We all know that sport is good for our children, it improves their physical strength, gross motor skills, and social skills. However, one downside of playing sport is the risk of injury, often cause by overuse, force or incorrect technique.
It’s important not to wrap our kids in cotton wool, (notwithstanding protective devises) and prevent them from having fun but we also hate to see them hurt. Although some acute injuries are completely unavoidable, chronic injury is different and with the right training and preparation, it can be avoided.
Chronic injury is generally cause by repeat overuse of specific muscles or joints as well as poor technique. Accredited Exercise Physiologists, Elizabeth Dawson of Northside Allied Health saw the rise in chronic injury in school aged athletes and has designed an athlete development program focusing on strength and conditioning and the prevention of injury.
“The ever-changing body of children at this age leads to a lack of stability and control. Exercise promotes body awareness and highlights any weaknesses while they are still growing and our program focuses on strengthening weaknesses and correct technique” Ms Dawson remarks.
The program has several stages with assessments to measure success at each stage and can be tailored to individual needs. The staged approach and ongoing assessments means the students strength and technique is being monitored thereby allowing for focused attention on weak areas. It is this focused approach that reduces the chance of chronic injury.
The program is broken into the following stages;
- Pre-assessment (pre-season)
- Foundational strength (core stability and base strength) 6 weeks
- Re – assessment
- Strength & conditioning – 2 sessions per week focusing on functional strength & power and conditioning (inclusive of self management techniques of injuries). 6-8weeks – (in season)
- Re- assessment
Each athlete is provided with a tailor-made program they can access online or via an app, with a personalise login enabling the Exercise Physiologist to track progress and draw on strengths and weaknesses, with the aim of injury prevention.
The program also contains an educational component to teach the athlete what to do in the event of an injury and can be extended for athletes with longer term goals.
For more information on the athlete programs available visit the website link https://nsah.wpengine.com/dt_procedures/sports-performance/ or contact Elizabeth Dawson: [email protected]