Injury Prevention Programs Stink

Hey ,

Bet you read the title of this newsletter and wanted to know why I think injury prevention programs stink, didn't you?

Well, I'll tell you.

Because they're useless - that's why.

Of course I don't want to see more young athletes incurring ACL
injuries, that's not the point.

But a directed 'ACL Injury Prevention' program is roughly the same as conducting a 'How to Prevent the Sneeze' seminar.

ACL injuries are much like a sneeze - symptoms of a greater
problem.

I am 100% confident that my blog will be roaring with folks who
are angry with me for the particular topic and message I have
chosen for this newsletter, but in fairness, hear me out.

When you sneeze, it's likely that you're suffering from some
type of cold or allergy condition.  

To try to cure the sneeze and then devise strategies for how to
avoid them in the future would be both silly and a gross
misappropriation of cause.

You had a cold - that's why you sneezed.

Non-contact ACL injuries are the result of an organism that
wasn't prepared in some capacity for the demands they placed
their bodies under.  No more and no less.

Any sort of directed effort to prevent the injury from happening
again would be missing the point and the core of the problem.

They weren't prepared for the demands.  Period.

This truth doesn't start and stop at injury prevention programs,
though.

It's a regular occurrence being seen more and more in the world
of youth athletics and training.

Trainers and Coaches will identify that a young athlete has
a limitation in speed or strength or flexibility and then
work to correct the problem in a single-minded way.

"You're too slow... We need to work on speed"

"You're not strong enough... Time to hit the weights"

"You're very tight... You better stretch twice a day"

Sheer madness!

In fact, it is this single-minded approaches that often cause way
more in the way of problems than it actually fixes.

And you know me by now, , I always try to relate
points like this back to school.

When little Johnny gets a poor math grade, we don't drop all
his other classes and concentrate singularly on math.

While you could argue that it would enhance his mathematical
skills and improve his grade in that particular subject, you'd
have to factor in the cost and what price would have to be paid
in all his other classes.

The development of a student and the progression of human
intelligence, is grounded in the notion that children must
experience, learn and become reasonably proficient in all matters
related to academics.

It is from this foundation that they become prepared to study at
the advanced level and eventually master in one particular area
of expertise.

No foundation = No growth = No mastery.

That's life, .

Lost in all the hoopla and marketing that goes on in the world
of youth sports training is the simple fact that in order to
build, develop and nurture a successful athlete, we must
expose them to all matters of learning.

Speed.

Strength.

Flexibility.

Movement Economy.

Coordination.

And guess what?

When you do all of that stuff correctly, you don't have to
focus singularly on any sort of specific injury prevention
program.

The root cause of the problem may be based on the day that
someone decided to sell parents, coaches and young athletes on
the concept of 6 - 8 week program for 'optimal performance'.

6 - 8 weeks amounts to a mere 'sneeze' in the life of a kid
(pardon my pun).

And while I have said many times, , that you can
and will see 'performance improvements' in the ability of young
athletes in this short time frame, they are:

A) Short term at best

B) Based largely on the fact that kids are highly adaptable

Back to the school reference for a second, it would be the exact
same as immersing Johnny in math for 6 - 8 weeks and watching
his ability in that subject improve.

But what are the costs of that?

And the second his 6 - 8 week immersion is done, how long do you
suspect his new found mathematical abilities will last?

Generally speaking, non-contact ACL injuries occur when the
posterior chain (specifically hamstrings) are either weak or
inefficient and during poorly performed movement patterns (such
as not bending your knees enough after landing from a jump).

Inclusive strengthening and teaching the proper
execution of movement should be at the cornerstone of every
solid training program, though.

In fact, every single youth training program should be based
on two specific factors:

1) The slow and progressive development of all athletic skill

2) Preparing the body for injury resistance

You just don't need directed 'Injury Prevention Programs'...

... You need a solid, well-designed training program.

That's it.

I really hope this made sense.  Seriously.

We are an incredibly reactive society and that's exactly what
we're doing here.

It reminds me of a story I heard on the radio last week.

It seems that a school district here in the United States is so
concerned about the obesity rate in children that they banned
Halloween candy from school.

I'm just going to stop there and let that sink in for a second.

Seriously, stop reading and let that sink in...

Preventing kids from eating the candy they get on the ONE
candy-oriented holiday a year is somehow going to curb the mass
epidemic of childhood obesity?

We don't need to react to the mass onslaught of ACL injuries
by creating specific programs to help prevent them.

We just have to train kids better.

Want to challenge me and disagree?

Want to ask a question or support my thoughts?

Go to my free blog RIGHT NOW and post your response:

http://www.developingathletics.com/wordpress/

'Till next time,


Brian

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P.S. Here's another way to look at it.

What's the virtue of an 'Injury Prevention Program".

I mean think about that for a second, .

Do you know why I named my new program Complete Athlete
Development?

Well... because it's 'COMPLETE'.

It has everything from coordination development and speed
training to strength work and program design.

Everything you need to know with respect to developing a
young athlete... COMPLETELY!

To qualify as an injury PREVENTION program, does that mean that all other training programs are the exact opposite?

Injury PROMOTING?

Fight the cause, - not the symptom.