What a great opportunity for all of us to be participating in daily exercise, whether it’s to maintain fitness, improve performance, make regular exercise your new norm or lose a bit of weight. Whatever it may be, the BUZZ words that are prehabilitation or injury prevention exercises are probably not high on the agenda.
Before we go on, consider the term “injury prevention” ask yourself, “can you ever prevent any injury by exercise alone?” The answer – unlikely, as the factors causing injuries are so varied, but we can reduce the likelihood of an injury or reduce the severity of an injury if we pick one up by adopting a regular prehabilitation or injury reduction strategies. What are these strategies? They are a series of activities prescribed that are specific to an individuals requirement for athletic performance, areas that require “work ons” improve performance and therefore reduce the risk for potential injury.
So…why do “work on” exercises for injury reduction get neglected? Is it because there is no visual or aesthetic gain? Is it because we find them boring? Is it because we can’t see how they will benefit us in our own discipline? Or is it because we don’t know much about them and what they do? What do you need to work on to improve your performance? Read on to find out how your body works…
As discussed, the term “work ons” refers to exercises intending to reduce our risk for injury and improve performance. The sessions usually consist of strengthening, core activation, proprioception (balance) and a combination of the 3, with lots of focus on technique, movement correction and replicating scenarios in sport, in a controlled environment- it’s about preparing your body for the demands of your sport or activity and thus injury.
These exercises often target muscles that are regularly neglected and that are extremely important for neuromuscular control and injury reduction. Progressing these exercises can make us resilient machines, our body is able to use energy more efficiency, move better biomechanically and thus improve performance.
“Work ons” can prepare you for your sport and situations and scenarios that are likely to happen. These can be replicated so that the neuromuscular system is firing efficiently, meaning that the correct muscles are engaged at the right time. For Example: landing from a header in football, poses a risk for many ankle and knee injuries. Exercises are therefore likely to include those that require Hip, Knee and Ankle stabilisation- this may be from standing, jumping or even rotations in mid-air, to make these as specific as possible. Not only can this be done through sport specific movements, but also breaking it down into the fundamentals, i.e. Isolated muscle activation, single leg balance, single leg hopping and the list goes on.
Whilst we are all currently spending time in our restricted environments and sport has come to a complete halt, why not seize the opportunity and implement your own prehab plan.
SO… are we saying forget the bicep curls? No of course we are not, we are advising you include a small work on routine into your weekly schedule, being more efficient may improve your bicep curl – don’t expect it to be easy- were targeting muscles that are not used to working!
All exercises are universal to all sports and should be performed slow and controlled. There are a hundred different alternatives and many more that are sport specific, that might include acceleration, deceleration, change of direction or lateral bounding, but these are certainly a good place to start! These are also great for warm-ups too, activating the correct muscles before you perform!
UPPER BODY
Exercises Reps Sets Additional Info
Forward Reach 12 3 Banded- Slide Arms Forward
Front Raise 12 3 Banded- Raise arms to shoulder height
Backward Raise 12 3 Banded- Raise arms behind as high as possible
OH Press 12 3 Banded- Raise arms above head
Wall Walks/ Slides 6 3 Banded- Slide arms up wall
LOWER BODY
Exercises Reps Sets Additional Info
Single Leg Balance 8 e/s* 3 + lateral tap, reverse tap or Hip hinge
Single leg Hop- land + stick 8 e/s 3 Small vertical hop & stick the landing. Alternative: Forwards & Lateral.
Banded Inversion & Eversion 12 3 Banded- Take ankle outwards & Inwards.
Banded Glute clams 12 e/s 3 Banded- Side lying. Take top knee away.
Heel drops 15 3 Drop heels off a step and calf raise up.
*e/s = Each Side
CORE
Exercises Reps Sets Additional Info
Dead Bug 8 e/s 3 Lay on back- Alternate arm and leg.
Bird- Dog 8 e/s 3 All 4 position- Alternate arm and leg
Supermans 12 3 Lay on front- lift arms and legs simultaneously
Paloff Press 8 e/s 3 Band on external object. Rotate with band from trunk only.
Plank + Clock Taps 6 e/s 3 Points on the clock: 12, 3 & 6
SEIZE THE OPPORTUNITY & GET AHEAD OF THE GAME!
Contact your local Physio in Leicester today – Function Jigsaw
