‘Keep your muscles warm so they perform’
Soft tissues are more willing to stretch when they are warm. Before your game, doing a five-minute jog followed by the actual activity slower than game speed and in good alignment (more of a ‘dynamic stretch’, going through your full ROM) will ensure that your muscles are warm and less likely to tear. You will get the best return on your investment when you do sustained stretches throughout your game and afterwards, assuming you are keeping your muscles warm enough.
Also, watching your alignment while sitting and AFTER the game can reduce your chance of injury. Warm ligaments and spinal discs are more likely to stretch beyond normal, which is not good. Sitting slouched or taking a bath instead of a shower afterwards may cause MORE damage to your back than the sport. Back injuries are not necessarily from overexertion during the game, but from the accumulation of poor alignment while warm. Standing, walking and lying down are better for your back than sitting, especially during and after sports.
For less chance of neck and shoulder pain, come in for an assessment of your muscle balance and to learn how to position your shoulder blades. It is NOT squeezing them together or back and down - I learned from painful experience. Now that I do it the right way, my shoulders are square again, I look much stronger than I used to and the pain is gone.
For less chance of low back pain, see me for a thorough assessment of your sciatic nerve tension and all four of your core muscles - it's more than transversus abdominis.
Amy Riddick Physiotherapy, where mechanical injuries get mechanical treatment.
Soft tissues are more willing to stretch when they are warm. Before your game, doing a five-minute jog followed by the actual activity slower than game speed and in good alignment (more of a ‘dynamic stretch’, going through your full ROM) will ensure that your muscles are warm and less likely to tear. You will get the best return on your investment when you do sustained stretches throughout your game and afterwards, assuming you are keeping your muscles warm enough.
Also, watching your alignment while sitting and AFTER the game can reduce your chance of injury. Warm ligaments and spinal discs are more likely to stretch beyond normal, which is not good. Sitting slouched or taking a bath instead of a shower afterwards may cause MORE damage to your back than the sport. Back injuries are not necessarily from overexertion during the game, but from the accumulation of poor alignment while warm. Standing, walking and lying down are better for your back than sitting, especially during and after sports.
For less chance of neck and shoulder pain, come in for an assessment of your muscle balance and to learn how to position your shoulder blades. It is NOT squeezing them together or back and down - I learned from painful experience. Now that I do it the right way, my shoulders are square again, I look much stronger than I used to and the pain is gone.
For less chance of low back pain, see me for a thorough assessment of your sciatic nerve tension and all four of your core muscles - it's more than transversus abdominis.
Amy Riddick Physiotherapy, where mechanical injuries get mechanical treatment.