#006- It's good to be stiff!

When you hear the word "stiffness" in the sports and exercise sense, most think about being "sore" or "tight" in their muscles and joints.

That kind of stiffness sucks.

Proper "stiffness"?is a really good thing, and something that you should be looking for in your sporting clients.

Stiffness refers to the degree in which a structure deforms when placed under a given load. For example, if you had a toilet roll sitting vertically and you?stood on it, chances are it?will just collapse into a heap under your foot.

If that toilet roll were a steel rod on the other hand, it wouldn't deform at all. The steel rod is stiffer than the toilet roll.

So... are your clients' legs and feet steel rods, or toilet rolls?

The above video is an example of a client of mine recovering from Achilles tendinopathy, which shows a big difference in stiffness left vs right.

Don't get me wrong, both legs perform very poorly. On his "good" right side, the stiffness is not great at all. But when you have a look at the "bad"?left side, there is noticeably even?longer ground contact time and less "spring" out of each hop.

This may be due to pain/fear avoidance, poor strength, poor motor?skill level, or indeed- just really poor foot and ankle "stiffness"?properties.

Stiffness is something that can be trained, and should be implemented into rehab and performance programs. An easy way to do that is with an exercise as simple as skipping!

Coaching cue's for stiffness drills:

1. "Head to heels strong as steel"

2. "Slap the ground"

3. "The floor is lava" or "quick off the ground"

If our?client's foot and ankle is?not very "stiff" when it should be, then they will be leaking a lot of energy when they run, reducing their?performance and increasing injury risk.

Do you look to improve stiffness in your rehab plans?

Until next week...