Blog Entries by David Drummer
Posted 07/23/2010
Often, we see athletes in our clinic who are involved in a variety of activities and they wonder why they have pain. After all, they’re “in shape”, and often they’re young and otherwise healthy. Many of them report that they are sure to cross-train because they’ve heard cross training helps to prevent injuries and over training. Part of the problem is their understanding of real cross training. If your idea of cross training includes running, biking and weight lifting, then you’re missing something very important. It’s something we try to stress to our patients, and you may have read about it in some of our other staff’s writings. It’s the fact that our bodies can and therefore should be worked through multiple planes of motion.
I think sometimes we as therapists think this idea is self explanatory, but may in reality confuse many of our patients or readers, so let me explain. Think of the different planes this way: Imagine you’re standing and do any of the following moves: 1) Walking straight forward (or backward) is one plane of movement we call the sagittal plane, 2) Side Stepping either left or right is another plane called the frontal plane, and 3) Rotating either left or right (this can be your whole body, or can occur throughout your body. i.e. at your hips, trunk, neck) and is called the transverse plane. Ideally, when you are training for any sport, it is in your best interest to work all of the planes of motion. If, as stated above, you’re only running, cycling, and weight lifting, you are neglecting the frontal plane and have minimal transverse plane motion.
I would suggest any of the following activities to make your training more dynamic through multiple plane of motion: tennis, basketball, volleyball, roller blading/skating, racket ball, throw a Frisbee with a friend, play catch with a football/baseball (just don’t throw the ball/Frisbee directly to your friend, but rather chase it a little). Don’t be limited by these few suggestions. Come up with some activities that you can do with your friends/family that make your body work in multiple directions.
Train smart and train hard.
~Dave
Questions or Comments?
Posted 06/03/2010
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about my perception of problems associated with sports performance and weight training. I shared my thoughts on traditional barbell squats, and gave some suggestions for alternative ways to strengthen your legs. Today, I would like to touch briefly on another common lift that is performed, and that is the bench press. A couple of thoughts I have with the bench press are: 1) If you’re going to perform bench presses, I would like to see you place your feet on the seat of the bench rather than on the floor. What this will do for you is reduce or eliminate extension through your back (refer to my previous blog entry for the problems with too much back extension). It will also decrease your stability on the bench and make the lift a more dynamic activity. Sure this will reduce the amount of weight you can safely manage, but I believe you will actually reap much bigger rewards in terms of sports performance; and 2) Don’t forget to work the muscles that oppose the pecs that you’re developing with the bench press. If you don’t incorporate activities that draw the shoulder blades back, you will develop forward head and shoulder posturing that can lead to neck and shoulder problems which will certainly not boost your sports performance. Until then, continue to check out blog entries from all of the therapists here at the Hruska Clinic.
Train smart and train hard.
~Dave
Questions or Comments?
Posted 05/12/2010
Now more than ever, weight lifting has become an integral part of sports training programs at all levels, including in our high schools and junior high/middle schools. I appreciate the idea of integrating weight training into sports to maximize strength and performance, but unfortunately, like many things, we have taken it to an unhealthy extreme. It is my opinion that weight lifting, especially in the high schools, has become more a focus of lifting the maximum amount of weight possible at all costs, regardless of form and control, so we can place our names on the wall of the training room at school. I have to admit that more than twenty years ago when I was in high school it was the same way. I loved the feel of a heavy barbell across my shoulders when squatting, or a bar that starts to bend when dead lifting or bench pressing, but somewhere along the line things have changed. I don’t remember athletes injuring themselves weight lifting when I was in high school, but today we see a lot of young athletes coming into the clinic with back injuries from squatting, dead lifting, and power cleans. As of yet, I haven’t seen any pec tears from bench pressing, but I assure you, if our attitude on weight lifting doesn’t change, it will be a common occurrence.
In our practice, there are certain tendencies or patterns that we see in essentially all people. Some of those tendencies are for people to be extended through their backs (pelvis is rotated forward causing you to compensate by arching backward through the spine). This leads to pain from strained back muscles, or other injuries such as a spondylolisthesis (this is when one of your vertebrae becomes injured leading to instability of one vertebrae on another, thus allowing the vertebrae on top to shift forward on the lower one & is a serious injury). Improper lifting or even simply lifting excessive amounts of weight can increase this tendency, and lead to even greater degrees of injury, pain, and dysfunction. The power lifts for your back and legs which include squats, dead lifts, and power cleans, all by nature require some back extension and therefore increase the risk for injury as the weight is increased.
Because athletes want to increase their power and overall sports performance, I would like to suggest the following: First, before you embark on or continue with a weightlifting program, I believe you always need to be able to perform a full functional squat where you can keep your feet roughly shoulder width apart and parallel to each other (not turned out or in). You also need to be able to keep your weight through your heels, reach forward and down slightly with your arms to round your back, and then squat without letting your knees turn out as you squat low. You should also be able to hold this position as you breathe repeatedly in through your nose and out through your mouth.
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If you can do this, it would then be appropriate to begin a strengthening program that might consist of the following dead lift or squatting exercises: Stand on a platform while holding dumbbells with your palms facing in, and then perform multiple sets and repetitions of squats while keeping your back rounded and weight through your heels. Another alternative for squatting would be single leg squats where one foot is resting on a bench or chair behind you while the other is on the floor. Keep your back rounded while you perform several sets and repetitions of squats. When doing this, you must keep the knee of the leg that is working forward, rather than letting it turn in or rotate out. Also, you should keep your weight through your heel as you reach down to touch your toes with each rep. You can alternate legs after every ten reps or so.
These are just a couple of options, but the key is keeping your back rounded, performing multiple sets and reps and not getting caught up in “maxing out”.
Train smart and train hard.
~Dave
Questions or Comments?
Posted 02/10/2010
Runners are known to be very ambitious and dedicated athletes. They are also known to stretch a lot, especially their hamstrings. For many if not most runners, the more they stretch their hamstrings, the tighter they feel. There is good reason for that. If you would like some insight into the problem with overstretching hamstrings from a physical therapist’s perspective, click here. You might be surprised by what you learn. Our next entry will focus on the difference between static (example typical hamstring stretch) versus dynamic warm-up for preparation for running.
Train hard and train smart!
Dave
Posted 01/22/2009
Dave has written an article for Performance Conditioning, Volleyball edition, on the hamstring muscle. To read his article, click here.
More blog entries can be found in the archives…
