Thread: Stretching and Injury

Do not confuse dynamic stretching with ballistic stretching
Dynamic stretching consists of controlled leg and arm swings that take you (gently!) to the limits of your range of motion. Ballistic stretches involve trying to force a part of the body beyond its range of motion. In dynamic stretches, there are no bounces or "jerky" movements. (9) Several professional coaches, authors and studies have supported or shown the effectiveness of dynamic stretching. Below are a few examples of support for dynamic stretching:

Mike Boyle uses a dynamic warm-up with his athletes. He goes through about 26000 workouts over the course of a summer. In 2002 he did not have one major muscle pull that required medical attention. (10)
Flexibility is speed specific. There are two kinds of stretch receptors, one measures magnitude and speed and the other measures magnitude only. Static flexibility improves static flexibility and dynamic flexibility improves dynamic flexibility which is why it doesn't make sense to static stretch prior to dynamic activity. There is considerable but not complete transfer of static stretching to dynamic stretching (11)
One author compared a team that dynamically stretched to a team that static stretched. The team that dynamically stretched had fewer injuries. (8)
There are few sports where achieving static flexibility is advantageous to success in the sport. Therefore according to the principle of specificity it would seem to be more advantageous to perform a dynamic warm-up which more resembles the activity of the sport.(12)
Dynamic Flexibility increases core temperature, muscle temperature, elongates the muscles, stimulates the nervous system, and helps decrease the chance of injury. (13)
Another author showed that dynamic stretching does increase flexibility. (11)
As coaches, trainers and parents we all want our athletes to lower their incidence of injury and increase our performance. Dynamic flexibility has been used successfully by trainers and coaches to increase flexibility and possibly lower the incidence of injury. It is the job of the coach or trainer to pick the method they feel is best suited for the sport and athletes. The above evidence supports the fact that static stretching prior to activity is not the best solution.

Static stretching does not necessarily lead to a decrease in injury and may decrease performance. If one purpose of the warm-up is to warm-up the body, would not static stretching actually cool the body down? If static stretching is not the solution to a pre-game warm-up what is?

Summary
Current research work detailed in Medicine & Science in Sport and Exercise 33(3), pp354-358 and Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, vol 15 (1): 98-101 suggests that the use of dynamic stretches - slow controlled movements through the full range of motion - are the most appropriate exercises for warming up. By contrast, static stretches are more appropriate for the cool down at the end of the session.

References
Raphael Brandon, “Dynamic versus passive stretches”, Peak Performance Issue 150, page 10
Rod Pope, 'Skip the warm-up,' New Scientist, 164(2214), p. 23
Gleim & McHugh (1997), 'Flexibility and its effects on sports injury and performance,' Sports Medicine, 24(5), pp. 289-299.
Mick Critchell, Warm ups for soccer a Dynamic approach,page 5.
Rosenbaum, D. and E. M. Hennig. 1995. The influence of stretching and warm-up exercises on Achilles tendon reflex activity. Journal of Sport Sciences vol. 13, no. 6, pp. 481-90.
Knudson, D., K. Bennet, R. Corn, D. Leick, and C. Smith. 2000. Acute Effects of Stretching Are Not Evident in the Kinematics of the Vertical Jump. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport vol. 71, no. 1 (Supplement), p. A-30.
Tomas Kurz, www.scienceofsports.com
Mann, Douglas, Jones Margaret 1999: Guidelines to the implementation of a dynamic stretching routine, Strength and Conditioning Journal:Vol 21 No 6 pp53-55
www.cmcrossroads.com
Boyle, Mike, Functional Training for Sports, page 29
Kurz, Tomas, Science of Sports Training, page 236
Hendrick, Allen, Dynamic Flexibility training, Strength and conditioning Journal, Vol 22 no 5, Pages 33-38.
Frederick Gregory 2001 Baseball Part 1 Dynamic Flexibility, Strength and conditioning Journal Vol 23 No 1

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Just wanted to share this, I think Mike Boyle could teach Tuten a thing or two. Truth is, we need better training techniques to avoid injury. (especially groin)

This is exactly "why" I never post "why".


Nobody gets it.


"Just hand me a beer hun, Broncos r playin"

"somebooty got 2 do sumin bout dem injereeees"

good stuff, i completely agree-- now send it to shanahan. . . .

Yeah, you're right, we're all a bunch of rubes who don't know nuthin' bout nuthin. None of us have ever done anything in the sports medicine field. Your cut-n-paste of someone else's article is just way too sophisticated for us.

Thanks for tryin' to bring some class to the boards tho.

~G

I was thinking the same thing. With the pulls and strains we've been having, I figured some good stretching would be very helpful in preventing those.

I am sure professional strength and conditioning experts have never heard this.

To the actual point:

I haven't heard a lot of people here complimenting our training staff and its handling of the guys.

It's not like you're the lone voice of reason in the wilderness on this one. It's been a common theme.

Sports has a certain resistance to anything new, however. Not players - they'll do whatever some expensive training institute tells them will gain them 4/100 of a second on a 40 yard dash for the combine. If it was running backwards up stairs naked holding greased chickens in each hands, they'd do it.

But sports teams are notoriously resistant to change.

For many, MANY years (like, into the 80s) baseball players were discouraged from lifting weights as it was thought to hamper their ability to play and would get them injured more often.

You can measure the impact of different stretching on injuries, and if enough of those studies come up then maybe Bowlen will get a guy on staff who is willing to change the modus operandi.

But it's very much like having a car mechanic you like. You think your guy is cheap, he does good work, he can always get you in quick and he makes you laugh. So even if your friend claims HIS mechanic walks on water, you're not leaving your guy.

We've had "our guys" here for a very long time on the training staff. Camp injuries and in-season injuries frustrate us to death, but every team has them, and if every team has them then nobody thinks they are doing anything wrong. It's just "a part of the game."

It's why top athletes have their private workouts in the offseason, and private consultants to keep them healthy. Their guys are better (and more expensive) than our guys.

I don't know why teams that spend nearly 9 figures on athletes have trouble spending 7 figures on a training staff, but them's the breaks.

Still, I think everyone would agree that we should look at either adding stretching specialists to the staff or replace some of the staff at some point. Our team strength doesn't look good, our flexibility is coming up lacking...

But how do you suggest getting Bowlen to do that?

~G

I agree with this post. With the injuries and the lack of strength on defense, we have to question Denver's strength and conditioning program. We had record participation this off season and we have all of the injuries and the DL and LB's get blown up on literally every play? I don't get it? There are teams in the NFL who are fielding guys with the same size who are playing solid defense this season.

Yes, it's all Tuten's fault. The fact that he was here during our 95, 96, and 97 seasons and we had the 3 best teams in Broncos history means nothing. It has nothing to do with bad luck, it's the program.

Originally Posted by Ziggy

Yes, it's all Tuten's fault. The fact that he was here during our 95, 96, and 97 seasons and we had the 3 best teams in Broncos history means nothing. It has nothing to do with bad luck, it's the program.

Despite that early success, I would have to think the rash of injuries and obvious lack of strength on the defensive side of the ball would have to merit at least some sort of review of what, if anything, the Broncos are doing wrong, what are the other teams doing right and how can the Broncos improve on strength and conditioning? From a fans perspective, I really feel EVERY aspect that goes into preparing our our team and especially our defense, HAS to reviewed and improved on.

What Ziggy said is gonna be exactly their argument.

"We had the greatest years in the history of the franchise stretching my way, and you want me to change it because Champ pulled a groin and some guy wrote an article? This is professional football, not sissy yoga or whatever those guys were doing. I'm working with the top .1% of athletes in the world. You think I'd still have my job if I were an idiot who liked to rip muscles off my guys for no reason?

"Go back to your books, sonny, and show up again when you've been a professional trainer your whole life for the most finely tuned physical specimens on the planet."

If you want to change a culture, feel free to try. If you just want to advocate that change, go ahead - for what it's worth I agree with you that trainers who came along 20, 30 years ago have some advances to make to keep up with modern information.

Still, brain surgeons go back to school every year to learn the best, newest and safest techniques, and trainers and therapists are required to maintain continuing education in order to keep their license to practice. It's not like they haven't heard of this stuff before. They're the ones IN the audience at the lectures and paper discussions you're quoting.

But most sports team trainers have blind spots. They go with what they know best, because they have a track record with it that has obviously gotten them this far. "It worked for X years with Y personnel, so if something goes wrong with this one player I can defend myself and keep my job."

With new techniques comes new blame. "You changed X, that had worked for Y players, and now this one player is hurt. Correlation is causation, therefore you must have done it. Get out."

BTW, I did injury rehab massage therapy for several years, I'm not talking out of my ass on this one.

cswil you still work as a physical therapist, right?

New techniques are good, but you're more likely to get a staff member added to the team with a specific specialization to help implement some of those newer techniques than you are to get a complete overhaul of the mechanics who take care of Bowlen's billion-dollar baby.

The inertia on these sorts of changes is pretty large.

~G

Originally Posted by Ziggy

Yes, it's all Tuten's fault. The fact that he was here during our 95, 96, and 97 seasons and we had the 3 best teams in Broncos history means nothing. It has nothing to do with bad luck, it's the program.

sorry ziggy, not buying that one at all. . . . tuten didn't make guys like elway and zimm into hall of famers. . . .

the steelers won lots of super bowls and had their best teams in the 70's-- does that mean it would be a good idea to go back to the strength and conditioning, training, video, etc that they used? back then a lot of athletes didn't even train over the offseason, and it was fine, because no one else was either-- now if you don't train over the offseason, you get montrae'd. . . just because someone was doing a good job ten or fifteen years ago doesn't mean that others haven't caught up to or passed them. . .

G Money

"nourishing threads since....uhh...uhh..... THE BEGGINING"

cant we just say that we have alot of complete and total HACKS looming around our defense...... slow, sluggish, lazy, guys who are what they are what they are is what they are.... Can we go deeper than stretching and say maybe we have some knucklehead people picking and signing these guys? We have a defense full of broken parts and pieces that simply dont fit. Something is wrong and it has to go beyond stretching........

i visualize the baby toy that consists of a plastic workbench with 4 or 5 differently shaped holes.... circle, square, hexagon, triangle, and so on.... Its pretty easy to pick up the right piece and fit it in its place on the cheezy, crappy workbench..... ill stop there... u get the idea.....

-inspired by G

Originally Posted by cswil

I am sure professional strength and conditioning experts have never heard this.

after looking at our injury board I'm not so sure.. it is something stupid like this or the water at dove valley..