It has been a very different year in regard to local community sports and how/ if they are running due to COVID-19 restrictions. It is great to see some sports happening again and bringing with it many positive benefits for our physical, mental and over wellbeing. Although the preparation for this year’s winter sports has not ran as usual and as a result meant players physical fitness and condition may not be quite up to scratch. 

When the game day and training demands are much higher than a player’s current physical capacity are not quite meeting up it can increase the likelihood of injury significantly. This can be due to pushing your body harder that it is capable of at that point of time, placing increased stress on each of your body systems. 

Why is injury more likely? 
It’s no secret that the first few games of any sporting season usually make you feel more fatigued than usual and this is largely due to the body not being accustomed to the high degree of sport specific demands that are placed on the body. Weather it is the high contact nature of football or the short sharp bursts of speed needed in hockey, the body takes a little while to re-adjust to sport when you first get back into it. The difference in regard to the 2020 sporting seasons is that as structured trainings during the pre-season have not been able to occur as much, your body has not had the time to prepare adequately. 

If you are a player who relies heavily on building your fitness level during structured training sessions and complete little extra independently at home, you may have put yourself at a higher risk of injury due to a lack of preparation. For those not competing in elite level sport and not training regularly in the off season it is normal for declines in muscular strength, endurance and general conditioning to occur. This is then built up again over the off season, conditioning the body for competition intensity and loads. When this conditioning has not occurred the risk of injury increases as the body tries to complete more than it can handle. Depending on the sport and the specific movement patterns, different areas of the body are more susceptible to injury. For example, footballers are more likely to have a knee or lower limb muscle tear whereas netballers are more inclined to experience ankle and knee joint related issues. 

Ways to help outside of game day? 
So how can you help to prevent injuries and prepare yourself for sport? 

• Start gradually: Try not to start out hammer and tong in your first few training sessions, ease yourself into it and re-accustom your body to the intensities and movements. 
• Monitor your training load: If the season has been sprung upon you within a matter of weeks you may have started trying to regain your fitness all at once to ensure that you are ready. Although it is important to monitor how much training you are doing and how intense, it is important to give yourself adequate rest days and build up your strength by beginning with lower loads and slowly increasing. 
• Know what areas are most important to train: Depending on the sport you play different areas of your physical fitness will need more attention than others. A combination of resistance training, agility and plyometric training and cardiovascular training will be required but all in different ratios depending on the sport. Have a think about what movements and intensities are required in your sport and adjust your training to match. 

How to help on game day? 

• Warm-up: It is important to properly prime your muscles for movements before starting any form of sport. This should involve dynamic movements that assist in increasing circulation through your cardiovascular system to help loosen your joints and increase blood flow to the muscles. 
• Cool-down: Just as it is important to warm-up it is just as important to help our body cool down and recover from sport. When we cool down it assists in bringing down our heart rate and body temperature gradually to prevent us from feeling sick or even passing out due to these dropping too quickly. Stretching after a game also helps to remove the build-up of lactic acid in the muscles and prevent further stiffness later on. 

I know we are all loving having sport back on in the community and we hope that you are too. Try implementing a few of these tips to help you stay in the game all season!

By Aleisha Michael

​Accredited Exercise Physiologist

  
Stretching has been a hot topic in the health and fitness world for a few years now and one that everybody seems to have their own opinions on!
When should I stretch?
How long should I stretch for?
What types of stretching should I be doing?
We will discuss all these
questions and more!



What is stretching?
Stretching is the act of getting you out of the posture that you spend most of your time in
and moving joints through their full range. It involves placing parts of your body into a
position that with lengthen the muscles and surrounding fascia/ connective tissue. It can be
done before or after exercise but also throughout the day when in sustained postures, to
prevent muscle tightness, aches and pains and improve circulation.

What types of stretching should you be doing?
As a general rule of thumb there are two main types of stretching;

     ● Static stretching – this type of stretch is performed without movement meaning you
        would get into the stretch position and hold that position for a given amount of
        time.
​
     ● Dynamic stretching – this type of stretch is performed with movement meaning you
        use a swinging or bouncing movement to extend your range of motion and flexibility.
        Depending on what you are trying to achieve from your stretching (eg. Warming up before
        exercise or increasing muscle length) will determine which type of stretching to complete
        and when.

When should you stretch?
It has long been believed that we should stretch for long periods of time before and after an
activity, but this isn’t necessarily true! It is crucial to warm-up your body prior to exercise
through dynamic movements. The aim of these movements before exercise is not to
improve your flexibility but to simply prime the muscles, joints, ligaments and tendons that
you are about to use.
​
In regard to trying to improve your flexibility and muscle length the most effective time to
conduct this type of static stretching is after exercise as the muscles are warm and pliable.
Another great time to stretch can be straight before bed as this is when our muscles and
soft tissues heal, meaning they are healing in an elongated or stretched position that was
achieved before going to sleep.

How long should your stretch for?
When completing static stretching a single stretch should be held for at least 30-60 seconds
and repeated two or three times on each side. This gives the muscle enough time to relax
and begin to lengthen. When performing dynamic stretches prior to exercise the duration ca
depend on a number of things including how tight you may be already, the temperature and
how long your exercise session is going to be. At a minimum, dynamic stretches should be
performed for 5-10 minutes before any exercise, but longer than this for higher intensity,
longer duration activities.

If you would like more assistance or guidance around stretching, get in touch with us!

By Aleisha Michael

Accredited Exercise Physiologist.