Karen Goeller, CSCS (Click for blog posts.)To all of the young athletes out there… Enjoy your holiday season, but be sure to keep up with your sleep, healthy eating, and hydration. Lack of any of them can reduce your focus in the gym and school. Reduced focus may lead to accidents and poor grades.
Have fun and stay safe! Check out my books and be sure to let me know how I can help you…
#gifts #holidays #training #athletes #sports #cscs #nj #gymnastics
Overuse Injuries on the Rise
By Karen Goeller, CSCS
I was watching Real Sports with Bryant Gumbell, https://youtu.be/AGxxBER5xJU and was not surprised by what I heard from doctors, parents, and child-athletes.
As a coach for over 40 years, I have seen many changes. The problem is fueled a few ways-Governing bodies, parents, coaches, and kids with passion for their sport.
Sometimes the child LOVES the sport and does not know when to modify training. They often hide aches and pains from coaches and parents due to fear or so they can keep training. It is up to adults who know the consequences of overtraining to modify the training for the child who is injured.
A big part of the problem is also that governing bodies of sports such as USA Gymnastics. USAG encourages very young children, starting at age 5. (My opinion, it is a way too young and USAG has likely been motivated by money in membership fees.) By the time some children are only 8, they are dealing with overuse injuries.
As an NSCA-CSCS, I have had to fix many injured gymnasts in the past decade. Some coaches and parents choose to treat these 5 years old children like pro athletes. They are children and many adults forget that with their eyes on that college scholarship. It takes many years to develop strength, speed, endurance, flexibility, an appreciation for safety, and maturity. It should be a gradual process. A child should not be training like a pro athlete at such a young age.
I have met many parents who are overboard, insisting their children train at home as well as the 25+ hours in the gym. I have had to remind a parent that an 8 year old that she should not be training at home on top of her 25+ hour schedule. A few years ago I have several parents of five year olds ask for private training the week before their first competition. I said no to all of them. I’ve had parents discount children’s aches, pains, and fatigue and have seen those kids end up in surgery. There is only so much a coach can do when a parent insists their child train at home or pulls a child from a coach who refuses to have a child reduce training to heal from injury.
Not every coach is aware of injury prevention or rehab. They have spent years mastering the sport, how to teach skills and create routines. Some coaches do not do the math when it comes to training. For example, if a gymnast has 5 jumps in her beam routine and you ask her to do 10 routines a day, that is 50 jumps per day on the hardest surface in the gym. Compare that to a routine with 3 jumps times ten routines to equal 30 jumps per day. That is a difference of 20 jumps in one day. The difference becomes really significant over time. In one week that is 250 jumps vs 150. Over one month that is 1000 jumps compared to 600 jumps, a difference of 400 jumps. Coaches should really do the math and learn the breaking point (when gymnasts start to feel aches, pains, fatigue) so they can keep the number just under that breaking point. You can be demanding without overtraining and produce healthy, strong, and successful gymnasts.
Need help with reducing injuries? There are very few high-level gymnastics coaches who also have the CSCS. It is not an easy-fitness certification. It is based on sports science. A college degree is required to sit for the exam, you are given 6 months to study, it covers exercise prescription for competitive athletes, exercise technique, injuries, injury prevention, nutrition, and more. Not everyone passes the first time. And in order to keep the certification, we must continue education by attending events, webinars, self-study, doing presentations, and writing. https://karengoeller.wordpress.com/gymnastics-consultant-and-strength-coach-cscs/
“An athlete’s hard work with a coach’s guidance is what propels them to success.” K. Goeller
By Karen Goeller, CSCS
I’ve spent many years coaching gymnastics and as a CSCS. The CSCS is responsible for effectively training the athlete for sports performance. The CSCS also helps bring the injured athlete back to competition fitness once cleared from their physical therapist or doctor. That step in-between physical therapy and all-out competitive workouts is often missing. It is the job of the CSCS to fill that void.
Sometimes after a gymnast is “medically cleared” they continue to have knee pain. It is not that the doctor or physical therapist was not effective. Once cleared, the gymnast often is not aware on how the body should function; it is a lack of awareness.
I was asked by a gymnastics club owner to “go over some knee exercises” with some of her gymnasts who had a previous knee injury and some who were recently cleared by their doctors. I would be willing to bet the owner and coaches had no idea I would be teaching their gymnasts how to properly stand, bend, and straighten their knee, but that is what these gymnasts needed. AWARENESS. Below is a summary of what we did so that you can help your gymnast.
As many of you have seen, a high percentage of gymnasts have over-pronation. That is a rolling inward of the feet. Many have one that is more severe than the other. That causes poor alignment of the ankle, knee, and hip. You see the knees fall in laterally towards one another. With that poor alignment, the gymnast often performs skills adding stress to the joint because of the force involved with skills. The poor alignment is often seen in the take-off for the cartwheel, round-off, side aerial, and front handspring. This poor knee alignment is also seen in the landings of dismounts and jumps. Over the course of time, performing skills and landing can cause severe damage to the body if the gymnast is using incorrect technique and/or has poor alignment.
So here is the report from the quick clinic I gave to this group. Throughout each exercise I reminded these gymnasts how each drill related to the sport, landing mechanics and skill take-offs. When an athlete knows the purpose of a drill they get more benefit.
Out-In-Neutral-Foot
I asked the gymnasts to stand straight with their feet together, simple. (Well, sort of.) Many in this group could not do that without over-pronating. It is very common for gymnasts to have over-pronation. They train barefoot with no arch or heel support several hours each week. (That’s why they need high-quality shoes when not in the gym.)
I asked these gymnasts to gently roll their feet out towards their little toe, then back in towards the arch in their foot, and finally back to straight/neutral so they could feel the difference between the three positions. (It is very important to be sure they do not roll too far in any position. You do not want them causing damage to the ankle or foot.) As they did this slow-motion movement, Out-In-Neutral Drill, I instructed them to look and their knees to see the difference in alignment. Some seemed surprised at the difference foot placement made in the knee.
After that and asked these gymnasts to bring their feet hip-width apart and again to slowly roll their feet out, in, then back to neutral. At this point, they all were able to clearly see the difference in ankle and knee alignment with foot position. I asked the gymnasts to perform this simple Out-In-Neutral Drill several times in order to see and feel their neutral foot position and proper leg alignment.
After the gymnasts performed the Out-In-Neutral Drill on two feet, I asked them to lift one foot off the floor and perform the Out-In-Neutral Drill on one foot. Again, some seemed surprised at the difference the slight movement of the foot had on the knee alignment. I reminded them that the single leg alignment is important on the one-foot take-off and leap landings.
Once the gymnasts did a few repetitions they seemed to understand the relation between foot alignment and knee alignment really well. Before that moment, these gymnasts never realized that the alignment of the foot had so much effect on the rest of the body.
Side-Side-Neutral
After the Out-In-Neutral Foot Drill we did a simple weight shift drill. I call it the Side-Side-Neutral Drill. Believe it or not, when many gymnasts squat they tend to lean on one side more than the other. This is not something many people notice during the landing of the dismount because it happens so fast and the focus is on sticking the landing. The technique of the landing is imperative to maintain low body health.
I asked the gymnasts to stand hip-width apart and keep their feet in the neutral position. I then asked them to perform a ½ squat position as if they were landing a dismount. As I suspected, many were leaning on one side/leg. Others were bending at the knees with hardly any hip bend. We made adjustments to proper landing mechanics at that point. (Landing a jump on beam is different than landing from a double back on floor or a dismount from equipment. Since the force is so much greater, it is imperative to teach proper weight distribution when landing.)
Once all were in the correct position, I asked them to perform the Side-Side-Neutral Drill, shift their weight to one leg, neutral/center, and to the other leg. This was to remind the gymnasts that they must land with their weight centered, evenly distributed between both sides.
Remember, the force on the body when landing from a double-back can be 10-13 times the gymnast’s body weight. With some gymnast’s, one side could be taking more force than the other and in other cases the front of the legs could be taking on more force than the back. With gymnasts who are primarily bending at the knees, the front of the legs-knees and quads take a much higher percentage of force than the back of the body-glutes and hamstrings. The front-load landing can put enormous force on the knees and over time may cause damage.
Since gymnasts dismount daily, it is imperative they line up their knees with their ankles and hips, but they must also evenly distribute their weight from side to side and from front to back. Sometimes it is just as important to teach awareness as it is to physically strengthen the body.
We took this a few steps further and added a medicine ball with more complex movements. We carefully performed the chop exercise in order to simulate a landing but to also involve the core and upper body. We did this with both legs and then single leg. Adding the medicine ball made the movements challenging, but they were able to safely perform. This exercise is a great value because it forces the gymnast to focus on landing mechanics while building a little added upper body strength for bars.
Finally, during this session, we did include some traditional knee rehab exercises. Many gymnasts with knee pain have weak gluteal muscles.
I assigned the physical therapy bridge. I call it a hip lift. The gymnasts lied on their backs, bent their knees and lifted their buttocks off the floor a number of times. In the hip lift position we also did the marching exercise, but I only allowed the gymnasts to lift one foot 2 inches off the floor in order to keep their hips up.
Next, I assigned the clamshell exercise. I instructed the gymnasts to lie on their side and bend their knees, keeping their heels in line with their spine. Once in position, I instructed them to keep their heels together, but lift the top knee towards the ceiling, opening their legs. We did both sides.
Another exercise we did that day was the side plank. Added to the side plank hold we did plank hip dips. In the side plank position, I instructed the gymnasts to lower their hip to the floor and lift it back up. We did a number of receptions on each side.
And we did plank leg extensions and small kicks. In the plank leg-extension, I asked the gymnasts to lower their knees to the floor then bring them back up to a straight position. We did single leg plank leg extension too. With that one the gymnast kept one foot 2 inches off the floor as they worked on the supporting leg, lowering and lifting the knee. That leg extension is simple, but a great quad strengthener and form drill. And for the small plank low back kicks I asked the gymnasts to lift one foot 2 inches off the floor. I instructed them to keep their foot pointed and lower their toes to the floor and lift the foot 2 inches. I had them alternate these slow, low kicks.
There are so many things you can do to maintain or improve your gymnast’s health. Keep doing much of the conditioning that is well known, but also consult with physical therapists, chiropractors, and CSCS’s for ideas.
Karen Goeller, CSCS
www.BestSportsConditioning.com
Have you seen this yet?
Sports Lessons Learned: Life Lessons through Sports by Karen Goeller
http://a.co/bEzykqN
This children’s book is a collection of stories about young female athletes who have learned valuable lessons through sports. Sports include gymnastics, cheerleading, tennis, golf, skiing, boxing, martial arts, swimming, diving, track, soccer, and dance. By reading these short stories your child will learn new lessons, change their attitude, or possibly redirect her sports career. The stories show the value of sports lessons beyond the fun, skills, and competitions. Your child will enjoy reading this book and sharing the stories with her friends. Nice gift for any female athlete, sports parent, or sports coach.
This is very similar to Gymnastics Lessons Learned. You do not need both books.
See all books by Karen Goeller at www.amazon.com/author/karengoeller.
#sports #children #kids #books #gifts #lessons
Did you know that by the time you are thirsty you are already dehydrated? Dehydration, as little as a 2% loss in fluid, negatively impacts your body and your mind. Dehydration can cause confusion, irritability, constipation, drowsiness, fever, and thirst More signs and symptoms of mild to moderate dehydration include dry, sticky mouth, muscle weakness, stiff joints, headache, dizziness, lightheadedness, nausea, cramping, decreased urine, cool extremities, slow capillary refill, and sunken eyes. You can usually reverse mild to moderate dehydration by increasing your intake of fluids.
For athletes or those with physical jobs, the inability to perform and focus as a result of mild dehydration may increase the risk of injury. Athletes and those with physical jobs may suffer a loss of performance of up to 30%. They may experience flushing, low endurance, rapid heart rates, elevated body temperatures, and rapid onset of fatigue. It is imperative that you drink enough fluid before, during, and after your workout or work shift.
Severe dehydration is the loss of 10-15% of body fluids and is a life-threatening condition that requires immediate medical care. The signs and symptoms of severe dehydration include extreme thirst, irritability and confusion, very dry mouth, dry skin and mucous membranes, lack of sweating, little or no urination, any urine that is produced will be dark yellow, sunken eyes, shriveled and dry skin, rapid heartbeat, fever, coma, and even death. Dehydration of any kind will not correct itself
How much fluid should you drink? It is recommended that you drink the number of ounces in fluid that is equal to half your body weight each day. For example, if you weigh 100 pounds, your hydration goal would be approximately 50 ounces per day with normal activities. You would adjust accordingly for days that you exercise intensely, drinking more.
Most active individuals have some level of dehydration at the end of a workout or work shift. Here is another hydration tip… It is recommended that you drink enough fluids to replace approximately 150% of the weight lost during exercise.
Other than the symptoms of dehydration, how do you know if you are dehydrated? One easy way to detect dehydration is to check urine color. It should be clear or very pale yellow. If it begins to darken in color, fluid intake should increase. Another way to check for dehydration is to weigh yourself immediately before your workout and immediately after your workout. It is important to use a scale at the gym to be sure your weigh in occurs at the correct time. If you have lost weight during your workout, you are dehydrated. If you have gained weight during your workout, you may have taken in more than enough fluid. If your weight is unchanged, GREAT JOB! You likely drank an appropriate amount of fluid.
It is important to replace fluids lost when exercising, but drinking pure water exclusively isn’t always the safest choice for those who participate in very strenuous or long-duration exercise. When significant amounts of fluid are lost through high-intensity exercise, just replacing water can lead to a chemical imbalance in the body and deficiencies in electrolytes (hyponatremia). Sports drinks, like Gatorade, can help restore electrolytes. These drinks should contain carbohydrates, sodium, and some potassium. The electrolytes in our body include sodium, potassium, chloride, calcium and phosphate, but sodium is the substance of most concern when replacing fluids lost through exercising. Electrolytes are essential for proper organ function. The loss of electrolytes may contribute to dehydration headaches. It is imperative that you take in the proper balance of water and electrolytes, especially during exercise.
How do you prevent dehydration? Drink plenty of fluids, especially before, during, and after exercise. Sports drinks can encourage active people to drink more fluids because they are flavored and are higher in sodium. Avoid caffeine and alcohol because both will cause dehydration. Avoid carbonated beverages because the carbonation may cause bloating or a feeling of fullness and prevent adequate consumption of fluids. For most of us, being aware and prepared is the easiest way to prevent dehydration from occurring.
By Karen Goeller, CSCS
http://www.medicinenet.com/dehydration/article.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dehydration
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000982.htm
http://kidshealth.org/teen/safety/first_aid/dehydration.html
http://www.rehydrate.org/dehydration/
http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/dehydration
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/dehydration/DS00561
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/156064/dehydration
http://yourtotalhealth.ivillage.com/dehydration-diabetes.html
http://www.merck.com/mmhe/sec12/ch158/ch158b.html
http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=2933
http://firstaid.about.com/od/heatcoldexposur1/qt/06_dehydration.htm
http://healthlink.mcw.edu/article/993748461.html
http://headaches.about.com/od/migraineprevention/a/dehydration.htm
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