Injury prevention = Improved performance

This holds true for all athletes and that area would be "Injuries" 

Recently I had the opportunity to speak about swimming biomechanics at a local triathlon seminar here in Fort Collins.  One of the speakers, Craig Depperschmidt from Rebound Sports and Physical Therapy http://www.reboundsportspt.com/ spoke about injury prevention and I have posted some of the key points from the talk below.

1. Overuse injuries typically have a cause, a biomechanical issue causing abnormal stress elsewhere.  You must resolve the "fire" (the biomechanicaal issue) to turn of the "alarm" (the pain or symptom)

2. Biomechanical problems usually arise from a combination of 3 areas: 

1) Muscle imbalance from working too much in one plane of motion. 

2) Neuromuscular inhibition or over-activation.  Muscles are working not enough, too much, or at the wrong time.
3)  Natural human asymmetry.  Humans are not symmetrical, yet we participate in activities requiring equal amounts of left and right activities.  This often leads to common, predictable patterns of compensation.

3. Do's: 

1) Strengthen and feel glutes. 

2) Make sure muscle strength and activation is symmetrical. 

3) Utilize shoulder exercises that integrate the abdominal musculature and respiration.

4. Dont's 

1) Overstretch hamstrings.  This can lead to pelvic imbalance and instability. 

2) Overwork back muscles.  Back muscles area often overworked in triahtletes and can be "overactive" leading to pain and abnormal muscle firing in the pelvis. 

3) Just stretch.  Our muscles are made to operate in a specific range of motion.  If they are too stretched out they will not work like we want them to during our endurance activities.

5. Self test can be utilized if an athlete is at risk for an overuse injury.  Exercises can then be completed to prevent and minimize risk of injury.

I believe that one can only swim, bike and run so much.  In in addition to rest, one of the keys to improving your performance once you have maximized your training time will be the attention to injury prevention exercises that will best balance your body.

Make it a great week of training.
Coach Eric