Return To Sport
By Cameron Allshorn
Gyms are open, boot camp is back, trails and national parks are opening their gates, community sport is on the horizon and we’re all excited!!
The lockdown has impacted each and everyone of us and we are all ready to get out a back into our hobbies and activities as soon as we can.
With the excitement of this return comes an increased risk of injury due to the lengthy lay-off period and overall decrease in movement and activity over the past 8 weeks, add to that the cold Hobart winter days and there is a discussion to be had. This blog to outline how to safely return to activity and reduce the risk of picking up a pesky injury that could see you with another stint on the sideline just as things get going again.
The Risk
Injuries to soft tissues are the most likely to occur in this type of situation due to shortening of muscle fibers during inactivity as well as lack of load exposure. “Soft tissue injuries” cover most muscular or ligamentous injuries, in which hamstring, calf, quad and rotator cuff have the highest increased risk of injury.
A recent ABC article has outlined the increased risk and rate of incident we have seen as sport has returned across various professional leagues.It is expected that this will spread all the way down to community level as the majority of us return without the network of a professional grade support team.
A lot of us have turned to running and/or cycling over the past 2 months in an effort to keep active and fit which is great for our wellbeing and aerobic fitness however it does not replicate or correlate to sport specific actions such as landing, pivoting, throwing, kicking and so on. Now is the time to get back into sport specific training situations.
4-6 weeks of graded gradual sport-specific return is recommended to reduce the risk of injuries upon return which means starting now is imperative. It is likely that competitions will be eager to reboot their seasons and with calendar restrictions and venue clashes also to consider it could see match-day competition return in a quick turnaround that will not account for such a training period to occur.
Snapshot of Professional Returns
Bundesliga (German Premier Soccer League) returned on May 24 and has seen an approximate rate of injury increase of 3 times the pre lockdown records (.27injuries per game pre lockdown, .88injuries per game since restart) injuries have predominantly been of soft tissue nature (hamstring, calf, quad). Locally we have seen the AFL and NRL return over the past month and while there hasn’t been large spate of injuries across the board. The restart began with a number of players unavailable due to similar soft tissue injuries sustained in a shortened “pre-season” prior to the return (predominantly lower limb soft tissue injuries).
Who’s at risk
Age >25,
Previous injury history (particularly in past 18 months)
Returning to a sport involving a lot of change of direction, quick decelerating/accelerating or lateral movement (tennis, hockey, AFL, netball, basketball)
What can you be doing now
Each sport and venue is likely in the process of opening up training facilities and you should check with them about access and the guidelines in place. Some restrictions may be placed on access time and amount of people allowed.
To reduce risk, you should now be considering sport-specific programs that are tailored to the requirements of your sport. However some broad protocols to follow are;
Warm up/ cool down with stretches and mobility exercises.
Lower limb eccentric exercises (hamstrings, calf, hip flexors) (these help increase overall muscle length reducing risk of tearing)
Gradual increase of load, duration and intensity of training.
Sorting out any existing niggles (tight hamstring, sore hip, stiff lower back etc) before jumping into training.
For any information or advice regarding getting you back into playing sport and the activities you loved before covid-19, feel free to contact your Osteopath for what is best suited to you.