??But first, proper body mechanics
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As coaches, we do our best to prepare our players for the current and next levels tactically, technically, and environmentally... but what do we actually know about proper form in jumping, balance, muscle isolation, and landing? Dr. Aaron Gootzeit gives us his advice to utilize sport performance professionals and other resources to provide the best outcome for athletes.
His experiences includes:
??Between injury prevention and rehabilitation, what do you feel is the bigger issue that athletes and teams are facing?
Yes. The answer is yes. It's cyclical, right? They go hand in hand. The biggest takeaway I think is that the knowledge behind injury prevention is not there. Because you're getting sport coaches sometimes off the street, especially at the lower levels of sports and youth sports; and even at the higher level, the chances that you're getting someone who is well-versed in recovery and preventative measures is pretty low. That's just not where they typically put their energy. They put their energy in learning the game of soccer, how to coach, tactics... and they're there to do that job. I'd say that it could be part of their job, but realistically that's not their job. Does that make sense?
The second issue athletes themselves face is overuse, right? Kids are pressured to be focusing in one sport, and I've even seen four-year-olds doing workouts. This kid might not even like soccer by the time they're 12. So you get this specialization, these kids are doing high rep repetitive motions, but they don't necessarily know that much. And it's not their fault, it's just the internet can only give you so much information. Especially if you don't have the privilege of the education. All this to say, these kids are just repetitive over and over and over and over. They're getting these imbalances that nobody really understands that they have. For example, if you play basketball, you think *I need to jump higher,* but no one's worried about landing. You know what I mean? We're all focused on pushing off the ground, but we're not focused on the landing. And where do people get hurt? Where do they tear their ACLs? It's non-contact landing, right? I think indirectly we all get set up for injury.
What happens when, for most of us, we don't have the resources in-house or the know-how to handle these injuries?
So now you have the injury, what do you do? Most of the time we rest until it gets better and then we go back as soon as we can. When you do that—I know for a fact I did it many times—you do like I did and overcompensate to avoid pain. For example, when I was younger I sprained my big toe, and it turned into a broken ankle because of the way l walked on it. I didn't use my big toe to support me. I put all the weight on the outside of my foot because I didn't want my big toe to hurt. It was my junior year, and my coach says that I have to play because I wanna go to the showcases, right? So now everything I'm doing, I'm pushing off the outside of my foot and inevitably I sprain my ankle three, four times in a row. Finally it broke, and now I'm sitting out injured. Nobody told me, "Your big toe is not supposed to hurt like that, you should probably try this, this, and this." I just kept doing it. With education, my coach and I would have known proper warm-ups for me to be doing and how to avoid further injury without overcompensating.
So for coaches, especially the ones in younger age groups or even high school where they don't have someone on staff, I suggest to reach out to someone like me. Reach out to an exercise and sports based professional, someone who deals with athletes, who knows knee injuries, ankle injuries, things like that, and have them do a workshop. Most of the time they'll be happy to do it for free. Tell them the injuries you're seeing, and go through some drills or activities to show them the environment your kids are in. Even better is to have them do this workshop with the kids and the parents, and then do a separate one with the coaches where you can go through specific injuries your kids may have experienced.
???? Now what you can do in your own sessions without outside help, is work on core stability. I'm not talking sit-ups and planks, but doing things to pressurize your core like bear crawls. Can you do a dead bug? Can you do a bird dog? Can you do a rolling bridge? In a plank, can you roll to the side and control it without your body wobbling? I would focus on that. That's always step 1, because if you can't control your core, regardless of your 6 pack, regardless of how many back extensions you can do, if you don't have stability, then the rest of it's trash. Something people forget to work on also is landing. We always work on jumping. We never work on landing.
??This could be an entirely different conversation, but I recently learned how girls land differently than boys. Also the men's shoes that we wear, how we're supposed to lift or the load of training and off days, recovery, and our cycles...
That's absolutely true. The angles, the shapes of their hips, the knees tend to go in a little bit more. It's different enough that boys and girls should be taught differently regarding their body mechanics.
Educating yourself on these differences and injury prevention in general is so important. Think of healthy, proper-working bodies as your biggest asset right? Why not do a two-hour session on protecting your most valuable asset. You can't coach without a team. Again I encourage coaches to reach out to a professional because we put in hours learning this stuff, understanding movement, what you need to know and what you need to look for when you're doing your warm up. That's gonna keep everybody healthy, powerful, strong, and keep your team fluid throughout the season.
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??What do you think are some of the misconceptions athletes or parents/coaches have in regard to rehabilitation?
Most times they already have an idea of how they think the process or journey is going to go. I appreciate if an athlete takes the initiative to start working on the recovery process before they see me, but often times their choices are incorrect. Surprisingly, a lot of people think an ACL recovery is much, much shorter than what it actually is.
We all have these ways of doing things that get us around the problem, which can create a bigger problem. I see it all the time. People do like jumping and then their knees just collapse. But if you spent one or two workouts focusing on not letting your knees collapse at a lesser stress, it's gonna be so much easier going forward. As a coach, your job's to win, so if your best player is hurt or your team is always sore, it's going to make things harder on you.
A really common thought is if I just rest, won't it just go away? Or just a simple adjustment will fix it like it's an overnight thing. To a lot of people, pain relief is the goal. I think that's a big misconception too. If you want to be out of pain, you can take an aspirin, you can rest, right, but it keeps coming back. We've all done it. But we can definitely tell when you haven't done your homework.
Ultimately, we have to remember that sports are often temporary. Doing the right things for your body makes a major difference in 10, 20, 30 years too.
??A major difference in pro athletes that I have noticed is that a player will get to 100% before they come back into play. They don't play in games here and there til they're healthy and fit usually, so I would love for you to elaborate on the importance of that and sometimes the mental thinking; and if there are any instances where it is a good idea to get a feel for it at that level of play that you're at before going back in:
I do think that's something that's overlooked. I never tell people to not play. And by not play, that doesn't mean not to compete at all because you're still playing soccer when you train. But why not wait till you're 100%? I do understand the yearning to get back on the field though, especially younger players. Or when you're 17 or 18 and it's your senior season, and you wanna lead the county in goals, right, or you have a showcase coming up. Those things feel like they are it, and I think that those are good goals to have, and you should train for those with rest in mind. If your senior season is your Super Bowl, let's think about how we get you to have the best senior season. And maybe that is missing the first game or two for the bigger picture of playing the last eight. Putting things into perspective gets overlooked.
?? How can we make smarter decisions surrounding concussions?
Concussions are tough. I hear kids these days are talking about botching the concussion pretest. Like failing the pretest on purpose. So if they do get a concussion in the game, their baseline isn't that bad, or their baseline isn't too far off from where their concussion status. Current high school athletes l've heard say this. It's scary because concussion symptoms are often unpredictable and don't always show up right away. I feel that's pretty common sense, but not everyone follows protocol because your player can "seem" okay right after the incident so they think they can continue playing. It's often not worth the risk.
That's why you need somebody to do a workshop with your team, coaching staff and parents. I get it, kids just want to play. But they don't know the consequences of risking it all just to finish a game. They have desires that are different than what's in the best interest for everyone. Or sometimes kids are used to being told to keep quiet when they complain and that can carry on to the field. Think about the generation we grew up in... "walk it off" right?
??Is there any other advice you want to leave for coaches or parents?
Just going to reiterate to find someone in your area who's a professional that works specifically with athletes and understands sports. Someone who can tell you what to look for, what to do in the case of a concussion, what to do when a kid gets hurt, who to call, what protocols you should take, what you should add to your warmups. Have them speak to your coaching staff and the players and the parents. They should do it for free, and if they don't, that's not the person you should probably work with. Be smart enough to know you don't know everything. There are a lot of things I don't know. I sometimes still have to go look it up, or I'm gonna go ask their coach or other trainers what experience they have with that athlete/sport/injury. Remember the bigger picture is having a good season, right? And that means people are healthy and happy.
Incredible insight from Dr. Aaron Gootzeit! We appreciate the work he does off the field to keep our players on it. Dr. Gootzeit stopped by one of our team camps in Sonoma County to help educate players and coaches during their summer break. If you're in the Bay Area, reach out to him at Connect Rehab Chiropractic & Performance, or find someone in your area to assist your team or club.
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