Page 12 - The Hockey Academy News December 2018

Regardless of your sport, the grind of a typical athletic season places an incredible demand on your body that can certainly take its toll over time.
Athletic competition and activities impose a continuum of physical and psychological stresses, which can cumulatively place an athlete at increased risk for injuries. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, high school sports alone account for 2 million injuries, 500,000 doctor visits, and 30,000 hospitalizations every year. They also noted that injury rates were especially higher during competition-speed activities compared to practice. Another important trend identified was that the history of a prior injury was a strong risk factor for future injury. While these numbers are in no way meant to discourage individuals from participating in sports, it is important to acknowledge that the data reflects an inherent risk that comes with participation.
Throughout the course of a season, as an athlete participates in practices, scrimmages and games, they constantly perform movements at high levels of intensity. These include, but are by no means limited to, sprinting, cutting, jumping and practicing sports specific drills. While these activities can help an athlete adapt and gain more skill in the sport as the season progresses, the fact of the matter is that the volume and frequency at which they are performing these activities can often lead to an accumulation of stress on muscles, tendons and joints. These stresses, over the course of a competitive season, can lead to decreases in muscular performance and reduced movement efficiency which leaves the athlete’s body more susceptible to potential breakdown. The best way to combat these degradations is to allot time for strengthening exercise during the season. In addition, adequate amounts of sleep and a well-balanced nutritional diet will aid the athlete in remaining durable throughout their season.
The repeated stresses of sporting activity require a high level of muscular strength to attenuate the forces that the body is exposed to. When strength is lacking, our joint structures such as bones, tendons, ligaments, and cartilage will take the brunt of the impact. Improved general muscular strength will also help to enhance proprioception, stability, and dynamic control of sports specific movement patterns. It is common for off-season training programs to focus on general strength and conditioning however, as the pre-season and competitive
12 DECEMBER 2018 | THEHOCKEYACADEMY.COM
The Stronge
Article by Victor Wei, SPT & Chri
season roll around, the scheduled time previously allocated towards strength and conditioning naturally begins to shift towards sport-specific skill training. It can be extremely difficult to schedule the time necessary to maintain or progress an athlete’s strength levels once the competitive season has begun and as the season progresses a decline in muscular performance places the athlete at greater risk for injury as they continue to fatigue and grow weaker.
Other crucial factors that often go over-looked are the amounts of sleep an athlete is receiving and their ability to maintain a nutrient-rich diet. It must be known that restful sleep benefits the athlete both physically and cognitively and it has been shown that psychological and social stresses have the potential to manifest themselves through a decreased tolerance to physical stress and decreased overall performance. In addition to adequate sleep, maintaining a well-balanced diet can have similar benefits on recovery and performance. Nutrition plays a key role in providing the requisite energy stores needed for high level performance, as well as providing the nutrition needed to replenish the body’s musculoskeletal system following practices and competitions.
There is certainly no question that the competitive season can break an athlete down, so what can we do to help? First, it is important to identify those athletes that have an increased likelihood of injury. This can be quickly assessed via functional movement screens, strength testing, range of motion screens, as well as simply observing the quality of an athlete’s movement
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