Soccer Specific Fitness

Dawn Scott, the fitness coach for the U.S. Women’s National Team, has written a great article on soccer fitness.

The key points are:

1. The two key aspects of soccer fitness are speed and endurance.
2.  There is a “new term called ‘repeated sprint ability,’ or RSA, which refers to speed endurance, or how you repeatedly sprint in a game. You don’t run at one pace for 90 minutes in a game. Rather, you constantly sprint and recover, or run at different speeds and recover. Players want to be able to sprint with the same qualities in the 90^th minute as they do in the first minute. RSA is a measure of this.”
3. “Strength is the basis to every other aspect of fitness. If you don’t have strength, you can have a weakness when you try to develop any other type of fitness.“
4. “One of the things with females that research has shown is that you tend to have a higher incidence of ACL injury in female players. With that in mind, I would make sure that female players are doing appropriate strength programs, especially strengthening the areas around the knees, to try to offset the chance of injuries like that.”
5. “At the younger ages I would be doing specific sessions focused on developing agility, balance, and coordination. It doesn’t have to be intense but it’s programming the body to move in a certain way and building up basic strength using body weight, fun games and so on. You’re doing age appropriate work at those ages and then as they get older you can develop those programs and add in other components of fitness that are appropriate.”
6. Recovery strategies are critical. Nutrition, hydration, sleep, and ice baths are important

For the full article, click here.

ACL SURGERY - YES OR NO?

I was listening to this podcast today - 
Return to exercise after ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) injury, with Dr Richard Frobell 

- and I was blown away by this question and answer exchange:

Interviewer to Dr. Frobell: "You are now not so young anymore. So if you had your ACL torn in Alpine Skiing in Sweden, what would you do with it?"

Dr. Frobell: "I would most definitely wait with an ACL reconstruction. I would try rehabilitation at first [my emphasis]. If I still would experience instability because I am an active guy, I like to do sports, and if that would decrease my ability to do sports I would seriously consider a reconstruction. But I would never perform that at first. [my emphasis]"

WOW! What a change in thought. And what a concept.....rehab first! 

Injury care = rehab = sports performance. I have been saying this for decades! Surgery is always an option.... but as a last resort if all else fails.

Technique - It has always been and always will be about technique

Listen to Dr. Anthony Beutler talking about ACL Injury Prevention at the British Journal of Sports Medicine's podcast page - The JUMP-ACL study with Anthony Beutler

"There is no magic in the exercises....What really seems to be magic is the coaching [my emphasis]. Is actually getting people to change the way they perform these tasks, so that they do them in a more biomechanically sound [manner] with a movement pattern that is less risky for injury puts them at less risk for injury. That really seems to be the key so we emphasize good form, your knees need to be in line with your hips, your knees need to be in line with your toes, your toes need to be pointed straight forward and that you land softly."

Like I said, it always has been and always will be about technique.

EVERYONE NEEDS A KNOWLEDGEABLE COACH!

ACL INJURIES PART 8

HOW TO SQUAT

ACL INJURIES PART 7

IOC

Summary of prevention programmes

Based on these studies, we know that there can be a quantifiable reduction in the risk of ACL for athletes, particularly women, who complete a well-designed injury prevention programme.

Most of these programmes attempt to alter dynamic loading of the tibiofemoral joint through neuromuscular and proprioceptive training.

An emphasis is placed on proper landing technique; landing softly on the forefoot and rolling back to the rearfoot, engaging knee and hip flexion upon landing. Two-feet landing is encouraged where possible.133

When cutting manoeuvres, athletes should avoid excessive dynamic valgus of the knee upon landing and squatting; they should aim to achieve the ‘‘knee over toe position’’ (fig 3).

Intervention programmes have focused on increasing hamstring, gluteus medius and hip abductor strength, and addressing proper deceleration techniques.

Successful implementation of these programmes requires the collaboration of governing bodies, sports scientists, physicians, coaches, parents and athletes.

Important factors for a successful prevention programme

The programme should include

ACL INJURIES PART 6

CORE STRENGTH

ACL INJURIES PART 5

LOWER EXTREMITY ALIGNMENT

ANKLE POSITION

AVOID PRONATION: CLICK HERE

KNEE POSITION

BAD POSITION: CLICK HERE

GOOD POSITION: CLICK HERE

ACL INJURIES PART 4

CAPITAL SPORTS INJURY CENTER ACL INJURY PREVENTION PROGRAM

• Has your child been properly screened prior to sports participation?
• Is your child’s body ready for the rigors of sports play?
• Is there someone who is trained to handle injuries at every game and every practice?

PART I: ASSESSMENT

Posture, Movement Screen, and Gait Analysis

PART II: PREPARATION

Warm-up
Dynamic Stretching

PART III: STRENGTH AND POWER

Strength - Squat technique and core strength
Power - Jump technique and exercises

PART IV: RUNNING TECHNIQUE AND AGILITY

Forward, Backward and Side to Side Movement


PART V: COOL DOWN

ACL INJURIES PART 3

MECHANISMS OF INJURY

Non-contact (70%)

• Pivot: Planting and cutting
• Landing from jump with knee straight.

Contact - 30%

• Hit from behind
• Hit from the side

What the Athlete Feels When Injury Occurs

• What athlete feels is single, double or triple pop
• Knee twists and subluxates - goes in and out of the groove
• Instantaneous pain!
• Swelling!
• Inability to move knee!
• OUCH!!!!

ACL INJURIES PART 1

"You can prevent ACL injury. If you have a daughter who is playing basketball, soccer, handball..., then it is crazy if her team isn’t undertaking one of the evidence based warm-ups targeting lower limb injury prevention…”  British Journal of Sports Medicine October 2008 42(10):483-484.



Cost of ACL Injuries to Society

• 200,000 injuries per year

• 60,000 – 75,000 surgeries per year

• Cost: $1.7 billion/year spent

• Greatest risk in high school and college (ages 15 – 25)

• More #’s of boys, but…………….

• More common (2 – 8 times) in female athletes

o 1/100 in high school

o 1/10 in college

Cost of ACL Injury to the Athlete

• Surgery: 6 – 36 months of rehab

• 77% have sports disability within 5 years

• 44% have activities of daily living disability within year

• Arthritis risk: > 90% within 20 years whether they have surgery or not!