of sustaining an injury and can even DECREASE muscle strength and performance!
So what should you do instead? The best evidence for reducing injury at the moment points towards an active warm up incorporating dynamic stretching and strengthening components. If you don’t know what dynamic stretching is, essentially, it is taking the joints of the body through their normal ranges of motion without overly exerting them to increase blood flow and prime the muscles for more rigorous exercise.
This is all well and good to know but how do we use this information you ask? If your sport of choice is Netball, Football or Soccer, you’re in luck! The AFL, Netball Australia and FIFA have invested their time and money into developing sport specific warm up programs all targeted towards injury prevention from grassroots level to professional!
These programs clearly detail the exercises involved so they can be understood by even the most inexperienced sportsperson! If you are a coach at any level, these are invaluable resources that are readily available to everyone to be put into practice from your next training session!
Below are links for the KNEE Program for Netball, the Footy First Program for AFL and the FIFA 11+ for soccer.
https://www.yrsa.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/pdf/Fifa11/english.pdf
This is the future of warming up and injury prevention! Bring your team up to speed and keep your players on the park and leave static stretching in the past!
If you have questions about stretching or any of the content of the programs, Give our team at EP Physio Plus a call on 8682 6665 today!
EP Physio Plus 17 Edinburgh Street, PORT LINCOLN SA 5606 Ph: (08) 8682 6665 Fax: (08) 8682 5552
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