I’m sure that a few people were a little bit up in arms about my small bit on the prevention of ankle injuries. Not because they disagree that we need to do more to prevent them, but more because of one of my suggestions in preventing them is that athletes should consider not wearing ankle braces. If you were one of those people who was a bit taken back from my suggestion stay tuned to MBR.org as my next article (coming very shortly) will talk about just that; the reduction of sprained ankles. In that article I will go into much greater detail about my thoughts on why braces are not the best idea. In the meantime, please keep reading. If you have any thoughts or suggestions on articles you would like to see or blog posts you want to know more about, please email me at: shelby@finer-points.com.
Use these 4 key points to significantly reduce the risk of injuring your knee(s):
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Foam roll your entire hip area (glutes, quads, and hamstrings-don’t forget to roll the side of your upper legs (IT-Band) as well as your adductors (inside of your upper leg).
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If you have an old tennis ball, take the tennis ball and place it slightly below the crest of your hip and sit on the tennis ball on the flooor.Slowly work the tennis ball at the top of the glutes.
–This will help improve your tissue quality and ROM (range of motion) so that your hips move freely.
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Improve the ROM (range of motion) of your ankles
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Do this by using ROM ankle mobility drills (video examples can be found online)
–Remember, the knee is stuck in the middle of the ankle and the hip.It does what either or both tell it to do.If they don’t say the same thing because of restrictions, you put your knees at risk.
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Do lateral band walks to activate your glute medius before activities
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Do this by placing a band or loop just over your ankles.Keep your feet facing straight forward and your legs straight.Take short choppy steps (10 to your right and 10 to your left) making sure to keep your feet at hip width the entire time.Feet should also remain flat during the movement.
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Work on landing drills
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Do this with single leg hops (as described in the reduction of ankle sprains post) as well as double leg box jump ups (video example below) Keep in mind that you must work on landing with the heel just off of the ground, the knees bent, and the hips back. The chest should remain up at all times:
Other exercises such as bridging and single leg hip extension work will also help dramatically in reducing injuries not just for the knee, but for the entire body.
Keep in mind that this is far from a complete list, however, it is a great start to helping to stave off the risk of knee injuries.
Use these 5 key points to help yourself or your athletes improve their ankle mobility as well as stability:
1) Foam roll or use soft tissue work to improve the extensibility of your lower legs
Make sure to roll the front and sides of the calves as well as the back!
2) Static Stretch your gastrocnemius and your soleus (your calf muscles) to help with elongating your tissue incase you have tissue restrictions
3) Improve the ROM (range of motion) of your ankles
Do this by using ROM ankle mobility drills (video examples can be found below)
4) Work on single leg landing and hopping drills
Start this by standing on one leg, hopping straight forward over a line, hold for 3 sec., then hop backwards over the line and hold for 3 sec.Do this 5 times on both feet.Now do the same thing on each foot going to your left and to your right. *Keep your hands on your hips during the entire drill.
5) Stop wearing ankle braces unless you are coming off of an injury
This is only a recommendation, however, keep in mind that ankle braces are designed to restrict motion and stabilize the joint.By restricting ankle motion , a brace makes the ankle less able to properly move.This means that your ankle may be prevented from going into it’s most stable position (dorsiflexion, see picture on right).If you can improve your ROM, and stability is back in your ankle, consider opting out on the brace(s).
I am constantly trying to find the best workout for each individual situation. That means that if I need to change something up that I am doing because it benefits my athletes more than not doing them, than I do it. One such addition has been adding “finishers” to their workouts.
What is a finisher? I just view a finisher as a single exercise or a group of exercises to be completed in a given time period or with a given amount of reps and a specified amount of rest time. The goal of these workouts is to complete the workout (before the cool-down) on a high note with a short but intense burst of energy. Finishers are not intended to take the place of normal conditioning (which will take place outside of most weight room sessions) but rather to let the athletes finish with a sense of accomplishement and an energy push.
I will typically prescribe these finishers in the off-season workouts of my athletes (allowing them to be optional in-season). They will consist of 1-4 exercises or movements designed to be done rapidly and in succession so that the heart rate is elevated. A sample finisher might be 3-5 minutes of interval training on a spin bike; hill sprints and push-ups; or a sled push/pull circuit. Creativity is your limiting factor here. However, you must remember to keep it within the realm and capacity of the athletes. Don’t have an athlete do depth jumps and plyo push-ups if they don’t have any landing technique and can’t do a regular push-up.
Early on my athletes will start out on the spin bikes. As they spend more time with me and create solid strength base we will work into more intense circuits.
Check out the following video as a sample of a finisher (sled push-pull)with one of my athletes:
Add in finishers as an intense and competitve finish to any good workout. Just make sure to keep them on the same level as the athlete(s)!
