Preventing Injuries through Fitness Training

Introduction

Coaches and Athletic Trainers both recognize the importance of conditioning and training to prevent athletic injuries. However, it takes cooperation between everyone involved to gradually bring the athlete to a level of fitness that will prevent early season injuries. Both the coach and athletic trainer must understand the basic principles of T&C.

Concept of Periodization

Definition - periodization is a concept which organizes the conditioning of the athlete into cycles or periodsperiods of need. Macrocycle - the complete training period.

Mesocycle - a smaller period of time, usually weeks or months, within the total T&C period.

• Preparatory Period - generally during the off-season• Competition Period - training during competition• Transition Period - during early part of off-season• Cross Training - using alternative activities

Principles of Conditioning

Warm-up/Cool-down Motivation Overload Consistency Progression Intensity Specificity Individuality Minimize Stress Safety

Flexibility

It is generally accept that flexibility is an important component of injury prevention. essential for optimum athletic performance maintains health of joints allows for maximum range of motion about

a joint helps decrease injuries to muscle, tendon,

musculotendinous unit, joint surfaces, ligaments, joint capsule

Factors that Limit Flexibilitybony structure (fracture of elbow)excessive fatmuscle and tendon tensionconnective tissue

These may all be normal reasons for reaching the end of a range of motion

Flexibility

Flexibility

Active and Passive Range of Motion(ROM)

Active ROM - also called dynamic flexibility, where the athlete moves the joint.

Passive ROM - also called static flexibility, where the joint is moved to its endpoints by someone else or with no muscle action.

Stretching

Background: it is helpful to review the function of agonistic vs antagonistic muscles in the movement of a joint.

Types of Stretching Techniques Ballistic stretching Static stretching PNF stretching

Stretching

Neurophysiologic Basis of StretchingMechanoreceptors in the muscle inform nervous system of changes in muscle length and tension.Golgi tendon organs - sensitive to change in length and tensionMuscle spindles - sensitive to changes in length - need prolonged stretch (6 sec) before reflexive contraction subsides and GTO responds with reflexive relaxation of the antagonistic muscles.The GTO can override the muscle spindles.

Muscular Strength, Endurance, Power

Importance of Muscular Strength/EnduranceMuscular strength = the ability of a muscle to

generate force against some resistance.Muscular Power = a large amount of force generated

quicklyMuscular Endurance = the ability to perform

repetitive muscular contractions against resistance for an extended period of time.

These are all important in the design of a sport specific conditioning program and used in the reconditioning of the athlete after sustaining injury.

Resistance Training Techniques

The training program may incorporate exercises using different types of muscle contraction :

Isometric exercise - muscle contracts to a maximum force but there is no change in muscle length - hold contraction for ten seconds - often used in the early rehabilitation stages - isotonic contraction is either

concentric (the muscle shortens through the joint range as the muscle contracts - function to accelerate movement), or eccentric (the muscle gradually lengthens throughout the contraction - function to decelerate motion).

Eccentric exercise is more fatiguing because less motor units are required to achieve a certain force - this type of exercise is essential in reconditioning tendon injury. A training program which incorporates an eccentric strength component will help reduce injuries to the susceptible decelerating muscles.

Resistance Training Techniques

Isokinetic exercise - muscle length changes while contraction is performed at constant velocity (this method can only be done with a machine and is used for speed training - relies on the motivation of the individual to use maximum strength for each contraction)

plyometric exercise - specific exercises that encompass a rapid stretch of a muscle eccentrically followed immediately by a rapid concentric contraction = forceful explosive movement over a short period of timeMust have a good strength base and technique to begin this type of exercise and must be incorporated into a rehabilitation program to prevent further injury.Progressive Resistance Exercise - based on the principles of progression and overload.

Strength Development

Physiology of Strength Development There have been a number of theories given

to explain why or how a muscle hypertrophies in response to strength training, such as:

fibers split in response to trainingnumber of fibers is genetically determined and stay the

same, but the number of capillaries is increasedthe muscle’s myofilaments increase in both size &

number, causing the fibers to increase in cross-sectional diameter

Resistance Training Techniques Used The overload principle is the basis of all methods

Strength Training Methods

Isometric Exercise Progressive Resistive Exercise Isotonic Contractions

Concentric Contractions Eccentric (Negative) Contractions

Free Weights versus Machines Isokinetic Exercise Circuit Training Calisthenics Exercises Plyometrics Training the Female Athlete

Cardiorespiratory Fitness

Transport and Utilization of OxygenEffects on the HeartEffects on Work AbilityThe Energy SystemsTraining Techniques for Cardio

EnduranceMethods and Equipment Used

Summary

Total body conditioning contributes to decreased injury and improved health